Conservative influencer Nick Sortor released after arrest in fight outside Portland ICE building, police say

By Andy Rose, CNN

(CNN) — A conservative influencer who this week posted videos of clashes outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Oregon, has been released without bond after he was arrested late Thursday night during what police characterized as a fight.

Nick Sortor, 27, of Washington, DC, was arrested on suspicion of second-degree disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor, along with two people from Oregon, the Portland Police Bureau said early Friday in a news release.

After an earlier incident in which federal law enforcement briefly detained two other people during a scuffle, the Portland Police Bureau said it “continued to monitor the situation and responded after seeing additional fights break out.” A bureau Rapid Response Team arrested Sortor and the two Oregonians, police said.

In Sortor’s view, local police “made a big freaking mistake,” he wrote of the arrest Friday morning on his X account. “You PROVED what we’ve all been saying for years: you’re CORRUPT and CONTROLLED by vioIent Antifa thugs who terrorize the streets.”

While police did not detail the altercation that led to Sortor’s arrests, his case immediately created a stir against Portland police in conservative social media: “They will arrest an independent journalist but not violent antifa members who assault cops and journalists,” posted the account founded by influencer Chaya Raichik.

Not all potential criminal violations at the protest site will result in immediate arrests, the Portland Police Bureau said, adding, “That does not mean that people are not being charged with crimes later.”

The ICE building in South Portland has been the latest flashpoint in a city with a long history of loud and sometimes violent protests as the Trump administration has made Portland a key target in its broader crime crackdown in large Democratic-led cities.

Sortor was detained just hours before a federal judge is scheduled to hear arguments on whether to block President Donald Trump’s National Guard callout in Portland, citing the need to protect ICE facilities from protesters.

Sortor and Son Mimi Yi of Portland were released without bond overnight, while Angela Davis of Vernonia, Oregon, was still in custody early Friday morning, jail records show. It was not clear if any of those arrested had attorneys, and no court date was immediately set.

Sortor, who has not responded to CNN’s request for comment, earlier this week tweeted speculation he might be detained.

“If I defend myself, *I* will be the one who gets arrested. Not the assailant,” Sortor posted to X late Wednesday night, calling Portland a “third world hellhole.”

His early online posts focused on environmental crises

With 1.2 million followers on X and a presence on other mainstream social media platforms, Sortor’s influence traces to his coverage in 2023 of the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, in which he often criticized government officials over environment damage.

He offered similar coverage of that summer’s wildfires in Maui and in recent months has posted about the nationwide immigration enforcement crackdown, with a focus on protests outside ICE facilities, and in celebration of the legacy of the slain conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk.

Sortor headed to Portland this week, where tension over White House immigration policies peaked in mid-summer with a declared riot and arson arrests. The scene was largely calm until Trump’s announcement this week he was federalizing 200 National Guard troops in the city.

Portland and the state government have sued, saying the maneuver “infringes on Oregon’s sovereign interest in managing law enforcement within its borders.”

With crime down by double digits in nearly all major categories, federal intervention is not needed, Portland Police Bureau Chief Bob Day told CNN’s “The Source with Kaitlin Collins” on Wednesday.

“We’re talking about one city block in 145 square miles,” he said of recent protests around the ICE building. “Certainly (there have) been some challenges down at the facility. Police have been engaged down there extensively over the last nine months. We’ve made over 20 arrests ourselves. We’ve conducted assault investigations …

“Portland is very much engaged, and, once again, this is just one small block in a big city that we are trying to manage for all of Portlanders,” Day said.

Meanwhile, troops were getting supplies and training at a facility 100 miles away before starting patrols, Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley told CNN affiliate KGW on Wednesday.

The National Guard was getting further training and expected in Portland in the coming days, Day told CNN on Wednesday.

In the past, prosecutors in Portland routinely declined to pursue cases against people arrested for nonviolent offenses during protests, although the Multnomah County district attorney promised earlier this year to change that policy, The Oregonian reported. CNN reached out to the DA’s office early Friday to ask if it plans to file charges in Sortor’s case.

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CNN’s Michelle Krupa contributed to this report.