Federal Troops Will Stay in Portland, Oregon Until It’s Secure
July 29, 2020 (EIRNS)—Oregon Gov. Kat Brown said today that the Trump Administration had agreed to remove federal police from Portland. However, Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf responded immediately that his department “will continue to maintain our current, augmented federal law enforcement personnel in Portland until we are assured that the Hatfield Federal Courthouse and other federal properties will no longer be attacked and that the seat of justice in Portland will remain secure.... The department will continue to re-evaluate our security posture in Portland, and should circumstances on the ground significantly improve due to the influx of state and local law enforcement, we anticipate the ability to change our force posture.”
Governor Brown’s tweet said, “After my discussions with VP Pence and others, the federal government has agreed to withdraw federal officers from Portland. They have acted as an occupying force & brought violence. Starting tomorrow, all Customs and Border Protection & ICE officers will leave downtown Portland” starting Thursday, July 30 and that “Our local Oregon State Police officers will be downtown to protect Oregonians’ right to free speech and keep the peace. Let’s center the Black Lives Matter movement’s demands for racial justice and police accountability. It’s time for bold action to reform police practices.”
Wolf put it quite otherwise, saying that Governor Brown had agreed to a plan to end the violence in Portland that “includes a robust presence of Oregon State Police in downtown Portland.” He told the press: “We don’t want to say we’re leaving and then have the criminals attack the courthouse again.” He thanked the Governor for “reaching out. That’s what changed,” he said. “I’m glad that she changed her mind. I am glad that Portland has agreed to be a responsible city.”
President Trump issued a tweet saying Portland would have been “burned and beaten to the ground” without the presence of federal officers, and he vowed to have the “federal government go in and do the job” if “the Mayor and Governor do not stop the Crime and Violence.”
To get a sense of the insanity of the local officials, the Bureau of Transportation filed a cease-and-desist order regarding the fence which was constructed around the federal courthouse to save it from arson and destruction, claiming it “obstructs a downtown street,” assessing the federal government $500 for every 15 minutes that it remains in place. Demonstrators and anarchist mobs shutting the streets for two months is just fine, but a fence is a crime. They claim that the federal government owes them $200,000 and counting.
