Trump officials keep up the pressure on Portland with unidentified troops — other cities may be next
In the face of opposition from the mayor, the governor and the city’s leading newspaper, the Trump administration on Monday said it would keep using unidentified federal law enforcement officers to round up “anarchists” in Portland, Ore., and suggested it would expand the practice to other U.S. cities — ones with Democratic mayors.
“We’re going to have more federal law enforcement, that I can tell you,” President Trump said in the White House. “In Portland they’ve done a fantastic job, they’ve been there three days and have done a fantastic job. These people are anarchists, they hate our country and we’re not going to let it go forward.
“We’re looking at Chicago too,” added Trump. “We’re looking at New York. Look at what’s going on. Run by Democrats. All run by very liberal Democrats. All run really by radical left.”
Portland has been the site of demonstrations over police treatment of Black civilians for several weeks, with protesters having damaged some federal property and painted graffiti on buildings including the federal courthouse. Last week, a 26-year-old protester holding a speaker was shot by federal officers with a so-called less-lethal weapon and suffered a skull fracture.
Last week, officials in Oregon expressed outrage after Department of Homeland Security officers dressed in quasi-military uniforms but not bearing identification were picking up protesters in unmarked vans. One man alleged he was detained at a federal courthouse and let go with no paperwork or record of his arrest.
“I just happened to be wearing black on a sidewalk in downtown Portland at the time,” Portland resident Mark Pettibone told Oregon Public Broadcasting. “And that apparently is grounds for detaining me.”
On Sunday, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said the presence of federal officers was “adding gasoline to a fire.”
“I was very, very clear when I spoke with the head of Homeland Security earlier this week that the situation had been improving over the past several weeks and that their presence here substantially escalated the situation,” Brown, a Democrat, said on NPR, adding, “And honestly, this is about scoring political points. It’s about political theater. It’s clearly not about problem solving, and it’s obviously not about public safety. Last weekend, a young man was almost killed. This has been extremely challenging, and it’s time for the Trump administration to pull their troops and go on home.”
Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky also objected to the federal presence.
“We cannot give up liberty for security,” Paul tweeted Monday afternoon. “Local law enforcement can and should be handling these situations in our cities but there is no place for federal troops or unidentified federal agents rounding people up at will.”
Over the weekend, a “Wall of Moms” joined the protests with chained arms, chanting “Feds stay clear! Moms are here!” outside the courthouse. They stood with the crowd until it was dispersed by federal officers with tear gas and flash-bangs. A video went viral Saturday night of officers breaking the hands of a Navy veteran when he was shouting at them, “Why are you not honoring your oath to the Constitution?”
Federal police strike protester with baton, use pepper spray and tear gas outside courthouse in Portland pic.twitter.com/VX2xTVaaYq
— Zane Sparling (@PDXzane) July 19, 2020
“I’m appalled and disappointed at the feds’ behavior — that whoever led them and trained them allowed them to become this way,” Christopher David, 53, a former Navy civil engineering corps officer and a 1988 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, told the New York Times. “This is a failure of leadership more than it is a failure of their own individual behavior towards me.”
On Sunday, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said that administration officials, including Attorney General William Barr, are working with Trump on a new executive order to expand the federal police presence in cities, and that it would be “rolled out” in the coming days.
On Monday morning, the Chicago Tribune reported that 150 DHS troops were expected to be deployed to Chicago this week.
“The Homeland Security Investigations, or HSI, agents are set to assist other federal law enforcement and Chicago police in crime-fighting efforts, according to sources familiar with the matter, though a specific plan on what the agents will be doing had not been made public,” read the story by reporters Gregory Pratt and Jeremy Gorner.
“The governor and the mayor and the senators out there, they’re afraid of these people,” Trump said Monday. “That’s the reason they don’t want us to help them. They’re afraid. I really believe they’re actually maybe even physically afraid of these people.”
Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf visited the city last week and said the federal presence was necessary to protect the courthouse there.
“A federal courthouse is a symbol of justice — to attack it is to attack America. Instead of addressing violent criminals in their communities, local and state leaders are instead focusing on placing blame on law enforcement and requesting fewer officers in their community,” Wolf said in a statement. “This failed response has only emboldened the violent mob as it escalates violence day after day.”
Wolf listed dozens of allegations against “violent anarchists,” including shooting fireworks into the courthouse and assaulting officers. The document also noted graffiti (20 separate instances), damaged fencing (eight separate instances) and lasers directed at law enforcement personnel and aircraft (eight separate instances). At least 13 people have been charged with crimes related to the protests.
Wolf and Acting Deputy DHS Secretary Ken Cuccinelli defended the actions after protests grew in Portland over the weekend, saying it is their department’s responsibility to protect federal buildings.
“I don’t need invitations by the state, state mayors or state governors to do our job,” Wolf said Monday morning on Fox News. “We’re going to do that, whether they like us there or not.”
“If we get the same kind of intelligence in other places about threats to other federal facilities or officers, we would respond the same way,” Cuccinelli told CNN.
Neither Wolf nor Cuccinelli has been confirmed by the Senate; Wolf is Trump’s third acting DHS head and fifth overall. Officials in Oregon, ranging from the governor and U.S. senators to mayors and county commissioners, have continually denounced the federal presence, stating that it’s theater for right-wing media.
“It’s a good thing there was photographic evidence establishing that acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf actually visited Portland last week,” said the editorial board of the Oregonian, the city’s major newspaper. “Because based on his florid statement about our city ‘under siege,’ a reasonable person would assume the entire city is in flames and no one can go outside safely at night.
“Yes, parts of downtown have been trashed,” it continued. “Many public and private buildings have been shuttered to protect them from further damage. But let’s call Wolf’s visit what it is: A political play by a Trump appointee using Portland as the backdrop. He is seizing the opportunity to create a false narrative of the federal government saving the day. In truth, federal intervention has only made things worse.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., plans to introduce a bill that would require federal law enforcement officers to carry and show identification.
“The bill would require on-duty federal agents to display not just the name of their agency, but the individual agent’s last name and identification number,” according to a report in the Nation.
Attorney General William Barr deployed federal agents in military uniforms in Washington, D.C., last month, including members of the FBI; the DHS; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and the Bureau of Prisons. Many of the officers were wearing generic riot gear with no agency markings and refused to identify themselves when asked by demonstrators.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi demanded details on the operation in a letter to Trump, writing: “The practice of officers operating with full anonymity undermines accountability, ignites government distrust and suspicion, and is counter to the principle of procedural justice and legitimacy during this precarious moment in our nation’s history.”
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