Militarized federal agents are seizing protesters in the U.S.
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Oregon ACLU: 'Actions of the militarized federal officers are flat-out unconstitutional'
by ANDREW SELSKY
and GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press
Friday, July 17th 2020
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Federal agents in green camouflage uniforms have been taking into custody people in the streets of Portland, not close to federal property that they were sent to protect, in what the ACLU on Friday said "should concern everyone in the United States."
"Usually when we see people in unmarked cars forcibly grab someone off the street we call it kidnapping," said Jann Carson, interim executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon."The actions of the militarized federal officers are flat-out unconstitutional and will not go unanswered."
Gov. Kate Brown said President Donald Trump, who deployed Department of Homeland Security officers to Portland, is looking for a confrontation in the hopes of winning political points elsewhere.
The Democratic governor on Thursday called the actions "a blatant abuse of power by the federal government." Her spokesman, Charles Boyle, said Friday that arresting people without probable cause is "extraordinarily concerning and a violation of their civil liberties and constitutional rights."
Federal officers have charged at least 13 people with crimes related to the protests so far, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported Thursday. Some have been detained by the federal courthouse, which has been the scene of protests. But others were grabbed blocks away.
One video showed two people in helmets and green camouflage with "police" patches grabbing a person on the sidewalk, handcuffing them and taking them into an unmarked vehicle.
"Who are you?" someone asks the pair, who do not respond. At least some of the federal officers belong to the Department of Homeland Security.
"Authoritarian governments, not democratic republics, send unmarked authorities after protesters," Democratic U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley said in a tweet.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations Oregon chapter said in a statement: "We are now seeing escalating tactics with protesters being unlawfully detained by unknown Federal law enforcement entities."
On Thursday night, federal officers deployed tear gas and fired non-lethal rounds into a crowd of protesters, hours after the the head of the Department of Homeland Security visited the city and called the demonstrators, who are protesting racism and police brutality, "violent anarchists."
A few hundred people gathered near the federal courthouse Thursday night. Other protesters went to a police station in another part of the city. Police told protesters to leave that site after announcing they heard some chanting about burning down the building. Protester Paul Frazier said Friday the chant was "much more rhetorical than an actual statement."
Portland police said Friday they wound up arresting 20 people overnight.
Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad Wolf said Thursday that state and city authorities are to blame for not putting an end to the protests, angering local officials.
Mayor Ted Wheeler and others have said they didn't ask for help from federal law enforcement and have asked them to leave.
Homeland Security Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli said Friday morning on "Fox & Friends" that the federal government has a responsibility to protect buildings such as the courthouse.
"What we've seen around the country is where responsible policing is advanced, violence recedes," Cuccinelli said. "And Portland hasn't gotten that memo. Nor have a lot of other cities. And the president is determined to do what we can, within our jurisdiction, to help restore peace to these beleaguered cities."
The Department of Homeland Security had no immediate comment when reached by The Associated Press on Friday.
Tensions have escalated in the past two weeks, particularly after an officer with the U.S. Marshals Service fired at a protester's head on July 11, critically injuring him.
The protests following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis have often devolved into violent clashes between smaller groups and the police. The unrest has caused deep divisions in a city that prides itself on its activism and progressive reputation.
___
This version corrects that chanting about burning happened at police station, not federal courthouse.
___
Selsky reported from Salem, Oregon.
www.google.com
by ANDREW SELSKY
and GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press
Friday, July 17th 2020
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Federal agents in green camouflage uniforms have been taking into custody people in the streets of Portland, not close to federal property that they were sent to protect, in what the ACLU on Friday said "should concern everyone in the United States."
"Usually when we see people in unmarked cars forcibly grab someone off the street we call it kidnapping," said Jann Carson, interim executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon."The actions of the militarized federal officers are flat-out unconstitutional and will not go unanswered."
Gov. Kate Brown said President Donald Trump, who deployed Department of Homeland Security officers to Portland, is looking for a confrontation in the hopes of winning political points elsewhere.
The Democratic governor on Thursday called the actions "a blatant abuse of power by the federal government." Her spokesman, Charles Boyle, said Friday that arresting people without probable cause is "extraordinarily concerning and a violation of their civil liberties and constitutional rights."
Federal officers have charged at least 13 people with crimes related to the protests so far, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported Thursday. Some have been detained by the federal courthouse, which has been the scene of protests. But others were grabbed blocks away.
One video showed two people in helmets and green camouflage with "police" patches grabbing a person on the sidewalk, handcuffing them and taking them into an unmarked vehicle.
"Who are you?" someone asks the pair, who do not respond. At least some of the federal officers belong to the Department of Homeland Security.
"Authoritarian governments, not democratic republics, send unmarked authorities after protesters," Democratic U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley said in a tweet.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations Oregon chapter said in a statement: "We are now seeing escalating tactics with protesters being unlawfully detained by unknown Federal law enforcement entities."
On Thursday night, federal officers deployed tear gas and fired non-lethal rounds into a crowd of protesters, hours after the the head of the Department of Homeland Security visited the city and called the demonstrators, who are protesting racism and police brutality, "violent anarchists."
A few hundred people gathered near the federal courthouse Thursday night. Other protesters went to a police station in another part of the city. Police told protesters to leave that site after announcing they heard some chanting about burning down the building. Protester Paul Frazier said Friday the chant was "much more rhetorical than an actual statement."
Portland police said Friday they wound up arresting 20 people overnight.
Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad Wolf said Thursday that state and city authorities are to blame for not putting an end to the protests, angering local officials.
Mayor Ted Wheeler and others have said they didn't ask for help from federal law enforcement and have asked them to leave.
Homeland Security Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli said Friday morning on "Fox & Friends" that the federal government has a responsibility to protect buildings such as the courthouse.
"What we've seen around the country is where responsible policing is advanced, violence recedes," Cuccinelli said. "And Portland hasn't gotten that memo. Nor have a lot of other cities. And the president is determined to do what we can, within our jurisdiction, to help restore peace to these beleaguered cities."
The Department of Homeland Security had no immediate comment when reached by The Associated Press on Friday.
Tensions have escalated in the past two weeks, particularly after an officer with the U.S. Marshals Service fired at a protester's head on July 11, critically injuring him.
The protests following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis have often devolved into violent clashes between smaller groups and the police. The unrest has caused deep divisions in a city that prides itself on its activism and progressive reputation.
___
This version corrects that chanting about burning happened at police station, not federal courthouse.
___
Selsky reported from Salem, Oregon.
Oregon ACLU: 'Actions of the militarized federal officers are flat-out unconstitutional'
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Federal agents in green camouflage uniforms have been taking into custody people in the streets of Portland, not close to federal property that they were sent to protect, in what the ACLU on Friday said "should concern everyone in the United States. ""Usually when we see...
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Federal Officers Deployed in Portland Didn’t Have Proper Training, D.H.S. Memo Said
Rather than tamping down persistent protests in Portland, Ore., a militarized presence from federal officers seems to have re-energized them.
Protesters at the Multnomah County Justice Center on Friday night.Credit...Mason Trinca/Getty Images
New York Times
By Sergio Olmos,
Mike Baker and
Zolan Kanno-Youngs
July 18, 2020
PORTLAND, Ore. — The federal agents facing a growing backlash for their militarized approach to weeks of unrest in Portland were not specifically trained in riot control or mass demonstrations, an internal Department of Homeland Security memo warned this week.
The message, dated Thursday, was prepared by the agency for Chad F. Wolf, the acting secretary of homeland security, as he arrived in Portland to view the scene in person, according to a copy of the memo obtained by The New York Times. It listed federal buildings in the city and issues officers faced in protecting them.
The memo, seemingly anticipating future encounters with protesters in other cities as the department follows President Trump’s guidance to crack down on unrest, warns: “Moving forward, if this type of response is going to be the norm, specialized training and standardized equipment should be deployed to responding agencies.”
The tactical agents deployed by homeland security include officials from a group known as BORTAC, the Border Patrol’s equivalent of a SWAT team, a highly trained group that normally is tasked with investigating drug smuggling organizations, as opposed to protesters in cities.
Alexei Woltornist, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, said on Sunday that the missions of the federal agents in Portland “aligned with their appropriate training” and that officers received “additional training for their deployment in the city” to assist the Federal Protective Service.
The statement did not specifically mention the memo that said the agents lacked sufficient training in riot control or mass demonstrations. The agency did not respond to follow-up questions about the information in the memo.
The issue is playing out as the aggressive federal campaign to suppress protests in Portland appears to have instead rejuvenated the city’s movement, as protesters gathered by the hundreds late Friday and into Saturday morning — the largest crowd in weeks.
Federal officers at times flooded street corridors with tear gas and shot projectiles from paintball guns, while demonstrators responded by shouting that the officers in fatigues were “terrorists” and chanting: “Whose streets? Our streets.”
A court ruling has largely prohibited the local police from using tear gas during the recent protests, which have played out for more than 50 consecutive nights.
With one Portland protester severely injured in front of the federal courthouse and others pulled by unidentified federal agents into unmarked vans, the extraordinary campaign to subdue protesters has led to widespread condemnation of the federal response in Portland and beyond.
While the protesters have repeatedly decried the city’s own police tactics, Mayor Ted Wheeler, who also serves as police commissioner, and other leaders have united in calls for federal agencies to stay away. Jo Ann Hardesty, a city commissioner, went to join protesters gathered outside the county Justice Center downtown, saying the city would “not allow armed military forces to attack our people.”
“Today we show the country and the world that the city of Portland, even as much as we fight among ourselves, will come together to stand up for our constitutional rights,” Ms. Hardesty said on Friday.
While officials from the Department of Homeland Security have described the stepped-up involvement of federal officers as part of an effort to oppose lawlessness in the city, state and local leaders contended that the federal officethemselves may be violating the law.
Prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into the injury of one protester, who appeared to have been shot in the head with a less-lethal weapon outside the federal courthouse in downtown Portland. Ellen Rosenblum, the state’s attorney general, has filed a lawsuit, accusing federal officers of unlawful tactics in how they went about detaining people by pulling them into unmarked vans.
The pushback against the militarized federal deployment involving officers in fatigues and tactical gear has also extended to the streets, where the presence of those federal agents has rejuvenated a movement that had shown signs of finally slowing down after weeks of protest against police violence and militarization.
Hundreds continued to demonstrate after midnight on Saturday, playing music, holding shields, tearing down temporary fences and throwing fireworks at the county’s Justice Center.
Along with street medics, protesters also have the support of a snack van that offers free Gatorade and instant noodles, and a makeshift kitchen called Riot Ribs that cooks bratwursts and Beyond Meat sausage. Someone on Saturday had set up a stand selling T-shirts promoting racial equity and handwashing.
The protests have long featured a mix of tactics, with some there displaying signs to sustain a Black Lives Matter movement that emerged in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death in May. Others have engaged in more unruly responses, such as graffiti or throwing objects at officers. Dozens have been arrested over the weeks, including some by federal officers, such as a man accused of hitting an officer with a hammer last week.
Protests around the federal courthouse — tagged with messages such as “Stop Using Violence on Us” and “History Has Its Eye on You” — have drawn the ire of federal leaders. Mr. Wolf got a tour there this week and shared images of himself in front of graffitied walls.
www.google.com
Rather than tamping down persistent protests in Portland, Ore., a militarized presence from federal officers seems to have re-energized them.
Protesters at the Multnomah County Justice Center on Friday night.Credit...Mason Trinca/Getty Images
New York Times
By Sergio Olmos,
Mike Baker and
Zolan Kanno-Youngs
July 18, 2020
PORTLAND, Ore. — The federal agents facing a growing backlash for their militarized approach to weeks of unrest in Portland were not specifically trained in riot control or mass demonstrations, an internal Department of Homeland Security memo warned this week.
The message, dated Thursday, was prepared by the agency for Chad F. Wolf, the acting secretary of homeland security, as he arrived in Portland to view the scene in person, according to a copy of the memo obtained by The New York Times. It listed federal buildings in the city and issues officers faced in protecting them.
The memo, seemingly anticipating future encounters with protesters in other cities as the department follows President Trump’s guidance to crack down on unrest, warns: “Moving forward, if this type of response is going to be the norm, specialized training and standardized equipment should be deployed to responding agencies.”
The tactical agents deployed by homeland security include officials from a group known as BORTAC, the Border Patrol’s equivalent of a SWAT team, a highly trained group that normally is tasked with investigating drug smuggling organizations, as opposed to protesters in cities.
Alexei Woltornist, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, said on Sunday that the missions of the federal agents in Portland “aligned with their appropriate training” and that officers received “additional training for their deployment in the city” to assist the Federal Protective Service.
The statement did not specifically mention the memo that said the agents lacked sufficient training in riot control or mass demonstrations. The agency did not respond to follow-up questions about the information in the memo.
The issue is playing out as the aggressive federal campaign to suppress protests in Portland appears to have instead rejuvenated the city’s movement, as protesters gathered by the hundreds late Friday and into Saturday morning — the largest crowd in weeks.
Federal officers at times flooded street corridors with tear gas and shot projectiles from paintball guns, while demonstrators responded by shouting that the officers in fatigues were “terrorists” and chanting: “Whose streets? Our streets.”
A court ruling has largely prohibited the local police from using tear gas during the recent protests, which have played out for more than 50 consecutive nights.
With one Portland protester severely injured in front of the federal courthouse and others pulled by unidentified federal agents into unmarked vans, the extraordinary campaign to subdue protesters has led to widespread condemnation of the federal response in Portland and beyond.
While the protesters have repeatedly decried the city’s own police tactics, Mayor Ted Wheeler, who also serves as police commissioner, and other leaders have united in calls for federal agencies to stay away. Jo Ann Hardesty, a city commissioner, went to join protesters gathered outside the county Justice Center downtown, saying the city would “not allow armed military forces to attack our people.”
“Today we show the country and the world that the city of Portland, even as much as we fight among ourselves, will come together to stand up for our constitutional rights,” Ms. Hardesty said on Friday.
While officials from the Department of Homeland Security have described the stepped-up involvement of federal officers as part of an effort to oppose lawlessness in the city, state and local leaders contended that the federal officethemselves may be violating the law.
Prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into the injury of one protester, who appeared to have been shot in the head with a less-lethal weapon outside the federal courthouse in downtown Portland. Ellen Rosenblum, the state’s attorney general, has filed a lawsuit, accusing federal officers of unlawful tactics in how they went about detaining people by pulling them into unmarked vans.
The pushback against the militarized federal deployment involving officers in fatigues and tactical gear has also extended to the streets, where the presence of those federal agents has rejuvenated a movement that had shown signs of finally slowing down after weeks of protest against police violence and militarization.
Hundreds continued to demonstrate after midnight on Saturday, playing music, holding shields, tearing down temporary fences and throwing fireworks at the county’s Justice Center.
Along with street medics, protesters also have the support of a snack van that offers free Gatorade and instant noodles, and a makeshift kitchen called Riot Ribs that cooks bratwursts and Beyond Meat sausage. Someone on Saturday had set up a stand selling T-shirts promoting racial equity and handwashing.
The protests have long featured a mix of tactics, with some there displaying signs to sustain a Black Lives Matter movement that emerged in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death in May. Others have engaged in more unruly responses, such as graffiti or throwing objects at officers. Dozens have been arrested over the weeks, including some by federal officers, such as a man accused of hitting an officer with a hammer last week.
Protests around the federal courthouse — tagged with messages such as “Stop Using Violence on Us” and “History Has Its Eye on You” — have drawn the ire of federal leaders. Mr. Wolf got a tour there this week and shared images of himself in front of graffitied walls.
Federal Officers Deployed in Portland Didn’t Have Proper Training, D.H.S. Memo Said
Rather than tamping down persistent protests in Portland, Ore., a militarized presence from federal officers seems to have re-energized them.
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