The Daily Populous Thursday January 22nd, 2026 morning edition
Image from preview.redd.it and submitted by bennetthaselton

bennetthaselton on January 21st, 2026 at 21:02 UTC »

This is the video of the incident and the seconds leading up to it:

https://xCANCEL.com/bennetthaselton/status/1973965734540947699

(I had originally posted this with a direct link to X, but it was deleted by AutoModerator with a note saying direct links to X are not allowed, but I could re-post it with a link to the xcancel.com domain instead.)

The protester and her friend were standing and talking at the federal agents, with no apparent indication they were doing anything threatening, when one of them fired into her face with pepper spray (and also got a bit on the guy next to her).

(Besides a lot of snotty comments from MAGA, the post did get some comments asking apparently in earnest if the protesters were "blocking the road". What was actually happening is that when a vehicle would enter or exit the I.C.E. building, federal agents would form a line on either side of the driveway extending into the street, and protesters would usually line up in front of them and say whatever they came to say. So the protesters were not "blocking the street" - not that that would have been an excuse for a point-blank pepper spraying, even if they had been!)

Edited to add: I sent a FOIA request to DHS in Portland asking for any documents pertaining to the incident (e.g. if the officer had to file a report documenting the use of force, or if he was ever disciplined). DHS replied with some boilerplate language saying "Records may be exempt for security reasons" and then said "We have no records responsive to your request", although it's unclear if they were saying they really had no records, or if they were saying any records that may or may not exist were "exempt for security reasons."

The protester Leilani Payne was interviewed by the Portland station KOIN and said nothing like that had ever happened to her before:

https://www.koin.com/news/portland/video-federal-agents-pepper-sprayed-protesters-outside-ice-facility/

I was joining the protests outside the I.C.E. building and documenting the proceedings for a few days at the beginning of October when this happened. The ACLU of Oregon is suing DHS for violating protesters' civil rights in the Portland protests and I recently filed a declaration describing this and several other incidents that I either recorded or witnessed.

MY-memoryhole on January 21st, 2026 at 21:05 UTC »

reminds me of when this went viral

braumbles on January 21st, 2026 at 21:08 UTC »

Sane people see this and expect accountability, then when it doesn't happen, they get more angry at law enforcement, then law enforcement wonders why nobody respects them, when it's shit like this that causes it.