Oregon Sues To Protect People From 'Kidnap And False Arrest' By Federal Troops
Oregon’s attorney general filed suit late Friday to stop military-style squads deployed by the Department of Homeland Security from engaging in the “kidnap and false arrest” of citizens.
The strongly worded lawsuit seeking an injunction to stop the assaults was one of several outraged responses after squads of men in military fatigues and no apparent identification leaped from unmarked vans to grab and detain people walking the streets of Portland over the past week.
“Defendants’ tactics violate the rights of all people detained without a warrant or basis for arrest, and violate the state’s sovereign interests in enforcing laws and protecting people within its border from kidnap and false arrest — without serving any legitimate federal law enforcement purpose,” notes the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon by state Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum. The actions violate the public’s right to “safety,” and “peace,” the suit adds.
Acting head of Homeland Security Chad Wolf has defended the extraordinary actions as necessary to crack down on what he calls “violent anarchists” in Portland. But almost every one the emergency problems he listed in a recent statement on the DHS website consisted of “graffiti.”
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) has dismissed Wolf’s characterization of violence as fantasy and “political theater” staged in a desperate bid to help Donald Trump win reelection.
The DHS paramilitary squads snatching citizens off the street violates three constitutional amendments — the right to free speech, protection from illegal search, and protection from loss of liberty without due process of law, argues the suit, which names DHS, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Federal Protective Service and unknown officers “John Does 1-10” as defendants.
Federal enforcement officers have used “unmarked vehicles to drive around downtown Portland, detain...