Copyright nytimes
Ms. Avalos was elected in November and took office in January. The daughter of Black American and Guatemalan parents, she said she was among a group of activists who received racist threats in the mail in 2020, when they were calling for police accountability after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Ms. Avalos has also been outspoken in criticizing Mr. Trump’s crackdown on immigration and his push to deploy the National Guard in Oregon. Earlier this month, the Portland City Council unanimously adopted a resolution Ms. Avalos introduced with other councilors that denounced Mr. Trump’s efforts to send National Guard troops and federal immigration agents to Portland and that called on the mayor to fight back. “I have been receiving threats for many years for being a vocal advocate for justice,” Ms. Avalos said in a brief interview on Monday. While she said she didn’t know of any specific threats connected to the fire, she said: “I have always been at risk for something like this. So we will see what the outcome is.” In a joint statement, the mayor of Portland, Keith Wilson, and the Portland City Council said they were “united in support of our colleague” and grateful for the quick response by the police and firefighters.
