WASHINGTON – Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum sued the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies Friday night, alleging that federal law enforcement officers dispatched to Portland to suppress Black Lives Matter protests violated the Constitution by arresting and illegally arresting protesters without probable cause.
In the lawsuit, Rosenblum requested a restraining order to prevent agents with Homeland Security, the US Marshals Service, US Customs and Border Protection and the Federal Protection Service from making more arrests.
The lawsuit states that federal officials “have been using unmarked vehicles to drive through downtown Portland, stop protesters and place them in officers’ unmarked vehicles, withdrawing them from the public without arresting them or declaring the basis for an arrest, since at least Tuesday July 14 “.
“The identity of the officers is not known, nor is their affiliation with the agency, according to videos and reports that the officers in question wear patched military uniforms simply by reading ‘POLICE’, without other identifying information,” the lawsuit continues. .
The lawsuit alleges that such actions compel citizens who “reasonably fear being picked up and pushed into trucks without identification, possibly by federal officials, possibly individuals opposed to the protests,” to exercise their right of first amendment to the meeting.
The lawsuit also claims that the police violated the Fourth and Fifth Amendment by confiscating people without a court order and denying them due process of law.
Protesters flooded the streets of Portland every night in the two months after the murder of George Floyd, a black man whose death while in custody in Minneapolis sparked worldwide protests against police brutality and systemic racism.
Tensions escalated in the past few days after President Donald Trump announced that he would send federal law enforcement personnel to Portland because “the locals couldn’t handle it,” as part of his ongoing promise to “dominate” protesters.
Since then, videos on social media have shown the frenzy in parts of the city, with camouflaged federal officials pointing their weapons and using smoke to push protesters back. The videos from the past few nights also show those officers using unmarked vehicles to stop people off the street. Some were seen running into the crowds and beating people with batons.
“Normally, a person exercising their right to walk the streets of Portland who is confronted by anonymous men in military uniforms and ordered to enter a van without identification can reasonably assume that they are being kidnapped and are the victim of a crime,” Rosenblum said. demand of the states.
Acting Homeland Security Director Chad Wolf visited Portland on Thursday and called the protesters “violent anarchists.”
“Our men and women in uniform are patriots. We will never surrender to violent extremists who are vigilant,” Wolf tweeted.
Rosenblum and other Oregon officials have said the deployment of federal officials in Portland has increased tensions. Democratic members of the Oregon congressional delegation said Friday they will demand a federal investigation into the deployment of federal officials.
“DHS and DOJ are involved in horrible and outrageous acts in our constitutionally democratic republic,” Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, said in a statement Friday.
“First, they are deploying paramilitary forces without any identification to indicate who they are or who they are working for. Second, these agents are snatching people off the street without underlying justification. Both acts are profound offenses against the Americans,” Merkley continued, demanding that officers are removed.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler had a similar message at a press conference on Friday.
“We were seeing things calm down, but the intervention of federal officials reignited the tensions,” he said. “Do us a favor, keep your troops in their own buildings, or have them leave our city.”
