The Tide is a long-form documentary series about power, influence, and public life.

Each episode examines how protest, policy, institutions, and media narratives shape what people actually experience on the ground, and who benefits from the way those stories are told.

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This premiere episode documents three unfolding Portland stories:

Story one — Residents and the REACH lawsuit

• Residents living next to Portland’s ICE facility describe months of disruption, noise, and safety concerns that they say went unanswered. After a federal lawsuit was filed claiming harm from federal agents, residents say the public narrative shifted — elevating the conflict into a national political story while leaving their day-to-day experiences largely unaddressed.

Story two — Arrest data and protest reality

• Using Portland Police arrest records and court filings, this segment examines who is actually being arrested around the ICE protests, what charges are being filed, and how those patterns compare with the way the protests are commonly framed in national media. The data points to major differences between narrative and recorded reality.

Note: This analysis is based on a manual review of public arrest records, police reports, court filings, and booking data released by the Portland Police Bureau and Multnomah County related to activity around the Portland ICE facility during calendar year 2025. Each case was individually examined to identify charge severity, defendant age, case status, and documented incident context. Political alignment was categorized only when it was explicitly indicated in reports, charging narratives, social media records, or contemporaneous media documentation connected to each arrest. Charge classifications were grouped by statutory severity to distinguish lower-level offenses from violent and serious felony charges. This review reflects publicly available records and documented filings as of December 1, 2025.

Story three — Injunctions and federal authority

• This segment looks at the growing use of nationwide injunctions, including a Portland case that blocked a proposed National Guard deployment and a Supreme Court case now reviewing how broadly lower courts can pause federal action. It examines how court procedure is increasingly shaping what federal authority can and cannot do on the ground.

Interview with guest C.K. “Chelly” Bouferrache

The episode then turns to a full-length interview with journalist and photographer C.K. Bouferrache.

She reflects on the 2016–2021 protest era, the rise of livestream-driven protest culture, assaults on journalists, the personal and psychological cost of long-term field reporting, and how narratives, trauma, and institutional incentives continue to shape what unfolds around Portland’s ICE facility.

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Filmed and reported by oceanplot.

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oceanplot is an independent citizen journalism project documenting protests, public order, and the stories mainstream outlets often miss.

oceanplot reports directly from the ground for unfiltered, unedited interviews with real humans, providing valuable primary source material for history as it unfolds.

WATCH my latest reports and interviews from the Pacific Northwest.

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