A Quaker Family Faces a Federal Sentence

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1. Jacob admits to throwing rocks at the ICE facility and breaking down doors, but also wrestles with how this conflicts with his desire for a peaceful world. Can you think of a time when your ideals were challenged by a real-world event and you responded differently than you’d imagined? 
2. Jacob notes the importance of seeing the humanity in the heavily armed FBI agents arresting him, acknowledging a divine element in all people. What are the practical challenges of maintaining this perspective when facing systemic violence or armed opposition? 
3. Quakers have a long history of ministry within prisons. How can we shine light within justice systems that are often designed for punishment, not rehabilitation? 

Zack Jackson  

Hey everyone, Zack here. We’re currently in between seasons, getting everything ready for season four of Thee Quaker podcast, which will officially launch in October. But while we’ve been working on the new season, we wanted to bring you a special standalone episode today with Jacob Hoopes. Jacob was involved in a protest at an ICE facility in Portland that turned violent, and was recently sentenced to 900 days in prison for his involvement. A few weeks ago, right before he was scheduled to surrender himself to federal prison, he sat down with me to talk through what really happened that day, how his faith guided him through the chaos, and what accountability means in a world full of violence. So, without further ado, here is my conversation with Jacob Hoopes.

Jacob Hoopes  

My name’s Jacob Hoopes. I use he and they pronouns. I currently live in Portland, Oregon, and I have for, depending on how you count, around seven years. I am a member of Multnomah Friends meeting out here, and have been for solidly the last two years. And I grew up in a variety of meetings out in Philadelphia and in the surrounding area, and BYM and the different facets of that have been a pretty important part of my life since I was born.

Zack Jackson  

So the reason that we’re talking together today revolves around an incident that happened on June 14 of 2025 at a series of protests at the Portland ICE facility. Can you help paint a picture of that day? 

Jacob Hoopes  

Yeah, of course. I joined in with millions of others around the U.S. to join the No Kings protest that was happening in Portland that day, showing our national solidarity and our sense of frustration and awareness of the injustice that has been happening under this administration. So, I took part in the rally, doing a big circle of the city, and then I joined a fairly large contingent going down to the ICE facility, and up until that point, it was relatively calm, if excited. A lot of folks were cheering and doing chants and making clear and speaking loudly about the injustices being committed around the country, but it became real, much more so when we were approaching the ICE facility and we started to see clouds of what appeared to be smoke rising from the facility. And as we got close, people ran up to us and shouted, “They’re gassing us. That wasn’t smoke. That was tear gas.

And as we got closer, it was evident that there had been like continuing confrontation and continuing assaults on folks peacefully protesting with pepper balls and tear gas, as we saw from the ICE agents and federal officials who were tasked with “quote unquote” defending the ICE facility, so yeah, that was happening, and I found myself in a position where I could see myself and others being shot by the folks behind the door, and I moved. Up to take a position at the front of the crowd, and I felt like there was some responsibility to push back and to make it so that the ICE agents who were antagonizing folks and inflicting violence on folks weren’t able to do so unopposed.

This is where I started to make a series of unwise decisions. I picked up these rocks that were sort of part of the pathway that led up to the ICE facility and threw them at the building. The prosecutor has the exact number, but I think it was three rocks at the building. And during that time, the various ICE officer folks were shooting pepper balls out of this door. They were opening the door and shooting people in the crowd, and then closing the door and opening the door, shooting people in the crowd, closing the door. And it seemed to me that there was an opportunity to maybe stop that.

So, in short, I found myself in front of the door. I went in front of the door and threw a rock around it. And I talk a little bit more about my thought process in that moment. I did a public letter to folks that I hope folks will be able to find. And yeah, it turns out that I seem to have hurt one of the ICE officers. I hit them in the head with one of those rocks, causing a bleeding. And I’m grateful to have learned later that the injury wasn’t terribly severe, and that doesn’t take away from my responsibility in causing it. But I’m grateful that it was not a severe injury, and the full recovery and all of that, and then later I was still at the facility and I participated in breaking down the doors with a sort of upended stop sign that someone had pulled out.

So I do not want to claim that I didn’t make a mistake. I made a mistake, and it’s important to see that that is both true and also. I think it shouldn’t be possible for us to stay silent or stay passive or stay imagining that we’re somehow protected from many of the actions that ICE officers and the Trump administration overall have been taking have been committing.

Jacob Hoopes  

So when I went home that night, I remember, well, of course, feeling physically shaken and unsure if the breaking down of the door was somehow in conflict with, like, my desire to participate in the creation of a more just and more peaceful world, and that’s an ongoing conversation with myself and with others, and I’m continually reminded that, like, as I break down that door, like families are being split apart, and people are being killed. And I don’t want to do some sort of equivalence here, but like these are these are different situations, and I I want to continue trying to find better and better ways to avoid violence, and I I believe that I could have made better decisions that day. Yeah, I yeah complicated feelings for sure, for sure.

Zack Jackson  

So, you went home that night thinking that the worst of it all was over, settled back into normal rhythms, and then it was what a month later that this all came back around. Can you tell us about that day? That you woke up to find federal agents at your front door.

Jacob Hoopes  

Yeah. So in short, it was a month after the events at the ICE facility, and I had imagined that the issue was settled, and so I’ve settled back into life, and I’ve returned to my normal rhythms, and I’m sort of shaken out of bed one day, looking out the window and seeing that there’s a number of armored people, like cops of some description, law enforcement officers, running up my driveway, and I’m confused and worried, and I think that my neighbor is being swatted, and then comes a knock at the door. FBI, open up, much louder and scarier than that. And so I think, oh wow, like we’re the ones being swatted. Like someone has called the FBI and us, and somehow chosen to target us for harassment. Again, in no way did I think this was tied to my actions at the ICE facility. And I say, “Wow, okay, do you have a warrant? And they say, “We’ll deal with that later. And I ask again, like, is there a warrant? And by this time, they have guns, like large, presumably semi-automatic rifles. That’s certainly what it seemed like to me, like very large guns, directly pointed at my chest. So I open the door, and they come in. They arrest me. They arrest, or maybe more properly, put into handcuffs my partner as well as my roommate. And while inside, I try to talk with the FBI agents there. Like they’re human beings. I want to see their humanity as much as I want them to see mine, and it’s difficult to do that because moments before these people had been very close to killing me. I learned later that as part of their application for a warrant, they got approval to use lethal force if they felt it was in any way necessary. It seems the bar was very low for that, and they were the twitch of a finger away. So, I’m incredibly grateful for my upbringing in Quakerism, as it helped me keep a cool head in that moment and return to center and find peace, even in the most distressing moments.

Zack Jackson  

We’re gonna take a quick break. When we return, we speak with Jacob’s father, Tom, about what was happening outside the detention center that weekend, and about the surprising hope that’s blossoming from this situation. Stay tuned. 

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Zack Jackson 

Hey Friends,

We’re now very close to World Quaker Day, which will be on October 4th 2026 (that’s 4th day of tenth month, this year). On that day, the global Quaker body, called the Friends World Committee for Consultation, is planning an extended international meeting for worship online themed Let Peace Be Among Us.

The worship is planned for all day, in three sessions covering all the global timezones. Each hour will be dedicated to a different part of the world where prayers for peace are particularly needed.

The event will connect Friends in many different places – including the Caribbean, the Middle East and the Great Lakes Region of Africa – all of whom have faced challenges in gathering together where they are.

Come for one hour, or come for all. Register online today at worldquakerday.org. That’s worldquakerday.org. Everyone is welcome. See you there.

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Zack Jackson

Welcome back. That Friday, Jacob was arrested and brought into police custody. He had no idea what he was being accused of at the time and was unable to call home for help. It was a frightening weekend for him, but on the outside, people were organizing. Jacob’s partner called his parents, who were living in the Philadelphia area, and they started planning. I called Jacob’s father, Tom Hoopes, to hear his side of the story.

Tom Hoopes  

We got the phone call on Friday midday, maybe noon, and when the news landed, Beth and I looked at each other, and she said, “You need to get on the next plane, and I said, “Absolutely. So there was not a moment’s hesitation, and I immediately moved into triage mode, so I was on the next available plane, nonstop flight to Portland. But long before that, I’d been on the phone texting hundreds of people. So by the time I landed, there was already a major intervention operation underway. I have felt so much love and support from the extended Quaker community from the moment this happened through today and continuing. The Quaker community showed up in force, and it has been one of the most powerful affirmations of my life.

Zack Jackson  

So you arrive in Portland and get right to work, right? Because Jacob is scheduled for his first court date that Monday, right? Like that’s when the charges will be announced, and I’ve read that that was a pretty tense weekend for you guys with provocateurs on both sides that were trying to stir up trouble. How did you handle that day?

Tom Hoopes  

Yeah, thank you for characterizing it the way you did because that’s exactly right. People from the alt right and people from the anarchist community of Portland, both of which are well populated, were eager to turn this into a national media circus, and I was given the name of an elder in the Portland area who’s actually not a member of Multnomah meeting. She’s actually part of a different Quaker community. Charisse Bach is a prominent Quaker in the Pacific Northwest, and Eileen Flanagan put me in touch with her as a person who could help ground the group outside of the courthouse, because what we realized was that there would be hundreds of people at the courthouse on Monday when he was arraigned, and it had the risk of becoming a sort of secondary uprising, a massive public event with the Portland anarchist community, adding their intensity and their vitriol, and that was the last thing in the world that I wanted.

I wanted to take care of my child, and so I asked Charisse and members of Multnomah Meeting to come and hold the group outside in prayer and in a vigil that was in the style of Quaker worship, and they stepped in immediately. And I spoke with Eileen and Daniel Hunter and got ideas about how to keep the crowd focused and centered. I went to the EQAT website and printed out song sheets that I duplicated at the local staples, and so immediately there was a sense of the Quaker community holding us, supporting us, giving us every resource that we needed.

So suffice it to say, there was this huge gathering, and of course, I wanted to be in the courtroom itself, and the courtroom itself was filled to overflowing, and then Jacob came in, and I had not laid eyes on him this whole time, and he was looking courageous and resilient and alert, but also scared, and as the proceeding unfolded, and we heard the charges for the first time, and mind you, when Jacob was arrested, he was not told what he was arrested for. He was not read a warrant. You know, he put two and two together that this had to do with the events of June 14, but he didn’t know what was the accusation. And when I heard it, that he was facing the possibility of 30 years in prison, my head started to spin because my own father finished his life age 79, and I did the math, and I realized that if Jacob were to serve that long, it could well be after I finished my life, and that was a bone-chilling thought.

And the judge did something that our attorney later told me she’s never seen. He’s never seen before. She looked out at the box, the courtroom, whatever they call the space for visitors and observers, and she said, “Who are these people? She said, “I see the father and the girlfriend, but I don’t know who the rest of you are. Can you please introduce yourselves? And one by one, people stood up, and the judge instinctively looked out at this crowd of incredibly sweet-looking, loving people across the age spectrum, and in doing that, really inoculated the potency of the prosecution’s claim, and that was the first of many things that have happened here along this path that really feel like way opening to me, where I am. It could have been so much worse, and instead, Jacob was allowed to walk away that day, but with an ankle monitor.

So that day, when he was released, we all went outside. The courtroom emptied, and we joined the crowd outside. So at that point, I don’t know, maybe there were 400 people out from the courthouse. There was a tremendous outpouring of love and support, and it was sort of like everybody wanted to touch him and honor him, and he gave me this incredible hug.

Tom Hoopes  

So in many ways, I’ve been stepping along this path every step of the way, anticipating what might happen, what could happen. There have been multiple times when it felt like this could have slipped sideways, and and I, I guess I want to be clear that as paradoxical as this may sound, my primary emotional condition right now is gratitude. I also feel grief and sadness and rage and contempt, but most of all, I feel gratitude because this could be so much worse.

Zack Jackson 

Jacob, you wrote an open letter, which we’ll link in the show notes, in which you unequivocally say that your actions were not in line with your Quaker commitment to nonviolence, and in that letter, you make no attempt to excuse your actions. But you also explain that it was your Quaker convictions that led you there in the first place. You’ve been wrestling, pretty publicly at times, with what it means to be a Quaker in this day and age. Can you tell us a little about your Quaker upbringing and how your faith has evolved over this year?

Jacob Hoopes 

Of course, yeah. So I grew up going to Valley Forge monthly meeting. My family has lived in that area for generations. Like I think it is seven generations. I think I was the eighth generation, and we had been Quakers the whole time. It’s in my bones. It’s who I am and how I go through the world is unavoidably Quaker. But I took a step away from the formal institutions for a few years, and this trauma and this recognition of the power of community and the power of Quaker communities specifically drew me back. And so, for the last months I’ve been going to Multnomah Friends much more regularly. I’m grateful for Quakerism, and I continue to be one of its fiercest supporters and one of its fiercest critics.

Zack Jackson 

Can you say more about that?

Jacob Hoopes 

Of course, yeah. It’s been pretty remarkable. I’ve been sort of proselytizing for Quakerism quite a bit over the last couple months, and I’ve been yet more clearly understanding, not just the necessity, but the power and efficiency and effectiveness of nonviolence in making change. Like Quaker practice doesn’t end when you leave meeting. It’s not something that you can take off. It’s it’s who I am, and this is the work that I’m doing is unabashedly Quaker, and so I bring with bring with me every day those lessons and the understanding that if we want to make change, the means must reflect the ends, and Quakerism has some pretty solid means. 

Yeah, and then when I talk about a critic of Quakerism, I think I find myself frustrated with the capacity of Quaker bodies to rest on our laurels. Sort of imagine that the past successes of Quakerism are enough to justify our, frankly, our continued existence. I think that to imagine that the the actionable bit actionable bits of Quakerism end with the abolition of slavery, or the civil rights movement succeeding in in the way that it succeeded, or the right of women to vote, I think it’s should be evident now that none of those struggles are actually done, and so if we rest on our laurels, we are lying to ourselves. And to imagine that Quakers have succeeded, and therefore are done, and therefore have this moral upper hand that we can utilize to justify merely talking. I think is a profoundly disrespectful way to view Quaker practice.

I think that the testimonies provide a roadmap for us, and the testimony-the testimony of peace-is something that I’m very interested in talking more about, and in some capacity, even as I’m incarcerated. But the roadmap is something that it ceases to be if it’s not acted on. Okay, there’s this wonderful sort of awareness that I’ve been reflecting on. If you have power and you don’t utilize it, you have no power. And I want Quakers to imagine that we have power to reflect on that. Take that query, take that notion, and consider what that demands of us individually and in community.

Zack Jackson  

So, Jacob, now that the trial is over and you’re looking at a 900-day sentence, I wonder if you thought about what you would say if you had the opportunity to meet the officer who was struck by that rock. What do you think a restorative justice conversation would look like in that context?

Jacob Hoopes  

First off, I would apologize. I think that’s a great question. I’ll sort of go large and then come back down to the actual question. When we’re in this moment, when there are so many deeply evil acts being committed, most notably at the federal level of the United States, but at other levels as well, there’s this sort of systemic willingness to trod on those who are already hurting. How do we get justice? How do we find some way to move forward in a society where many of its members have, frankly, not many, like a tiny, tiny fraction, have committed these terrible acts and done these terrible things? How do we find it in our hearts to forgive, and I think there’s wonderful lessons here. Like I, I think Jesus is one person who, like, just as an individual, did a lot of turning the other cheek. And it should be noted, he also flipped over the tables in the Temple to drive away the money lenders, like he wasn’t, and he whipped them. If you remember.

I think that we can find a way to make amends, but we’re not there yet. When someone is actively pointing a gun at your chest, or actively taking you and your children out of your home, when you’re being put in a cramped concrete box with 80 other people, and there’s no toilet facilities or there’s limited access to clean water and food, I don’t think it would be appropriate in that moment to forgive. I think it requires a certain level of safety and a certain level of deep understanding that your forgiveness will not enable more harm. So I, I would apologize to the DHS agent, the ICE agent, the person that I hit, because I hit them. Frankly, end of conversation in a lot of ways. Like that, whether it was a mistake or not on my part, like it’s still something that I take ownership of, And I honor, I acknowledge that I made a mistake, and then there comes an opportunity to see what they’ll do, if they want to engage and are ready to see me as a human being and see me as a person. Like I will be there for that, and I will be receptive to that, and I understand that there’s something divine, there’s something holy in all of us, and that includes those ICE agents. You know, as hard as it might be to admit sometimes, like these people are people too. Doesn’t mean we should forgive them. It doesn’t mean that we need to excuse them. I think it does mean that, however we demand that they be treated, we deal with the consequences of that treatment being universal, and understand that I don’t think we can have a just society, can have a good society if we’re not willing to someday somehow maintain the possibility of forgiveness, again, should not happen until these people are not able to do any more harm. I think, and in the case of some of these folks very high up. Like I don’t know what that like if there ever will be a time when they’re beyond the capacity to cause harm. I don’t know. I don’t know what justice looks like. Thank goodness it’s not up to me to decide. It’s up to all of us to figure that out.

Zack Jackson  

So you’re about to surrender yourself in a few days, and you’ll serve at least 300 days without the possibility for early release. How are you preparing for that? Especially given how much time you’ve spent in recent years building local community.

Jacob Hoopes  

Thankfully, in the moment that we’re in right now, there are ways for me to stay connected with those communities. I intend to be writing letters and reading letters and reading things that relate to my urban planning studies and my city council studies and my Quaker studies. I hope to to delve deeply into those as much as I’m able, as well as try to be present in the moment of being a person who’s incarcerated wherever I’m incarcerated, in whatever context I’m incarcerated, and bear that with as much dignity as I can, I can muster. Yeah, I know that the communities that I’ve been a part of, that I’ve helped build, and those I’ve I’ve just been sort of an accessory to, or supported in some other way. They’ll continue, and just like the final piece to this is I, I do trust, and I hope that I’ll emerge into a world that’s better than the one that I left. 

Zack Jackson  

A few weeks after I recorded that conversation, Jacob surrendered himself to a federal prison camp. A month into his sentence, I sat down with his father Tom to see how Jacob was doing on the inside, and to talk about an incredible movement that was starting on the outside.

Tom Hoopes  

Well, here we are at day 35, and if it sounds like I’m counting the days, it is because I am, and not a day has gone by that my wife and I have not engaged in very explicit, intentional rituals and meditations to uplift Jacob and to care for him. And somewhere around day 10, we finally got an email message that we had told might happen, and it finally did. It was like this tremendous weight lifted because we could hear his voice through his words, and I can tell you that Jacob is making the most of it in a way that I think every listener to this podcast would recognize and be happy about and proud of, and he’s finding ways to spread the light and to share quiet acts of friendship and consideration that people who know him personally would instantly recognize are hallmarks of his character.

Zack Jackson  

Tom, can you tell us a little about this new initiative that you and others have started during this time, and how our listeners at home might be able to get involved?

Tom Hoopes  

It was. It came to me in a dream when the judge pronounced that he would be sentenced to 30 months. I um I held that in my heart, and out of this dream emerged the awareness that that’s approximately 900 days, and I can count to 900, and I’m going to count to 900, and I’m going to invite everyone else to count with me if you would like to, and that’s when the idea for the website came up, 900 Days of Light, and then speaking with some friends about it, the idea got better and better to the point where it was like, yeah, this isn’t about Jacob, this is about us. This is about actually strengthening our community by looking at what has happened and flipping it, and leveraging it, and seeing it as an opportunity to double down on our commitment to building a better world, and so people can go to the website and adopt a day and do some action that’s in alignment with their own values, and then write a letter to Jacob telling him about it. And people have been doing it in the most extraordinarily creative ways, and it’s just a testament to the creativity and power and resilience and love of our community that this is how we are engaging with this prison sentence. 

This is an opportunity to spread the light, and I would invite people hearing this podcast to go to www.900daysoflight.com and check it out and read about Jacob. You’ll see some news articles and some videos of Jacob himself, and you’ll also see an opportunity to adopt a day. And you’ll notice that the first available day to adopt now is almost in 2027. And I’m hoping that after this podcast goes out, all of the rest of the days will get adopted in a heartbeat because the goal is to not just let Jacob know that he is being supported and loved, but we are committed to making this world a better place.

Zack Jackson  

Thank you for listening, and thank you to Jacob and Tom Hoopes for sharing your stories with us today.  For links and a transcript of today’s episode, make sure you check out Quakerpodcast.com and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the release of season 4 beginning in a few weeks. 

This episode was hosted, produced and edited by me, Zack Jackson. Jon Watts wrote and produced the music.

Thee Quaker Podcast is a part of Thee Quaker Project. We are a nonprofit Quaker media organization dedicated to giving Quakerism a platform for the 21st Century.

If you like what we’re up to, please consider becoming a monthly supporter. You can go to Quakerpodcast.com and click support in the top right window. Takes less than five minutes, and we really appreciate it. 

And now, friends. At the end of our time together, I want to leave you with one final challenge that Tom gave me…

Tom Hoopes  

I ask myself the following query on a regular basis, what am I doing to be brave at this time? I ask myself that query every day in countless ways, and bravery is big and little, but mostly it’s little. It’s taking that next step to look malice, or harm, or risk, or fear directly in the eye, and to summon my courage, which is to say, not to be fearless, but to have heart and take the next step.

Hosted, produced, and edited by Zack Jackson.

Original music and sound design by Jon Watts (Listen to more of Jon’s music here.)

This season’s cover art is by Todd Drake

Supported by listeners like you (thank you!!)