ARGUMENT: Federal overreachWhat the Heck Are Federal Law Enforcement Officers Doing in Portland?
With racial justice protests going on in Portland, Oregon, since 25 May, more than 100 federal law enforcement officers showed up in the city over the past few days — without being asked to do so, and with the mayor, sheriff, and governor asking them to leave because, these local officials say, the presence of these federal agents only aggravates the situation. Steve Vladeck writes that to make matters worse, “those officers (a) are not wearing identifiable uniforms or other insignia, (b) are not driving marked law enforcement vehicles, and (c) are not identifying themselves either publicly or even to those whom they have detained and arrested.” He adds: “even if the federal officers are technically complying with the relevant statutes, there’s something more than just unseemly about camouflaged officers who refuse to identify themselves or their employer purporting to conduct arrests on the streets of American cities. Whether these officers are in fact abusing their authorities or not remains to be seen, but either answer would be deeply troubling.”
It is now nearly two months since the first racial justice protest in Portland, Oregon over the killing of George Floyd. As in other cities, the protests have been largely peaceful, but there have been several well-documented episodes of violence, vandalism, and property damage.
Steve Vladeck writes in Lawfare that in the past few days, however, the protests have been met with what appears to be a significant federal law enforcement response – “the contours of (and legal authorities for) which are, at best, unclear.” He notes that. by all appearances, there are now at least 100 federal law enforcement officers on the ground in Portland, “but media reports suggest that many of those officers (a) are not wearing identifiable uniforms or other insignia, (b) are not driving marked law enforcement vehicles, and (c) are not identifying themselves either publicly or even to those whom they have detained and arrested.”
Even worse, local authorities, including mayor and sheriff of Portland and the governor of Oregon — have repeatedly insisted not only that they don’t want federal assistance and that they have not requested it — but that the federal response is aggravating the situation on the ground. “Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, in contrast, has repeatedly taken to Twitter to claim that local authorities are refusing to restore order—albeit with only vague references to which federal laws are not being enforced (and repeated allusions to “graffiti” and other property damage by “violent anarchists”),” Vladek writes, adding:
In all of these respects, what’s happening in Portland appears to be a reprise of much of what happened in Washington, D.C., at the beginning of June, when Attorney General William Barr called upon a wide array of statutory authorities to commandeer hundreds of federal law enforcement officers in order to “restore order” in the nation’s capital. At the time, many who both criticized and defended Barr’s actions pointed to the federal government’s unique legal authority over the District of Columbia—implying (whether as a feature or a bug) that the same authorities wouldn’t be available, at least to the same extent, in the 50 states. But if nothing else, the events in Portland appear to underscore that the federal government sees no such distinction—and that it believes it has the power to similarly deploy federal law enforcement authorities across the country, even (if not especially) over the objections of the relevant local and state officials.
All of this raises a host of questions, very few of which can be answered at this point.
He concludes:
There’s definitely reason to be alarmed about what’s going on in Portland. And even if the federal officers are technically complying with the relevant statutes, there’s something more than just unseemly about camouflaged officers who refuse to identify themselves or their employer purporting to conduct arrests on the streets of American cities. Whether these officers are in fact abusing their authorities or not remains to be seen, but either answer would be deeply troubling.
