DHS Is Arresting Protesters in Portland

[MineralMan]

https://katu.com/news/local/time-to-take-a-stand-in-downtown-portland-dhs-acting-secretary-says

PORTLAND, Ore. — Department of Homeland Security officers started lining Portland streets early Thursday afternoon, as the Trump administration indicated it wasn’t budging from its stance on quelling nightly protests in Portland, even as local, state, and federal leaders from Oregon asked U.S. DHS to pull its officers.

Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf condemned the violence in Portland Thursday and called the protestors violent anarchists; Wolf visited Portland and toured the federal courthouse for several hours Thursday.

Those arrests of protesters by unidentified people in camo gear were made by DHS officers. Here's a story from a local TV station. This is Trump-ordered crap that is not coordinated with local law enforcement.

More at link, plus videos.

[bluedye33139]

1. The administration is using military force against American citizens on American soil

This is a very frightening development

[empedocles]

2. Someone is coordinating - barr?

[MineralMan]

5. Yes, Barr, no doubt, on orders from Trump.

This is scary shit, if you ask me.

[Mike 03]

3. So happy to see this receiving broader attention from the media

Here's a related thread from the other day with links to more videos, people to follow on Twitter (for those interested) including some analysis from people trying to identify who these rogues are.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213756303

Kicking with pleasure!

[MineralMan]

6. The national media will pick it up today, no doubt.

There's always a 24+-hour lag in national reporting.

[Mike 03]

7. Thank you, MineralMan, for posting this!

It deserves attention.

[MineralMan]

12. My wife told me about it this morning, from her Twitter feed.

I just did a Google News search for Portland DHS. There is coverage, but the national news is lagging, as usual.

[captain queeg]

4. Not sure what a DHS officer is. Doesn't sound like they are wearing uniforms or identification

Every city in the US should be taking note, every local and state government should condemn this. Where are these guys when heavily armed right wingers are intimidating local authorities. The current admin continues to follow the slide to nazism. He’s got time for this shit, and to sell beans from the Oval Office but can’t be bothered with addressing the pandemic?

[MineralMan]

10. They're in camo, apparently.

This is a new offensive from the Trump administration. I think they're testing the strategy in Portland, with plans to take it elsewhere.

Very ominous!

[bluestarone]

8. SCARY shit!

Thought i would see this on CNN or MSNBC, but NOTHING this AM! Did i miss it? It needs to be the BREAKING news all day long for a week!!

[MineralMan]

11. It will hit the national news today.

There is always a lag of about 24 hours between local and national news.

[bluestarone]

13. Not to change the topic but, now

I REALLY worry about our election in NOV. THEY will do anything!

[BKDem]

17. We're in deep shit.

[TubbersUK]

9. Wow - what's to stop anyone with camo and a van snatching people off the street?

Rapists, traffickers, vigilantes and other assorted criminals could emulate this to obtain victims.

[MineralMan]

14. That's an excellent question.

We're not supposed to have a Gestapo here in the USA.

[Newest Reality]

25. Nope.

We are not supposed to.

My view is that the war on a word was first externalized on foreign enemies. Then, the so-called Patriot Act was shoved through and the DHS was created. "Homeland" was a bit ominous to me.

There is a tendency to eventually internalize the oppression of empire. It goes from out there to in here and turns on the people. Notice how "terrorism" is not really a thing overseas, or at least, the huge, all-encompassing issue it was for so long. Where did it go?

You could have expected this next phase under the "right" leader who would then utilize the word, "terrorist" as anybody who does not agree with the regime. The same applies to the term Antifa, which ironically is something that a Fascist would be very concerned with. Antifa is not a threat, it is the use of the term to mean anybody and anything you want it to.

We are on that slide into very dark times if this continues. You know, first they came for the immigrants, then the...

We are all somewhere on the spectrum of scapegoating and systematic persecution, etc. I say that because, when alarms like this go off, one can not just sit back and consider one's self and family safe from it, (if you are a: liberal, democrat, progressive, academic, etc.) The list goes on and it is anybody who is considered to be a threat to the regime.

If anything, this can serve as a really big kick in our complacency.

[MineralMan]

27. I expect to see those DHS people move quickly out of Portland

and show up somewhere else. Frankly, this kind of jurisdictional dispute between federal, state, and local agencies can't be settled except in court, and that's a very slow process.

There are a limited number of DHS law enforcement personnel available to Trump and his DHS head. Very limited. They literally have no real jurisdiction in cities or states, so they're operating on an ad hoc basis. That's why they will show up and then leave, only to show up again elsewhere for a brief time.

Trump's Pop-Up Secret Police.

[GeorgeGist]

15. Time for the Governor to call out the National Guard?

[MineralMan]

18. Perhaps, but probably not.

Putting the Oregon National Guard up against DHS would create a real shitstorm, no doubt.

This is already sort of a Constitutional crisis, really. That would make it even more so. Better to use the State Police to control the situation and the courts to deal with Trump's DHS troops.

[Newest Reality]

16. Well,

I bet all those "freedumb" lovers and promiscuous gun-toters will be enraged by this egregious, unlawful and unconstitutional jackboot activity, right? It is a fact and there is nothing to quibble about here.

It would be the same as the protection of the 2nd Amendment, right? Collect and protect them all! I imagine they are already planning ways to throw off this horrible Fascist tyranny and are on their way to protect the people being abducted.

Tongue-in-cheek aside. The answer is a resounding NO. They are probably salivating; drooling all over their gun stocks and fantasizing about helping to round up the "terrerists" and even lusting for their blood.

I'm just pointing out the ulterior motives of Right-Wing supporters and their overt lies.

[MineralMan]

20. It does create a cognitive dilemma, doesn't it?

Trump is, once again, sticking his nose into things that aren't his business, really. I don't know what will come of it, frankly.

I suspect the DHS folks will move on to some other venue shortly and pop up there to do similar things. The problem the DHS has is insufficient manpower to do such things on a national basis. They can only handle one flare-up at a time, I'm thinking.

Trump is, once again, overstepping both his authority and his capabilities.

[colsohlibgal]

19. Pure Autocratic Action

This resembles film from the 30s from Germany when the Nazis started this kind of stuff.

[MineralMan]

21. How many times has Trump said:

"Either the states take care of this or I will!"

The problem Trump has is that he doesn't have the personnel or legal capacity to do what he threatens. This DHS group will leave Portland soon, only to appear somewhere else.

Trump's "Pop-Up Army."

[JCMach1]

22. Arrest them if they leave Federal property

[MineralMan]

24. It's a real jurisdictional dispute there.

Local and state authorities don't want to step into it. Very complicated, actually, and it's something that will require the courts to decide. So, don't expect them to start arresting DHS people. They're not going to do that.

However, the DHS will soon move on from Portland and pop-up somewhere else. The Feds don't want the court battle, because they know they'd lose.

Watch.

[JCMach1]

23. We need a national Policing identity law...

[MineralMan]

26. We're Not Going to Get One.

Such a thing wouldn't pass in the Senate and would be vetoed by Trump, even if it did.

[2naSalit]

28. K&R

[MineralMan]

29. Thanks!

[dalton99a]

30. Kick

[CanonRay]

31. Get a court order and arrest ordering them off the streets

and if they refuse, arrest the SOBs. They have no right to patrol our streets.

[MineralMan]

32. Yes, well...which court has the jurisdiction?

It's far from a simple problem.

The reality is that by the time such a court order could be obtained, those DHS people will be long gone from Portland and moved to some other place to do similar things. To a large extent, what is happening with DHS and Portland is theater. Trump sends in the Federales, who make a show of force and then disappear. The individual personnel are not identified, and that's deliberate.

This is an ad hoc operation, deliberately designed to sweep in, do something visible, and be gone.

Of course this is not a legal enforcement effort. The DHS has no jurisdiction in this matter. But, that doesn't matter, because they'll be gone before any court order could be issued.

Trump is using that DHS unit as his own private Secret Police. He's sending them to different place to put on a show of force and then they get withdrawn before anyone even knows who they are.

They were there in DC. They're in Portland now. Where will they go next? That's unpredictable.