A Portland non-profit food cart was shut down after the owners faced alleged harassment from Occupy ICE protesters on Friday. The stand is across the street from the Portland U.S. Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE) facility, where protesters are holding a weeks-long demonstration and calling for the abolishment of ICE. The Happy Camper Food Cart, founded by Scott and Julie Hakes in 2017, raised funds to help the homeless through the project Operation Off The Grid.
According to Operation Off The Grid’s Web site, the organization:
“is a non profit 501C(3) Organization that was founded and put into action by Scott and Julie Hakes in 2017. Their passion stemmed from the two of them both living on the streets themselves in their past and always knew the time was right, they would give back to those in need. The organization was begun with the intentions of feeding Hungry individuals living on the streets of Portland Oregon and surrounding communities once a week.”
The stand was across the street from the Portland Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building, where protesters have held demonstrations since June.
“Unfortunately over the last month, we have been threatened and verbally attacked for not backing the immigration agenda at the DHS location and wanting to stay neutral and serve all who are hungry,” said the The Happy Camper Food Cart Facebook post on July 20.
We are sad to say that as of today (7/20/18) we will be closing our business. We are a non profit volunteered run…
Posted by The Happy Camper Food and Coffee Bar on Friday, 20 July 2018
It started when one of the protesters yelled at his daughter with a mega-horn because they thought the daughter was making fun of them. The daughter is overheard saying, “Do you hear them? They think I am laughing at them,” in video footage provided to KATU2 by Scott.
“They’re constantly cussing at her and screaming at her,” Scott said to KATU2. “She finally had enough. She called me up on the phone, crying. I said ‘Breanna, shut the doors, we’re done.’”
The protesters threatened to burn down the cart “at least three times,” Scott told Fox 12 on Sunday. Harassment toward the customers also got so bad that business went down by 80 percent.
Many local Democratic Party politicians have both supported the aims of the various Occupy ICE encampments that have sprouted up in at least a dozen cities. A number of prominent national Democratic politicians have also endorsed the Occupy Movement’s demands calling for ICE’s abolition.