Defense Secretary Mark Esper expressed “concern” within the Trump administration about federal agents wearing military uniforms while handling protests and riots in places like Portland, Oregon, Pentagon chief spokesman Jonathan said Tuesday. Hoffman.
“We want a system where people can tell the difference,” he told reporters.
Amid roughly six consecutive weeks of unrest in Portland, President Trump denounced violent protests and dispatched federal officials, including the U.S. Marshals Special Operations Group and a team of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. To protect federal property.
Trump has insisted that federal agents are needed to protect government assets in Portland, but the city mayor has asked Trump to remove them.
Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, said a small group of violent activists was drowning out the message from peaceful protesters. Wheeler also said that the presence of the federal police in Portland was exacerbating the situation.
“Keep your troops in your own buildings, or have them leave our city,” Wheeler said Friday. “The words and actions of President Trump and the Department of Homeland Security have shown that this is an attack on our democracy.”
Reports circulated last week that federal agents deployed in Portland did not identify themselves while detaining protesters in unidentified vans. Portland police said Monday that federal agents had deployed CS gas, also known as tear gas, to disperse the crowds.
THE MAYOR OF PORTLAND DEMANDS THAT TRUMP KEEP FEDERAL AGENTS “IN THEIR OWN BUILDING, OR LEAVE THEM FROM THE CITY”
In a statement, DHS insisted that the agents are identifying themselves as Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents. But they admitted that officers do not carry name tags, citing recent incidents of doxing against police.
“CBP officers identified themselves and wore the CBP insignia during the encounter,” DHS said in a statement. “The names of the officers were not shown due to recent incidents of doxing against law enforcement personnel who serve and protect our country.”
Agents from various Department of Homeland Security agencies have been seen dressed in military-style uniforms standing outside federal buildings. Most of those they have arrested have been near federal property, but there have been reports of federal agents snatching protesters blocks from their jurisdiction.
Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell said officers are in contact with federal agents, but that neither controls what the other does.
‘THEY HAVE TO BE RESTRICTED’: NAPOLITAN JUDGE ON WHAT FEDERAL AGENTS IN PORTLAND CAN AND CANNOT DO
“We communicate with federal officials for the purpose of raising awareness and mistrust,” Lovell said. “We are operating very, very close to each other … so it is important for us to know if they are going to take some kind of action and it is important for them to know if we are going to take any kind of action.”
A protester, Mark Pettibone, said men in green military uniforms and generic “police” patches jumped out of an unmarked minivan early Wednesday morning and arrested him as he walked home from what he called a peaceful protest. He told The Washington Post that he was scared because he didn’t know who stopped him. He had been interrogated and released without saying if the agents who arrested him charged him with a crime.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended the presence of federal officials in Portland at her briefing Tuesday.
“The Portland mafia has become increasingly aggressive,” McEnany said, adding that “pieces of concrete, feces, balloons filled with paint, slingshot … pig feet and batteries” have been thrown at officers, while that others have tried to “barricade” the police. .
“The Trump administration urges state and local officials to work cooperatively to restore law and order,” he said. “President Trump is taking action in Portland, even though he has a Democratic mayor and a governor who is unwilling to work with us.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
She added: “The end result is that this president is in accordance with law and order, which leads to peace, and we will not allow Portland to become the new CHOP, as we saw in Seattle.”
Lucas Tomlinson, Brooke Singman and Louis Casiano of Fox News contributed to this report.
