I have been hard on Antifa for years. Not because I hate protest. I support protest. I am hard on anyone who uses chaos as a tactic and hides behind a slogan. Portland’s battles outside the I.C.E. facility keep proving the point.
JD Delay’s new video from the scene is messy, human, and honest. He shows the camp, the confrontations, the mental health spiral on the sidewalks, and a tense on-camera exchange with “Chandler,” a key organizer who says there is no hierarchy. JD also shows veterans and unaffiliated citizens stepping in when things get ugly. That is the part most media skip.
You know what? If the city will not protect people from predictable violence, people will fill the gap. That is not ideal. It is reality.
And for context, this saga is not a 2020 time capsule. Protests outside Portland’s ICE building have kept flaring up, including arrests for arson attempts and clashes with federal officers in 2025. Local reporting documents fires set against the building, arrests, and repeated use of crowd control munitions. Federal watchdogs also critiqued parts of the 2020 deployment strategy. All of that is on the record. Office of Inspector General+4portland.gov+4https://www.kptv.com+4
JD’s lens: chaos at street level
Delay opens with the simple setup. ICE facility, night two. DHS on the roof. Tension building. He confronts a guy who tries to shove people, gets the usual line about “Trump paying agitators,” and keeps his cool.
He says something that stuck with me: after being swarmed the first time, he was “radicalized against them because of their own behaviors.” That is what happens when a movement turns its hostility toward bystanders and press. Antifa loves to swarm. They do not like being swarmed. He is right.
The video captures life around the camp. Low-income apartments stuck in a nightly blast radius. A school removed from the area. People visibly high, unwell, or both. That is not a narrative. That is film.
A talk with “Chandler”
JD finds Chandler at what locals call the Antifa HQ. Chandler says there is no leadership, only a loose group with “similar but nuanced” beliefs. He denounces Democrats and Republicans as corporate puppets and says he wants a country that serves “the people.” On paper, I agree with parts of that. Cronyism is poison.
Then he hedges on political violence. He says he denounces it “for the most part,” but if the “ruling class” refuses a popular vote to confiscate wealth, then they would be “in the wrong.” That is a neat way to justify force after the fact. If your plan needs the word “feudal” to sell it, maybe you are not protecting the working class. Maybe you are building a new master.
Harm reduction or harm denial
JD and an independent journalist, Nick Shirley, talk about needles in parks, open drug scenes, and kids at risk. They argue for one-to-one exchanges and accountability. I agree. Compassion without standards is not compassion. It is neglect. Portland tried to treat addiction as a paperwork problem. It got a public health disaster in return.
When citizens step in
Here is the moment that will stick in your mind. A veteran named Sabrina Flores steps between an older man in a Santa suit and attackers. She holds the line. No fancy tactics. Just guts. She did not flash a club. She did not hide behind a mask. She saw a person in danger and moved.
This is why I have called, in past posts, for the Proud Boys to show up at these events. Not to start fights. To prevent them. But you do not need a chapter patch to do what Sabrina did. Veterans, church security guys, moms with med kits, unaffiliated neighbors, they are filling the vacuum. I want them calm, lawful, and focused on de-escalation. I do not want vigilantes. I want responsible adults who will not let a woman, an elder, or an officer get stomped while the cameras roll.
What the record shows
Let us ground this. Portland’s ICE facility has been a flashpoint for years. We have seen flares and fire set against the building. We have seen arrests. We have seen federal officers use gas and less-lethal rounds to push crowds back. Reporters have documented the toll on nearby residents. And federal oversight has criticized the planning behind earlier deployments, which made bad nights worse. These details are well documented. Office of Inspector General+4portland.gov+4https://www.kptv.com+4
So no, this is not “peaceful” in practice. And no, a black-clad crowd claiming leaderless virtue does not excuse assaults on press, neighbors, or cops.
Principles that actually work
I am a liberty guy. I do not want the state solving every problem with a boot. I also do not pretend that utopia appears when you “abolish” order. Here is what works, and it is not complicated.
- Protect speech. Even for people you do not like. If they are not breaking things or attacking people, let them talk.
- Stop crime immediately. When someone assaults a journalist or throws a flare at a building with people inside, they get arrested. Not tomorrow. Now.
- Keep feds competent and accountable. When the federal government sends officers, it must be lawful, trained, and targeted. The DHS inspector general tore into the 2020 planning. Learn from it. Fix it. Office of Inspector General
- Empower community defense the right way. Church security, trained veterans, neighborhood watch, volunteer medics, and legal observers can all make hot zones safer. None of that requires a badge. All of it requires discipline.
- Demand urban policy for grown-ups. Addiction policy needs accountability. Homeless policy needs treatment pathways, not tents on school routes. Stop paying for failure and calling it compassion.
About Antifa’s “leaderless” story
The “no leaders” line is a shield. It allows planning without responsibility. When property burns or people get jumped, no one is in charge. Clever. Also dishonest. Decentralized real-time networks can organize, supply, and target with more speed than a top-down group. Pretending that means “no accountability” is part of the game.
Where I stand
I will always defend the right to protest. I will not defend using a protest as camouflage for violence. I will praise citizens who step in to protect a stranger. I will call out cops and feds when they get sloppy or overbroad. I can hold all those thoughts at once because I care about liberty more than I care about team jerseys.
Watching JD’s video, I saw a city that keeps asking regular people to carry the burden of basic order. That is unfair. It is also what keeps happening when leaders refuse to act. The government’s first job is to protect life and property. When it will not, citizens will. That is not theory. That is America, from shopkeepers in Koreatown to ranchers on a fence line to a veteran in Portland stepping in front of Santa.
Pay attention to who shows up when it counts. It tells you everything.
Sources
- JD Delay, “Patriot Weekend at Portland ICE” video and field interviews: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4luTZA4bC0k
- Portland Police Bureau, “Protesters Place Flammable Material, Lit Flare Against ICE Building; Officers Arrest 3,” June 12, 2025. portland.gov
- KPTV, “Protesters set fires near Portland ICE building, 10 arrested,” June 13, 2025. https://www.kptv.com
- OPB, “Federal officers fire tear gas, make multiple arrests during protest outside Portland ICE facility,” Oct. 4, 2025; and roundup coverage Oct. 6, 2025. opb+1
- DHS Office of Inspector General, “DHS Had Authority to Deploy Federal Law Enforcement Officers to Protect Federal Facilities in Portland, Oregon, but Should Ensure Better Planning and Execution,” Apr. 16, 2021. Office of Inspector General
- KGW, “Protests outside Portland ICE facility take toll on those who live and work nearby,” Oct. 8, 2025. kgw.com
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