A A remarkable and nightmarish scene unfolding in Portland should terrify anyone who cares about the United States Constitution: unmarked vans full of unidentified and camouflaged federal agents pull up alongside street corner protesters, then they are snatched and arrested without explanation.
If this happened in Venezuela or Iran, the US government would be threatening international sanctions. As is happening in the U.S., Trump’s acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is defending the decision and even promising more.
The stories of witnesses and those who have been picked up by the unmarked trucks, apparently operated by Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which is under DHS control, are downright terrifying. One victim told the New York Times, “One of the officers said, ‘Okay, okay,’ and he just grabbed me and threw me into the truck. Another officer lowered my hat so I couldn’t see.
Another told the Washington Post: “I was terrified. It looked like it was out of a horror / science fiction, like a Philip K Dick novel. It was like being hunted. “Another one told Portland Public Broadcasting (OPB) of Portland:” I see guys in camouflage. Four or five of them come out, open the door and it’s like, ‘Oh shit. I don’t know who you are or what do you want with us. ‘”
The incidents described sound disturbingly reminiscent of the CIA’s post-September 11 delivery schedule under George W Bush, where intelligence officers would roll up unmarked trucks in foreign countries, suspected of blindfolded terrorism (many of which were found innocent) and kidnapped without explanation. Only instead of happening on the streets of Italy or the Middle East, it’s happening in downtown Portland.
Virtually all of Portland’s local leaders, as well as Oregon’s top representatives in Congress, have condemned the situation and called for an investigation. But so far, DHS and the Trump administration don’t seem deterred.
Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf issued a video statement on Friday regretting that Portland had rejected the department’s “offer” of “support”. So DHS went ahead and sent his thugs in anyway. The DHS list of reasons for invading Portland and implementing its terrorist operation, amid what it calls “rampant and lasting violence,” consists primarily of graffiti incidents and minor property damage.
Portland, by the way, is nearly 400 miles from the Canadian border and 80 miles from the Pacific Ocean. It’s unclear what legal authority, if any, allows CBP to terrorize the streets to hunt down graffiti artists, even if they think they can operate anywhere that is 100 miles from a border. In other words, it is illegal, or should be.
Worse still, judging by witnesses, CBP is not just “defending” federal buildings, as it claims. As OPB reported: “The interviews … show that officers are also arresting people on the streets of Portland that are not near federal property, nor is it clear that all of the arrested people have been involved in criminal activity.” The protesters told the OPB that “they think they were attacked by federal officials simply for wearing black clothing in the demonstration area.”
CBP also reportedly fired tear gas indiscriminately at protesters despite a judge forbidding the Portland police from doing so, permanently injuring one person with a shot to the head with the so-called “least-lethal” weapon and firing their arms at least one journalist.
DHS, even in the pre-Trump era, has been a huge waste of taxpayer resources, filled with massive government waste and abuse, and a disaster of civil liberties. In 2015, I called for it to be abolished on the pages of The Guardian. Under Trump he has reached new levels of depravity. Their disturbing anti-immigration actions have shown that officers apparently strive to be as cruel as possible to those they capture.
Someone just has to read the news of the past few weeks to witness the corruption and progressive authoritarianism of DHS: In one story, government auditors discovered that CBP spent money on food and medical supplies for detained migrants in ATVs and motorcycles In another, DHS deployed Predator drones, helicopters, and planes to spy on Black Lives Matter protesters in 15 US cities.
With their actions in Portland, their authoritarianism is no longer creeping: DHS and CBP are acting as undercover police. If there are no pronounced consequences for these disruptive actions, there will be no limits on where this will lead.
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