Unmarked federal agents are arresting Black Lives Matter protesters in Portland, Oregon, at Trump\u2019s urging.<\/b>
\nOregon\u2019s governor doesn\u2019t want them. Oregon\u2019s senators don\u2019t want them. Portland\u2019s mayor and city commissioners don\u2019t want them. And Portland\u2019s residents don\u2019t want them.
And yet, at the urging of President Donald Trump, federal officers are roaming the streets of Oregon\u2019s biggest city in unmarked vehicles, detaining protesters without identifying themselves.
Multiplereports and videos clearly show heavily armed federal law enforcement officers dressed in camouflage stepping out of unmarked civilian vans and forcibly detaining anti-racism and anti-police brutality demonstrators on the streets of Portland, often far away from any federal property (where federal officials have jurisdiction). In many instances, those taken into custody hadn\u2019t clearly violated any laws.
After several days of fear and confusion as reports of these mysterious activities piled up, the Trump administration acknowledged that the Department of Homeland Security sent officers from Border Patrol and other agencies to Portland last week to protect federal property, namely a federal courthouse in the heart of the city, which has been tagged by graffiti and had a small fire and broken windows.
Trump administration officials, especially acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, have defended the aggressive tactics. They\u2019ve portrayed the largely peaceful George Floyd-inspired protests in the city, which have lasted over 50 days and at times led to some property destruction and minor attacks on authorities, as a \u201cviolent mob\u201d of \u201clawless anarchists.\u201d
This is happening on the streets of our hometown of Portland, OR. We will continue to resist. They are fucking with the wrong city #TheResistancepic.twitter.com\/byOUkcp5iZ
\u201cThe city of Portland has been under siege… by a violent mob while local political leaders refuse to restore order to protect their city,\u201d he said in a lengthy July 16 statement. \u201cEach night, lawless anarchists destroy and desecrate property, including the federal courthouse, and attack the brave law enforcement officers protecting it.\u201d
\u201cDHS will not abdicate its solemn duty to protect federal facilities and those within them,\u201d he added.
But critics say the heavy-handed approach is an overreaction to mostly peaceful protests and detrimental to the rule of law. \u201cThis is the stuff of fascist regimes, not American democracy,\u201d Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) told me. \u201cIt\u2019s important that we don\u2019t have secret police in America,\u201d Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) also said in an interview.
Two direct consequences have come out of the national controversy.
First, activists and the lawyers who represent them say the once-dwindling crowds are growing again in response to the federal government\u2019s actions. \u201cMore and more protesters are coming out each night,\u201d said Ashlee Albies, a local attorney who represents Don\u2019t Shoot Portland, a civil rights organization. \u201cThere are more protesters now than there are feds.\u201d
A mounting standoff, some worry, could potentially lead to even more tensions and violence. In just the past day, demonstrators burned the Portland police union\u2019s building and federal officers fired tear gas at mothers peacefully protesting.
Second, a legal battle is now underway, pitting Portland\u2019s citizens against afederal government with broad statutory authorities. Few, though, believe the courts will compel the Trump administration to stand down. At most, it might lead federal law enforcement to act more cautiously, but they\u2019ll still operate in areas where locals don\u2019t want them to.
Which means the events in Portland are likely to persist for quite some time, testing the limits of federal authority in American cities and the resolve of those who live in them. \u201cAt this point, we\u2019re already in a constitutional crisis,\u201d said Juan Ch\u00e1vez, a lawyer and director of the civil rights project at the Oregon Justice Resource Center.
Two months ago, the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man killed by police officers in Minneapolis, sparked nationwide protests calling for racial equality and expansive police reform. As in other American cities, thousands took to the streets of Portland and vowed to keep the pressure on local and federal leaders. But the situation in Portland quickly turned ugly.
From the start, Portland\u2019s police force used tear gas to maintain order. Such measures led a US district judge on June 9 to ban the use of tear gas except in instances \u201cin which the lives or safety of the public or the police are at risk.\u201d That order would be expanded two weeks later to include rubber bullets and other nonlethal munitions.
In the midst of the legal battle, Portland\u2019s police force claimed order was unraveling as statues of Confederate generals and former Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were defaced or torn down.
State lawmakers passed a law saying local police could only use tear gas on protesters if police declared that a \u201criot\u201d was underway that could severely impact the safety of officers and property. That provided law enforcement quite a loophole to continue using tear gas, local activists told me \u2014 one that police have exploited since.
Disperse from the area. CS gas is being used.
That not only angered protesters but also impacted uninvolved citizens. In some cases, the tear gas would waft into residential areas, impacting drivers, homeowners, gas station attendants, and public transportation riders far away from the standoff.
But in some ways that wasn\u2019t so surprising, locals said: Portland\u2019s police had long been known to use aggressive tactics, as evidenced by a recent incident in which officers swarmed a protester on his bicycle to arrest him.
WATCH — Portland Police officers knock a protester off of his bicycle and arrest him outside of Lownsdale Square Park near the Federal Courthouse downtown #LiveOnK2pic.twitter.com\/tow0GzeyzW
Portland\u2019s police department continued to defend its actions, though, claiming such measures were necessary to tamp down unruly or unlawful protests.
Tear gas \u201cis uncomfortable, but effective at dispersing crowds,\u201d Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell said in a July 1 video posted to Twitter. \u201cWe would rather not use it. We would rather have those in the area follow the law and not engage in dangerous behavior.\u201d
Deploying tear gas and other crowd-control methods didn\u2019t compel all protesters to stop demonstrating, but they did lead to a reduction in numbers, activists said. Still, any amount of protesters tussling with law enforcement was apparently too much for President Donald Trump, so he got involved.
On June 26, Trump signed an executive order to send federal officers to cities around the country to protect statues, monuments, and federal property. Five days later, Wolf, the acting Department of Homeland Security secretary, formed the Protecting American Communities Task Force to coordinate the response nationwide.
\u201cDHS is answering the President\u2019s call to use our law enforcement personnel across the country to protect our historic landmarks,\u201d Wolf said in a July 1 statement. \u201cWe won\u2019t stand idly by while violent anarchists and rioters seek not only to vandalize and destroy the symbols of our nation, but to disrupt law and order and sow chaos in our communities.\u201d
According to DHS, the new task force would \u201cconduct ongoing assessments of potential civil unrest or destruction and allocate resources to protect people and property,\u201d which might \u201cinvolve potential surge activity to ensure the continuing protection of critical locations.\u201d
The task force was put together in haste. The units DHS would send didn\u2019t have the proper training to deal with mass demonstrations, per a Homeland Security memo prepared for Wolf and reported by the New York Times on Saturday. And yet, groups like \u201cBORTAC\u201d \u2014 a Border Patrol unit that mainly investigates drug dealers and acts like a SWAT team \u2014 deployed to Portland in early July.
They and other federal law enforcement officers assembled at the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse, drawing the attention of protesters and prompting a crowd to form outside the building. But on July 1 \u2014 the day the task force was formally announced \u2014 the federal officers really made their presence known. They came out of the boarded-up building and fired pepper balls at the demonstrators before retreating back inside.
That was the first clue activists got that the feds would be more involved than initially expected. Washington said federal officials would be in Portland mainly to protect federal property and investigate federal crimes, said Ch\u00e1vez, the civil rights attorney, but \u201cwe knew then and there that wasn\u2019t all they were doing.\u201d
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler was nervous about what he\u2019d seen and called for an end to violent protests and a review of police tactics on July 3. \u201cI am calling for a full and thorough review of all use of force tactics and meaningful public transparency,\u201d he said.
But the federal government\u2019s involvement only escalated from there.
On July 12,26-year-old protester Donavan LaBella was shot in the head by federal officials with a \u201cless lethal\u201d munition while he held a boombox in front of federal officers. His mother said LaBella sustained facial and skull fractures requiring reconstructive surgery. That episode sparked a major outcry from the city and state\u2019s most prominent politicians.
Blood on the floor too. This incident happened around 9:48pm on July 11th, 2020.
A post shared by Tomas| Videographer. Editor. (@tomasmorales_iv) on Jul 12,2020 at 2:07pm PDT
\u201cThe events of last night at the federal courthouse were the tragic and avoidable result of President Donald Trump, for weeks, continuing to push for force and violence in response to protests,\u201d Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said in a statement at the time. \u201cPresident Trump deploying armed federal officers to Portland only serves to escalate tensions and, as we saw yesterday, will inevitably lead to unnecessary violence and confrontation.\u201d
And in the last week or so, it appears federal officers have taken their mandate a step further by riding around Portland in unmarked vehicles and detaining suspects in ways critics say amounts to kidnapping.
What is this? They are kidnapping people. pic.twitter.com\/M0AnuZ1GSi
Perhaps the best-known case is that of Mark Pettibone. He and his friend were returning home from a protest at the courthouse in the early hours of July 15. The protest had been mostly peaceful, and law enforcement agencies hadn\u2019t used tear gas against demonstrators that day.
But around 2 am, unidentified people in camouflage stepped out of a van and threw Pettibone into the back of it against his will. Pettibone, who claims he did nothing suspicious or illegal, told Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) on July 16 that \u201cI had my beanie pulled over my face so I couldn\u2019t see and they held my hands over my head.\u201d
After driving around downtown for a while, the armed men took him inside a building, which Pettibone would only later learn was the federal courthouse. \u201cIt was basically a process of facing many walls and corners as they patted me down and took my picture and rummaged through my belongings,\u201d he told OPB.
Pettibone was placed in a cell before two officers came to read him his Miranda rights, though he says they didn\u2019t say why he was under arrest. Pettibone didn\u2019t waive those rights and instead demanded to speak to a lawyer. Roughly 90 minutes later, the officials let him go without recording his arrest or charging him with any crime.
In a subsequent interview with the Washington Post, Pettibone said he still doesn\u2019t know exactly who arrested him or why.
Federal agents deny having detained Pettibone and haven\u2019t answered reporters\u2019 questions about that and other similar incidents. But Pettibone\u2019s account, reflected in other people\u2019s testimonials and videos, seems to show that this is a new \u2014 and highly irregular, if not illegal \u2014 practice by federal authorities. Even if the agents have a small patch on their arm that says the name of their agency, the fact that you can\u2019t tell who they are, they won\u2019t say who they are, and they ride in unidentified vehicles makes them unmarked.
\u201cDetaining human beings is generally not a lawful tactic just to talk to people,\u201d said Joshua Geltzer, the executive director for the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown University.
The situation has become so fraught that even Portland\u2019s police department has distanced itself from the federal actions. \u201cAt times, federal officers may take action in proximity to Portland officers… We may take action near them,\u201d Lovell, the police chief, said last week. \u201cThe federal officers have their objectives and the Portland Police Bureau has our objectives. We don\u2019t direct federal officers\u2019 actions, and they do not direct ours.\u201d
Such a statement was likely offered ahead of what Lovell surely suspected was an imminent legal fight \u2014 one that has just arrived.
If you ask federal officials about their conduct in Portland \u2014 namely operating in secret to detain suspected offenders of federal law \u2014 they say they\u2019re just maintaining law and order while following the president\u2019s directives.
\u201cWhile the US Customs and Border Protection respects every American\u2019s right to protest peacefully, violence and civil unrest will not be tolerated,\u201d a spokesperson for the agency told me, echoing Wolf\u2019s assertions that \u201cviolent anarchists have organized events in Portland over the last several weeks with willful intent to damage and destroy federal property, as well as injure federal officers and agents.\u201d
The spokesperson stressed two other points. First, the spokesperson said that CBP agents do identify themselves \u2014 including wearing insignia of their department (as in the tweet below) \u2014 but don\u2019t display their names \u201cdue to recent doxxing incidents against law enforcement personnel who serve and protect our country.\u201d
.@CBP will continue to arrest the violent criminals that are destroying federal property & injuring our agents\/officers in Portland. CBP will restore and maintain law & order. pic.twitter.com\/fYgzpTwPWh
Second, the spokesperson said CBP supports the Federal Protective Service, a DHS agency charged with safeguarding federal property in Portland and elsewhere.
The spokesperson cited 40 USC 1315, which gives the DHS secretary the authority to have federal agents under his command bolster the FPS\u2019s efforts. Others called into that support mission include the Transportation Security Administration, the Coast Guard, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Members of those forces are allowed to arrest those suspected of crimes, carry weapons, and even investigate potential offenses on or off federal property, experts say (though how far off that property is permissible and what reasonable suspicion authorities must initially prove is up for debate).
There are many possible violations to look into as protesters have graffitied and launched fireworks at federal buildings and property, as well as thrown objects like rocks and bottles at US government agents.
Even so, Georgetown\u2019s Geltzer says the level of force must match the suspected offense \u2014 and that shooting protesters in the face with projectiles or detaining them in shadowy ways doesn\u2019t do that. \u201cNo one excuses bad behavior, but it doesn\u2019t change what an appropriate response looks like,\u201d he told me. Law enforcement can of course speak with suspects if they assent, Geltzer continued, but \u201cwhat\u2019s not okay is going to the point of forcible arrest \u2014 against someone\u2019s will \u2014 without probable cause.\u201d
One would think federal authorities would act more cautiously because the city and state didn\u2019t invite them in to help, experts said.
So far, federal authorities have yet to show real evidence to back up claims of probable cause, save for a litany of alleged violations by Wolf in his July 16 statement. Below is a screenshot of a few sections from that list.
That lack of clarity is partly why Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum last Friday filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies involved in the federal response in Portland. Per her office\u2019s press release last week, the motion, if granted, \u201cwould immediately stop federal authorities from unlawfully detaining Oregonians,\u201d thereby protecting their First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendment rights (among others).
\u201cEvery American should be repulsed when they see this happening,\u201d Rosenblum said in a statement at the time. \u201cIf this can happen here in Portland, it can happen anywhere.\u201d She clearly has the support of Oregon\u2019s US politicians, with Wyden, Merkley, and two representatives on the same day calling for a probe into federal law enforcement.
\u201cThis abuse of power demands an investigation, and those federal agents involved should find their federal employment terminated,\u201d Wyden told me.
Beyond the legal matters, though, there\u2019s also a question of whether the federal officers\u2019 tactics are even effective at calming down the protests \u2014 or whether, as most experts I spoke to said, they\u2019re inflaming the situation further.
First, there\u2019s the basic issue of federal officials not wearing specific identifying uniforms or insignia or otherwise clearly identifying themselves to those they\u2019re detaining.
Mike German, a former FBI agent now with the Brennan Center for Justice, told me the practice of officers identifying themselves before detaining suspects is equally important for officers\u2019 safety as for citizens\u2019. The person under suspicion may not believe federal officers are who they really are, instead believing they are members of militias or even just random vigilantes. Portland, after all, has become an epicenter in the US for far-right violence, replete with ordinary citizens dressing like soldiers to make a political point and scare their enemies.
Such confusion makes policing in this way harder. \u201cHow are [suspects] supposed to know that it\u2019s a federal official arresting them?\u201d German asked. \u201cWithout proper insignia, the interest in resisting is much greater,\u201d potentially escalating to violence. It\u2019s also possible, but less likely, that federal officials will mistake each other for protesters or militia groups in similar uniforms. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to be pitting law enforcement against one another in the streets of an American city,\u201d German noted.
Then there\u2019s the broader issue of using harsh tactics to attempt to quell demonstrations.
Edward Maguire, an expert on protest policing at Arizona State University who co-authored a well-regarded (free) book on the subject, said the federal government\u2019s strategy to use overwhelming force will surely backfire.
Simply put, his research from observing the policing of protests around the world shows authorities who use over-the-top tactics spark a massive backlash. The \u201cmoderates\u201d in the crowd \u2014 that is, those protesting peacefully and who don\u2019t break the law \u2014 start to embrace a more radical stance toward law enforcement aiming to control the protest. Instead of calming everything down, then, authorities end up with \u201ca lot of people who are really pissed off,\u201d Maguire said.
The Trump administration is committing this cardinal sin of protest policing in Portland. \u201cThe response that we\u2019re seeing from the federal agents is unskilled, lacks any coherent underlying strategy, and seems almost perfectly designed to escalate tensions rather than reduce them,\u201d Maguire told me. \u201cIt\u2019s almost cartoonish it\u2019s so ridiculous.\u201d
The implications are chilling. On one hand, you have a federal government determined to quash protests with ever-increasing force. On the other hand, you have demonstrations that at one point were winding down but are now ramping up again in direct response to the heavy-handedness.
And so far the escalating standoff shows no signs of dissipating.
Talk to Portland\u2019s protesters and their lawyers, and it\u2019s clear they expect to stay the course despite federal pressure.
\u201cWe\u2019ve been shot at, gassed, and beaten over the last two months \u2014 and we still haven\u2019t given up,\u201d said Ch\u00e1vez, the Oregon Justice Resource Center attorney. \u201cThe intimidation is part of the intent,\u201d but \u201cthe only thing that can stop this is people power.\u201d
\u201cPeople in Portland are not going to back down, so the feds should just leave,\u201d said Albies, the attorney for civil rights activists in the city. \u201cThe more they attack protesters, the more they demonstrate that property is more important than human rights and human lives.\u201d
But listen to the statements from those in charge of the federal response and it\u2019s equally apparent they will continue this campaign. \u201cWe must protect Federal property, AND OUR PEOPLE,\u201d Trump wrote in a Sunday tweet.
We are trying to help Portland, not hurt it. Their leadership has, for months, lost control of the anarchists and agitators. They are missing in action. We must protect Federal property, AND OUR PEOPLE. These were not merely protesters, these are the real deal!
Likely bolstered by the president\u2019s vocal support, acting DHS chief Wolf \u2014 fresh off a visit with federal officers in Portland the week before \u2014 told Fox News on Monday that \u201cI don\u2019t need invitations by the state, state mayors, or state governors to do our job. We\u2019re going to do that, whether they like us there or not.\u201d
«I don’t need invitations by the state, state mayors, or state governors to do our job. We’re going to do that, whether they like us there or not.\u201d \u2014 acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf pic.twitter.com\/Rr2P8q6Ut1
With no one backing down, tensions have continued to skyrocket. On Sunday night, protesters broke into the Portland Police Association\u2019s office and lit the building on fire, according to the city\u2019s police.
People have broken into the Portland Police Association office and lit the building on fire.
That same evening, federal officers launched tear gas at members of Mothers Against Police Brutality who had formed a human shield in front of demonstrators. They were mainly chanting, \u201cLeave our kids alone!\u201d per someone at the scene, who also noted that at least one of the mothers was pregnant.
The women on the right in white are a group of moms protesting against police brutality in Portland. The canister police toss is tear gas. pic.twitter.com\/raEsSh41HW
Despite the rising tensions, the Trump administration is apparently pleased with overall results. It appears the federal government is considering a similar response in Chicago, which would surely cause an even bigger uproar due to the size of the city and Trump\u2019s racially charged comments about violence there. It would also crystallize that Trump and others believe such measures are the only way to handle nationwide protests, results be damned.
That\u2019s why Albies and other activists believe a definitive stand must take place in Portland \u2014 or else risk similar scenes metastasizing around America. \u201cLitigation is not going stop this. Political action is not going to stop this. People power is not going to stop this,\u201d she said. \u201cBut all of that together will place maximum pressure on the police and federal government.\u201d
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