An Uber pickup outside Portland’s Union Station turned into a tense traffic stop this week, when the driver says federal agents suddenly surrounded her car in the Pearl District and hauled away her passengers in handcuffs.
The driver, Hannah Armstrong, told reporters she had just collected two riders at Union Station on Tuesday when her vehicle was boxed in near NW Glisan Street and 11th Avenue. She said officers pulled the two men from the back seat and handcuffed them while she stayed behind the wheel, unsure what was happening.
Driver’s account and dash-cam footage
Armstrong had front and rear dashboard cameras rolling during the stop, and the clips show people in tactical vests closing in on the car. The video, described by The Oregonian/OregonLive, shows the unmarked vehicles moving into position around 5:10 p.m. in the Pearl District, three cars hemming in the Uber as people approach and try to open the back doors. One person appears to handcuff a passenger as the stop plays out.
Armstrong said she had picked up the two men, whom she estimated to be in their mid-30s to mid-40s, at Union Station. She told the outlet her car was then followed through downtown before the unmarked vehicles converged and forced her to a stop.
What the driver says happened next
Armstrong told the paper that agents “came over and just tried to open the doors immediately without identifying themselves,” and that no one showed her a warrant after the car was surrounded. She said she later reported the incident to Uber and was given a link to upload her video, but she was unable to complete the upload, according to The Oregonian/OregonLive.
City policy and coordination questions
Portland has a long-standing sanctuary policy that generally prohibits city employees from assisting with federal immigration enforcement. City officials also note that staff at Union Station do not have access to passenger records, which limits how much they can participate in or even anticipate federal operations that begin at major transit hubs…