The Department of Homeland Security’s deployment of federal agents to Portland, Ore., has shown the broad legal authority an agency created to protect the United States from national security threats has to crack down on American citizens. “Can your people identify themselves as law enforcement?” On July 15, several federal officers were filmed driving in unmarked vehicles in the blocks around the courthouse. Therefore, due to personal safety concerns, BORTAC agents don’t typically wear name tags. However, they are required to wear insignia identifying their affiliation with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, agency officials say. The officers came because of an executive order signed by President Trump in late June to protect federal property from destruction. There have been nightly protests, some of which have escalated into riots, for two straight months following the death of George Floyd, a Minneapolis man who died in police custody. That’s absurd and it’s idiotic,” Morgan, the acting U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner, said during a July 21 interview with Time Magazine. Some also accuse the unit’s personnel of using heavy-handed tactics and not appropriately disclosing their identities. If we didn’t take that stand, right now you would have a problem like — they were going to lose Portland.” So what’s going on here? BORTAC agents are also trained to respond to prison riots. Both are property of the U.S. government. In Portland, it has been a recipe for chaos. Others threw water bottles and fired fireworks toward the building. The move provided the Department of Homeland Security with “specially-trained and equipped teams capable of rapid response to emergent and uncommon law enforcement situations requiring special tactics and techniques, search and rescue, and medical response capabilities,” Customs and Border Protection reported. Copyright © 2020 Coffee or Die Magazine. BORTAC dispatched to Los Angeles in 1992 to respond to riots that erupted in the wake of the acquittal of Rodney King’s assailants. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! Portland has been invaded by federal agents—including unidentified, camouflage-clad officers who have emerged from unmarked minivans to arrest protesters. BORTAC personnel deployed to Portland as part of a unified effort by the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Protective Service to protect federal buildings in the city, which has endured 54 days of destructive and sometimes violent unrest. Crowd: “Breonna Taylor!” The protests against racism and police brutality, which started in May, had largely been peaceful and were held across Portland. According to DHS reports, rioters have attacked federal agents with projectiles, “mortar style fireworks,” and lasers. “BORTAC is unique in that it provides a global response capability,” Customs and Border Protection said in a fact sheet posted to its website. Wheeler was tear-gassed by federal agents while in a crowd outside the Mark O. Hatfield federal courthouse in Portland on Wednesday. Crowd: “Hey, hey, ho, ho, these racist cops have got to go.” In recent days, the controversy mobilized a larger and more diverse crowd of protesters. U.S. ATTORNEY FOR OREGON BLASTS PORTLAND OFFICIALS IN BLISTERING INTERVIEW: 'NONSENSICAL, POLITICAL THEATER'. Marshals … … BORTAC, a unit of Customs and Border Protection … … and a special response team from ICE, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. And in some instances, they attacked when there was no apparent threat. “How are we supposed to know who you are? BORTAC personnel deployed to Portland as part of a unified effort by the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Protective Service to protect federal buildings in the city, which has endured 54 days of destructive and sometimes violent unrest. Follow Nolan Peterson: More recently, the Trump administration has authorized the tactical unit’s deployment to so-called “sanctuary cities” to enforce federal immigration laws. But the moment you put a weapon in your hand, an incendiary device, a brick, a laser, etc. Federal officers in military gear … … clouds of tear gas … … crowd control munitions … [shots fired] … and locals who want those officers gone. The largely liberal city has seen weeks of protests over police brutality and systemic racism with no end in sight. This is not a de-escalation strategy. [chanting] Their actions often appeared to escalate rather than de-escalate matters. “Gas! 2,000 Portland protesters descend on US courthouse, city says protective fence erected by feds must come down. Kate Brown said Wednesday. But after federal officers arrived in the city on July 4, demonstrations became centered around this U.S. District courthouse and this building housing federal agencies. Due to their counterterrorism work and international deployments, BORTAC personnel are more vulnerable to off-duty reprisals than other law enforcement officers. The U.S. Those who pass this first phase then move on to more specialized training in small unit tactics, operational planning, advanced weapon skills, defensive tactics, and airmobile operations. According to news reports, the unit’s personnel inserted by helicopter and shot and killed an escaped prisoner. Were the Actions of Federal Agents in Portland Legal? “This is a egregious overreaction on the part of the federal officers. There was also a bag found with loaded rifle magazines and Molotov cocktails, which led to an intense Monday morning confrontation between demonstrators and law enforcement. [chanting] A so-called wall of moms led marches through Portland’s streets and to the federal courthouse where officers cleared them away. The 1878 Posse Comitatus Act restricts the use of federal troops in domestic law enforcement. This is flat-out urban warfare.” At around the same time, a Customs and Border Protection plane was spotted circling overhead. … BORTAC has also conducted sensitive missions in at least 23 countries, including in Iraq and Afghanistan to support Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. The Trump administration is sending more federal agents to Portland, Ore., in a bid to increase its presence against growing groups of protesters and nightly lawlessness. “Usually when we see people in unmarked cars forcibly grab someone off the street, we call it kidnapping. Nolan Peterson is a senior staff writer for Coffee or Die and the author of “, From Field to Cup: The Search for Great Coffee in Antigua, Guatemala, A Recon Marine Claims Self-Defense After Strip Club Murder, Has One Last Chance to Prove Innocence, ‘Mad Jack’ Churchill: The Officer Who Carried a Sword, Bagpipes, and a Longbow Into Battle, Revisiting ‘The Things They Carried’ — Why Tim O’Brien’s Classic is a Vital Meditation on ‘Truth’ in War, Suspect Who Ambushed Two LA Deputies Arrested and Charged, The 2020 California Wildfire Season, by the Numbers, Dasvidaniya Comrade — Edward Snowden Snags ‘Open-Ended’ Russian Residence Permit, The FBI’s Art Crime Team That Solves the Most Notorious Museum Heists in the World, The Day Seven of My Fellow Blackwater Contractors Died in Iraq, Halloween Coffee Cocktail: Red Eye Sambuca, The DEA Announces New Initiative, Project Safeguard, and Preliminary Results, Web Design and Development by Hire Jordan Smith. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler called the federal deployment an “unconstitutional occupation.” Wheeler was tear-gassed by federal agents while in a crowd outside the Mark O. Hatfield federal courthouse in Portland on Wednesday. The agency is also reportedly sending personnel to Seattle this weekend to augment a Federal Protective Service effort to defend federal buildings in that city in advance of planned protests. Therefore, it’s within legal bounds for the agency’s personnel to assist in domestic law enforcement. U.S. agents repeatedly fired what appeared the to be tear gas, flash bangs and pepper balls before dawn to clear a crowd outside the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse. Customs and Border Protection, which sent tactical border agents to Portland, cited 40 U.S. Code 1315, which under the Homeland Security Act of 2002 gives the department’s secretary the power to deputize other federal agents to assist the Federal Protective Service in protecting federal property, such as the courthouse in Portland. How are we supposed to know you’re not kidnapping us and you’re civilians kidnapping us?” One protester was detained at this location nearby. Marshals Service and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, have also sent personnel to support DHS’s joint federal law enforcement operation in Portland. says federal officers have made 43 arrests since July 4. In extreme cases, however, the rarely used Insurrection Act of 1807 allows a president to deploy active duty personnel on American soil. “We absolutely support the right to peacefully protest. But civil rights lawyers and demonstrators have questioned whether the department has used that authority to violate protesters’ right to free speech. [explosion]. In Richmond, Va., vehicles were set on fire. Marshals Service will send 100 deputy U.S. “What are you guys protecting?” “Get the [expletive] out of our city!” In just over a week, the chaotic scenes in Portland grabbed the nation’s attention and raised questions about whether the U.S. government is exceeding its authority and violating civil rights. But officials in Washington said they had clear authority. officials told The Times it was sending a live video feed of the crowd to law enforcement on the ground. DHS SECRETARY WOLF SAYS PORTLAND PROTESTS DIFFERENT FROM 'NORMAL CRIMINAL ACTIVITY'. In Portland, local leaders have done the opposite. But on the ground in Portland, we have seen a new task force, including U.S. Late Sunday, there was a reported shooting in Portland. All rights reserved. Gas!” The president has doubled down, promising to send more federal officers to cities governed by his political rivals. The U.S. National Guard was activated and sent to cities across the country in late May and June after protests over the death of George Floyd sparked a national wave of violent unrest, including vandalism, looting, and attacks on police. C.B.P. Confrontations between heavily-armed federal agents and activists have intensified in recent weeks. The federal presence has also inflamed tensions. Gas! All rights reserved. But the lack of any consent from local officials just means federal agents cannot rely on state and local laws to justify the arrests. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. But that hasn’t stopped them from trying. ©2020 FOX News Network, LLC. Mark Morgan, the acting secretary of Customs and Border Protection, said the agents did display signs that they were federal agents but withheld their names for their own safety. One demonstrator, Mark Pettibone, 29, said agents who were in camouflage but lacked any insignia forced him into an unmarked van and did not tell him why he was being arrested. “[Special Operations Group] deploys to domestic and international intelligence-driven and anti-terrorism efforts as well as to disaster and humanitarian special operations,” the agency said. Sometimes members of the press were hit. Portland police also apologized to the South Portland neighborhood surrounding where the clash was occurring for both the noise and the CS gas deployed by federal agents. https://t.co/OhAKQcEr2o, — CBP Mark Morgan (@CBPMarkMorgan) July 24, 2020, BORTAC is roughly equivalent in its skill set to a SWAT team, experts say. In Portland, local leaders have done the opposite. “Because we’re not going to let New York and Chicago and Philadelphia, Detroit and Baltimore, and all of these — Oakland is a mess — we’re not going to let this happen in our country. “What is happening now in Portland should concern everyone in the United States,” said Jann Carson, the interim executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon. or redistributed.

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