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July 2020: Oregon Department of Justice announced it would sue several federal agencies for civil rights abuses and state prosecutors will potentially pursue criminal charges against a federal officer who seriously injured a demonstrator. The federal lawsuit names the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Marshals Service, the United States Customs and Border Protection, and the Federal Protective Service, agencies that had a role in force used against demonstrators.
Federal troops used tear gas and flash bangs against peaceful demonstrators, and unexplained arrests were made, according to videos and photographs posted on social media. The defendants are listed as John Does because the identity of the officers is unknown, nor is their agency affiliation, the lawsuit states. According to Oregon DOJ spokeswoman Kristina Edmunson, the lawsuit accuses the agencies of engaging "in unlawful law enforcement in violation of the civil rights of Oregon citizens by seizing and detaining them without probable cause."
July 2020: The DHS confirms that federal officers are using unmarked vehicles to grab people in Portland. State attorneys are asking a judge to issue a temporary restraining order that would immediately stop federal authorities from unlawfully detaining Oregonians. The lawsuit is asking a judge to find that the federal tactics are unlawful and violate Oregonians' First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendment constitutional rights.
The lawsuit is asking that federal agents and officers identify themselves and their agencies before detaining or arresting any person, and that they also explain to the person why they are being arrested or detained. The lawsuit is asking that the officers must not arrest any person without probable cause or a warrant.
The Criminal Justice Division, joined by Multnomah County District Attorney Rod Underhill, has opened a criminal investigation in the case of Donavan LaBella, a demonstrator shot in the head with an impact munition. Munitions are supposed to be aimed below the waist.
LaBella's mother believes the officer aimed at her son's head. "He's 6-foot-5-inches," said Desiree Labella, referring to her son. "He (referring to the officer) has to be a terribly trained marksman to be off by three feet to hit him (her son) in the forehead right between the eyes. If he's (the officer) that bad of a shot at such a short distance, he shouldn't have a gun."
The lawsuit comes after reporting by Oregon Public Broadcasting that revealed federal agents have detained peaceful protesters using unmarked vehicles, with little explanation or indication of which agency they belong to or why people were being taken into custody.
"I share the concerns of our state and local leaders - our Oregon U.S. Senators, and certain Congressional representatives - that the current escalation of fear and violence in downtown Portland is being driven by federal law enforcement tactics that are entirely unnecessary and out of character with the Oregon way. These tactics must stop," Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said.
The state's lawsuit specifically highlighted the case of Mark Pettibone, a demonstrator who was snatched off the street by federal officers in the early hours of July 16, put into a van, and brought to the federal courthouse.
Because the federal agents are not identified and their vehicles are unmarked, the lawsuit states that Oregonians could be at risk of kidnapping by militias and other civilian volunteers taking it onto themselves to pull peaceful protesters into their cars, in a manner that resembles the federal actions described.
"I did not know whether the men were police or far-right extremists, who, in my experience, frequently don military-like outfits and harass left-leaning protesters in Portland," Pettibone said.
City, state and congressional leaders have criticized the federal force's use of weapons against protesters and have demanded their departure.
"The federal administration has chosen Portland to use their scare tactics to stop our residents from protesting police brutality and from supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. Every American should be repulsed when they see this happening. If this can happen in Portland, it can happen anywhere." Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum
Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum says federal agents have made unlawful arrests. She singles out two incidents in July 2020 when federal agents allegedly assaulted or arrested peaceful protesters.
"These tactics must stop. They not only make it impossible for people to assert their First Amendment rights to protest peacefully, they also create a more volatile situation on our streets," said Rosenblum.
"They (officers) obviously have refused to leave. Their presence here is making a challenging situation even more difficult. It's like pouring gasoline on a fire," said Gov. Kate Brown.
Gov. Kate Brown said the actions of the federal agents were a "blatant abuse of power" and reported having told DHS Acting Secretary Wolf that "the federal government should remove all federal officers from our streets" and accused him of "putting both Oregonians and local law enforcement officers in harm's way."
The senior U.S. Senator from Oregon, Ron Wyden, wrote in an NBC News editorial, "Trump and his acting secretary of homeland security, Chad Wolf, have now unleashed these agents like an occupying army - complete with fatigues, military-style equipment and tactics that are utterly unacceptable in an American city."
Oregon's junior U.S. Senator, Jeff Merkley, condemned the "deploying paramilitary forces with no identification indicating who they are or who they work for" and he demanded "not only that these acts end, but also that they remove their forces immediately from our state."
U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky condemned the actions, stating, "We cannot give up liberty for security. 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."
The chairs of the House Committee on Homeland Security, the Judiciary Committee, and the Committee on Oversight and Reform jointly authored a letter calling for an investigation, writing: "Citizens are concerned that the Administration has deployed a secret police force, not to investigate crimes but to intimidate individuals it views as political adversaries."
Massachusetts Congressman Jim McGovern tweeted, "The American people will not tolerate a dictator."
Cornell University professor of constitutional law Michael C. Dorf said, "The idea that there's a threat to a federal courthouse and the federal authorities are going to swoop in and do whatever they want to do without any cooperation and coordination with state and local authorities is extraordinary outside the context of a civil war."
Attorney Juan Chavez, the Northwest vice president of the National Lawyers Guild, told Oregon Public Broadcasting in response to the Pettibone case, "It's like stop and frisk meets Guantanamo Bay. It sounds more like abduction. It sounds like they're kidnapping people off the streets."
The Mayors of Portland, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, D.C., and Kansas City jointly condemned the federal deployment.
Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot said, "What we do not need, and what will certainly make our community less safe is secret, federal agents".
The Oakland Police Department stated it had not requested federal assistance.
The San Francisco chapter of the National Lawyers Guild denounced the plan as not only unconstitutional but a dangerous escalation towards fascism.
Philadelphia's mayor Jim Kenney denounced the plan and said his city would use all available means to resist such a wrong-headed effort and abuse of power.
District attorney Larry Krasner issued a statement warning that, "Anyone, including federal law enforcement, who unlawfully assaults and kidnaps people will face criminal charges."
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said of a potential deployment, "It would backfire, it wouldn't make us safer, and we would immediately take action in court to stop it. From my point of view, this would be yet another example of illegal and unconstitutional actions by the president."
Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said, "There's no place for Trump's secret police in our city."
Albuquerque Police Chief Mike Geier opposed the plan.
U.S. Senator from New Mexico Martin Heinrich condemned the federal troop expansion, writing: "If we can learn anything from Portland, it's that we don't need this kind of 'help' from the White House. The president is currently using federal law enforcement agents like a domestic paramilitary force. That's precisely how fascism begins and none of us should ever encourage or accept it."
United States House of Representatives Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer released a statement saying, "In deploying federal law enforcement to patrol American cities like Portland and Chicago and silence those exercising their First Amendment rights, Donald Trump is drawing from the playbook of the worst dictators of the past century. Like others we have seen in some of the darkest periods of history, he is perpetuating a myth of disorder and mob violence, which is not occurring, to justify his deployment of heavily armed, anonymous, military-style agents into our communities who pull peaceful citizens into unmarked vehicles and detain them without lawful cause. These actions are never justified in what is supposed to be the world's greatest and freest democratic republic."
House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler said, "The legal basis for this use of force has never been explained. It is not at all clear that the Attorney General and the Acting Secretary are authorized to deploy federal law enforcement officers in this manner."
U.S. House Homeland Security chairman Bennie Thompson and U.S. House Oversight and Reform chairwoman Carolyn Maloney wrote a letter calling for investigation into the deployment.
House and Senate Democrats revealed plans for the "Preventing Authoritarian Policing Tactics on America's Streets Act" requiring federal officers to identify themselves and limit their activities to directly nearby federal property. House Democrats also included a requirement for identification in the year's National Defense Authorization Act.
According to a Pentagon spokesperson, the unidentified officers dressed in military garb troubled Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.
DHS's founding Secretary, Tom Ridge, decried the deployment, saying DHS "was not established to be the president's personal militia". Ridge, a former governor of Pennsylvania, opined "it would be a cold day in hell before I would consent to an uninvited, unilateral intervention into one of my cities."
Former DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson condemned the deployment.
Former DHS Senior Official John Sandweg argued that the deployment is so damaging to the brands of the agencies that it guts public safety.
DHS employees, speaking on condition of anonymity, decried the deployment as "blatantly unconstitutional and an embarrassment to the agency and the career civil servants who work here."
Boston College constitutional law professor Kent Greenfield said, "The president is not the king. The president does not have the ability to require states to enforce their laws in a certain way, or to elbow aside their law enforcement abilities."
University of Notre Dame law professor Jimmy Gurulé said, "There is no federal statute agents are enforcing by engaging with protesters. My concern is whether their protection of federal property is a ruse to interfere with protesters' free speech."
Drexel University law professor Anil Kahlan said, "The rhetoric is basically labeling people who are fellow citizens as domestic enemies and then deploying these paramilitary forces to aggressively engage in a show of force against them. There are serious, substantive legal concerns with these activities."
Rutgers University professor of law and director of Rutgers' Constitutional Rights Clinic Alexis Karteron said, "Federal troops descending on American cities, that is very troubling, outside of historic practices, and almost certainly illegal."
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