Trump and other White House officials say the feds may soon be coming to other major cities as well.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) intends to send around 150 federal agents to Chicago, the Chicago Tribunereported today. The plan is an escalation of the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on protests and unrest in major U. S. cities.
The planned deployment comes amid national backlash over the use of federal agents in Portland, Oregon, where news reports and videos have shown the feds beating a nonviolent Navy veteran, shooting an unarmed protester in the face with an impact weapon, and using unmarked vehicles to snatch protesters off the street. Last night, federal agents tear- gassed a crowd of moms.
Camouflaged agents from Customs and Border Protection and the U. S. Marshals Service have been deployed to Portland—where protests and unrest over the police killing of George Floyd have been happening for more than 50 days—under a June 26 executive order to protect federal monuments and property. The Trump administration claims it is protecting the city’s federal courthouse and other property from “lawless anarchists” who have vandalized and attacked the building.
In a news conference this morning, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she spoke with Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler on Sunday “to get a sense of what’s happened there.”
“We don’t need federal agents without any insignia taking people off the street and holding them I think unlawfully,” Lightfoot said.
