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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (June 18, 2025)
June 18, 2025 Page 5 Trump Directs ICE to Expand Deportations Summer Free For All Returns for 2025 Citywide Fun at No Cost Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) is bringing back its beloved Summer Free For All series for 2025, a community favorite made possible by the voter-approved 2020 Parks Local Option Levy. The festivities begin with Free Lunch + Play on Monday, June 23 at 22 park locations and apartment complexes across East Portland. Live mu- sic, movies, and cultural events will follow citywide starting July 2. During the school year, more than half of Portland’s students rely on free or re- duced-price meals. To help fill the gap during summer, PP&R’s Free Lunch + Play program offers nutritious meals and engaging activities for children and fami- lies when school is out. Starting June 23, kids can take part in games, sports, music, arts, and crafts, all led by trained staff and community partners. The program runs Monday through Friday at parks through- out the city and also reaches two East Port- land apartment complexes through Mobile Lunch + Play, which operates from June 23 through August 22. This summer’s Free For All series in- cludes more than 40 events designed for all ages, from multicultural festivals and con- certs to outdoor movies and community celebrations. Schedules are currently avail- able in English and Spanish, with addition- al translations coming soon in Ukrainian, Russian, Somali, Chinese, Vietnamese, and more. “It’s just not summer in Portland until Summer Free For All gets going again,” said PP&R Director Adena Long. “There is nothing like experiencing live music or enjoying an outdoor movie with your loved ones in your favorite neighborhood park.” The 2025 movie lineup includes Inside Out 2, Coco, Despicable Me 4, The Sand- lot, and Guardians of the Galaxy. Live performances will feature well-known local acts such as Norman Sylvester with Lenanne Miller, BridgeCity Soul, Conjun- to Alegre, Too Loose Zydeco, and more. Community festivals like the East Portland Summer Arts Festival, Washington Park Summer Festival, and The Kidz Outside Festival also return this year. The Summer Free For All series is made possible by the Parks Levy, which allows PP&R to deliver on its promises to Portland voters. The levy funds free family-friendly events, recreational pro- gramming, swim lessons, fitness and arts classes, and teen- and older adult-focused activities. Importantly, it eliminates cost as a barrier to participation in these vital com- munity offerings. The official Summer Free For All kick- off celebration will take place on Thursday, June 26, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Parklane Park. Everyone 18 and under is invited to share a meal and enjoy activities in the sun. Free lunch will be served between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. The East Portland Summer Arts Festi- val returns July 12 and 13 at Ventura Park, with Edna Vasquez headlining day one as part of her Best of Both Worlds tour. Day two features Portland Taiko and Friends, promising an evening of powerful drum- ming, dance, and musical storytelling. The Washington Park Summer Festival will be held August 9 and 10 at the Rose Garden Amphitheater, with performances begin- ning at 6 p.m. each evening. This year’s acts include Tempos Contemporary Circus and the Portland Cello Project performing the music of Radiohead. At Gateway Discovery Park, free sum- mer activities will take place Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., June 23 through August 22. No registra- tion is needed. Children can enjoy arts and crafts, games, cultural activities, and more. Free lunches will be served daily from 11 to 11:45 a.m. as part of the Free Lunch + Play program. Free Open Play Swim will also be available at six outdoor pools across the city each week. Creston Pool hosts ses- sions on Mondays from 6:30 to 8 p.m., Peninsula Pool on Tuesdays from 1 to 3:45 p.m., Montavilla Pool on Tuesdays from 6 to 8 p.m., Grant Pool on Wednes- days from 1 to 3 p.m., Sellwood Pool on Wednesdays from 6:30 to 8 p.m., and Pier Pool on Thursdays from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., with an expected opening date of July 14. PP&R’s Fitness in the Park program re- turns as well, offering free outdoor group fitness classes for ages 14 and older. Be- ginning June 23, classes will take place at eight locations citywide, including Irving Park, Ventura Park, and Mt. Scott Park. For full schedules, event listings, and additional information, visit portland. gov/parks. President Donald Trump, left, escorted by Air Force Col. Angela F. Ochoa, Commander, 89th Airlift Wing, walks from Marine One to board Air Force One, Sunday, June 15, 2025, at Joint Base Andrews, Md., for a trip to Canada to attend the G7 Summit. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) Democratic-Ran Cities Targeted AP- President Donald Trump on Sun- day directed federal immigration officials to prioritize deportations from Demo- cratic-run cities, a move that comes after large protests erupted in Los Angeles and other major cities against the Trump ad- ministration’s immigration policies. Trump in a social media posting called on U.S. Immigration and Customs En- forcement officials “to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass De- portation Program in History.” He added that to reach the goal offi- cials ”must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Mil- lions of Illegal Aliens reside.” Trump’s declaration comes after weeks of increased enforcement, and after Stephen Miller, White House dep- uty chief of staff and main architect of Trump’s immigration policies, said ICE officers would target at least 3,000 arrests a day, up from about 650 a day during the first five months of Trump’s second term. At the same time, the Trump admin- istration has directed immigration offi- cers to pause arrests at farms, restaurants and hotels, after Trump expressed alarm about the impact aggressive enforcement is having on those industries, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter who spoke only on condition of anonym- ity. Protests over federal immigration enforcement raids have been flaring up around the country. Opponents of Trump’s immigration policies took to the streets as part of the “no kings” demonstrations Saturday that came as Trump held a massive parade in Washington for the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army. Saturday’s protests were mostly peaceful. But police in Los Angeles used tear gas and crowd-control munitions to clear out protesters after the event ended. Officers in Portland, Oregon, also fired tear gas and projectiles to disperse a crowd that protested in front of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building well into the evening. Trump made the call for stepped up enforcement in Democratic-controlled cities on social media as he was making his way to the Group of Seven economic summit in Alberta, Canada. He suggested to reporters as he de- parted the White House for the G7 on Sunday evening that his decision to de- ploy National Guard troops to Los An- geles was the reason the protests in that city went peacefully. “If we didn’t have the National Guard on call and ready, they would rip Los An- geles apart,” Trump said. The shift also come as Trump is grap- pling with the impact his mass deporta- tion effort is having on key industries that rely on workers in the country illegally. Trump posted on his Truth Social site Thursday that he heard from hotel, ag- riculture and leisure industries that his “very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time work- ers away from them” and promised that changes would be made . That same day Tatum King, an official with ICE’s Homeland Security Investi- gations unit, wrote to regional leaders telling them to halt investigations of the agriculture industry, including meatpack- ers, as well as of restaurants and hotels, according to the U.S. official.
