Eugene, OR – On Wednesday, January 14th, Chloe Longworth was standing on the sidewalk outside of the Lane County Federal building when she was approached by four federal agents and told she was under arrest. They put her in handcuffs, and took her inside the building.

“I wasn’t doing anything different than anyone else. I had crossed the street [south on Pearl towards 8th] and was putting up signs, which I’m allowed to do.”

Preceding the arrest, Chloe and another protester had engaged with a person contracted to hose off chalk from the sidewalks. They asked the contractor not to erase the anti-ICE messages left by previous demonstrators, but were ignored. Another protester present observed:

“The man with the hose turned and walked into the building. A few minutes later four DHS agents slowly ambled out of the building. The activist in question crossed the street… The officers walked across the street and proceeded to take them into custody.”

Chloe and other activists believe that arrests like these are attempts by DHS to intimidate them out of exercising their first amendment rights.
Chloe believes that she was specifically targeted.

“They [officers] often call me by name. They’re discriminating against me for being trans.”

“I want to be clear: There are other places in the country where people are being treated so much worse. I’m not saying I’m experiencing the worst aggression. But officers here in Eugene are also being discriminatory and aggressive.”

Chloe was held for an hour, given three citations, and released. The writing on the citation was so faint that even her lawyer, Lauren Regan of the Civil Liberties Defense Center, does not know what the charges are or when Chloe will be required to appear in court.