Dems have pointed the finger at US President Donald Trump over a recent deployment of federal troops to Portland, Oregon, accusing DHS and other federal agents of ramping up violence and using life-threatening tactics. US observers have discussed what happened in the city and whether the Dems' accusations are correct.
Partisan tensions have escalated over the Customs and Border Protection units' involvement in dispersing protests in Portland with the city's mayor demanding that the feds leave the city, while US Attorney for Oregon, Billy Williams, calls for an investigation into DHS conduct.
According to Oregon Public Broadcasting, federal law enforcement officers who refused to identify themselves were documented grabbing protesters off of Portland streets and driving them away in unmarked minivans. “The US government should not be using unidentified federal officers as a secret police force to terrorize US citizens & violate their constitutional rights. This is outrageous”, Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren tweeted on Friday.
‘Obviously the Violent Mob Must be Stopped'
The claim that the militarized federal agents seen in the videos have no obvious markings or identification is false, argues Pamela Geller, a far-right political activist, commentator and editor-in-chief of the anti-Muslim Geller Report.
“They were clearly marked as DHS agents”, she says. “They removed only their name tags, because leftists keep doxing them and endangering their families….