On Friday, October 17, Portland City Councilors held a press conference to announce the launch of a national pledge to investigate local economic and infrastructural ties to the genocide in Gaza.

Half of Portland's City Council signed the pledge: Councilors Candace Avalos, Jamie Dunphy, Mitch Green, Sameer Kanal, Tiffany Koyama Lane, and Angelita Morillo. They are calling on their Portland colleagues, as well as city officials across the nation, to make the same commitment.

This pledge is not only a crucial first step in disrupting America’s economic and political complicity in the devastation of Gaza and illegal occupation of Palestinian lands, it is a turning point for local investment in the institutions and infrastructure that enable the kidnapping of our neighbors by ICE.