U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement closed its Southwest Portland office after demonstrators protesting the Trump administration's immigration policy converged on the facility Tuesday afternoon.

"ICE operations at this location have been temporarily halted due to security concerns," said agency spokeswoman Carissa Cutrell on Wednesday morning.

President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" immigration policy caused an international frenzy of protest. The policy led to the separation of immigrant children from their parents, which Trump officials admit was a tactic intended to discourage border crossings by illegal immigrants.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is the agency charged with enforcing the country's immigration laws. It is the agency that sent 123 immigration detainees to the Federal Correctional Institute at Sheridan.

Protesters gathered at the agency's Southwest Macadam Boulevard offices on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler vowed that he would not get involved trying to break up the demonstration.

After blaming the policy on Democrats in Congress for more than a week, Trump reversed course on Wednesday and signed an executive order he said would end the family separations. The new order leaves unchanged the zero-tolerance approach which refers virtually all border crossers for criminal prosecution even if they request asylum.

So in effect families may remain together behind bars.

Will the dramatic change in course end the Occupation-style protest at the agency's Portland office? That's not yet clear.

Immigration groups said they won't accept the "replacement of one vile policy with another."

"Massive outrage over Trump's inhumane family separation policy put Trump and his Republican lapdogs on the defensive," said Nicole Regalado, campaign manager for Credo, a major funder of various immigrant groups. "CREDO and our allies will build on that momentum to demand that Republicans in Congress and the Trump regime abolish ICE and stop criminally prosecuting immigrants and detaining families."

-- Jeff Manning and Shane Dixon Kavanaugh