Acting Homeland Security Secretary (DHS) Chad Wolf joined “Hannity” on Thursday and expanded his statement condemning what he described as a “siege” of Portland, Oregon, by “lawless anarchists.”
“Earlier this week, I called not just the mayor but the governor,” Wolf told host Sean Hannity. “I offered DHS support to help them address the situation that is happening in Portland locally. And their only response was, ‘Please pack up and go home.’
“And that’s just not going to happen on my watch,” Wolf continued. Therefore, we must ensure that we are supporting our law enforcement officers here and ensuring that they will continue to protect the federal court here. That is what DHS does. That is our mission. We are not going to abdicate our mission, our responsibilities. “
DOJ SPOKESPERSON CALLS MAYOR OF PORTLAND “UNA DISGRACA” FOR REJECTING FEDERAL AID AMONG PROTESTS
On Tuesday, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler tweeted criticism of the Department of Homeland Security, denouncing what he described as “violence that federal agents brought to our streets in recent days, and life-threatening tactics.” [his] Wolf’s agents use. “
“The best thing they can do,” Wheeler tweeted, “is to stay inside their building or leave Portland entirely.”
On Thursday, Wolf responded with a statement saying, in part: “The city of Portland has been under siege for 47 days in a row by a violent mob, while local political leaders refuse to restore order to protect their city. Every night, lawless anarchists destroy and desecrate property, including the federal courthouse, and attack the brave law enforcement officers who protect it. “
Earlier this month, DHS deployed more than half a dozen law enforcement agencies and departments in the city, with officers from the US Marshals, the Federal Protective Service, and rotating Customs protective services. and US Border Protection In an attempt to quell violence and protect federal property: a movement opposed by local politicians.
Portland fell into chaos following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody. Local businesses have reported losses of $ 23 million due to looting and riots in the city center, and protesters have been seen lighting burning mattresses and setting fireworks on the streets.
Protesters have also set up tents in the park near the federal courthouse and barricaded the streets to create their own autonomous zone, compared to the Capitol Hill Protest (CHOP) in Seattle.
“Whatever the local leadership tells us here, we will do our job. We will do it professionally,” Wolf said. “But we are not going to have these violent anarchists who show up at almost the same time every night for a series of hours and have that federal destruction of property.”
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The acting secretary added that local leaders should “publicly condemn what violent anarchists are doing. And only then, I think, the police, the local police and the federal police will get this under control.”
“So what I ask of all state and local leaders here in Portland, Oregon, is [to] specifically go out there and publicly condemn these violent anarchists, because otherwise you’re creating an environment, you’re fostering an environment that continues to generate this type of illegality. “
