Today, Explained - When the feds came to Portland

Episode Date: July 20, 2020

They came in military camouflage and unmarked vans. Now the state of Oregon is suing the federal government over its policing tactics. Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Conrad Wilson explains. Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Visit connectsontario.ca. A few weeks ago, the Black Lives Matter protests were basically anywhere you looked in the United States. But in Portland, Oregon, they never really stopped. And then something happened there that a lot of other cities didn't experience at all. Federal agents in full camo fatigues showed up and started throwing people in unmarked minivans. Oregon Public Broadcasting has been covering this story. I spoke with OPB's Conrad Wilson this morning. For weeks, the Portland Police Bureau has been policing these protests, and they were policing them really aggressively. But the federal government started to get involved really around the 4th of July. This event has been declared a riot. Disperse immediately. If you do not disperse to the east,

you are subject to arrest for use of force to include crowd control munitions. We saw a pretty big night where basically federal law enforcement came out of the courthouse and really like cleared protesters through federal property. They claim they were going from one federal property to another. But, you know, our reporters on the ground were seeing other things. You know, I mean, it was like they were they were using pretty aggressive crowd control tactics. Who exactly are these federal law enforcement members? Where do they come from? It's members of the U.S. Marshal Service. There's a special operations team with the U.S. Marshals Service. There's a special operations team with

the U.S. Marshals Service that's come here. And it's also been heavily Department of Homeland Security personnel. There have been members of Customs and Border Protection. There's a group called BORTAC that does a lot of work on the border, a pretty controversial group. There have been members of a special ICE unit, like a special operations ICE unit that had been here, protecting, they say, the federal courthouse. This all happened after President Trump signed an executive order in late June. Now they're looking at Jesus Christ. They're looking at George Washington. They're looking at Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson. Not going to happen. Not going to happen. Not as long as I'm here. Yeah. I don't think a lot of people took that very seriously, but there was a there there, huh?

Yeah. Well, I guess, you know, there was. And there was a part of it that was like clamping down on criminal activity. That's sort of what has put so many federal law enforcement officers in Portland. That's what's gotten so much attention here. The idea that Trump is sort of sending federal law enforcement here and that they're behaving how they're behaving, using tear gas, using crowd control devices. There was a really kind of seminal moment last weekend where a protester was hit in the head by a member of the U.S. Marshal Service. LaBella seems to be improving.

He's no longer critical and is instead listed in serious condition today. But his mother told me it's still unclear how his injuries will impact his vision or if there's any brain trauma. And I mean, these things have just angered people. It's, you know, and I think that the idea that the president, who continues to talk about Portland, who talks about quelling protests in Portland. We've done a great job in Portland. Portland was totally out of control. And they went in, and I guess we have many people right now in jail.

And we very much quelled it. And if it starts again, we'll quell it again very easily. People here are mad. They're just really mad. They want federal law enforcement to leave. I think another seminal moment that perhaps led to a lot more people outside of Portland and Oregon noticing that this was happening was this video that circulated all over the world last week

of a protester sort of being dragged into an unmarked vehicle by what looked like military personnel who refused to identify themselves. Is that a fair characterization? Yeah. What are you doing? Use your words. What are you doing? Use your words. What are you doing? Use your words. What is going on? Who are you? NLG will get you out. What's your name?

Tell us your name. What's your name? Okay, you're fine. We'll get you out. We got you, friend. We got you. I mean, that video was extraordinary. And actually, we broke a story about this guy named Mark Pettibone.

It wasn't him in that video, but something like that happened to him. Basically, he had attended a protest. And after the protest, he was leaving. A van pulls up right in front of us. And I am basically tossed into the van. And I had my beanie pulled over my face, so I couldn't see. He didn't know where he was going, but it was the federal courthouse. They patted me down and took my picture and rummaged through my belongings. One of them said, this is a whole lot of nothing. You know, he seemed disappointed

that I didn't have any weapons or anything on me. Eventually, he was given his Miranda rights, read his Miranda rights. He was asked if he wanted to waive his rights and answer some questions. And he said he didn't. And, you know, the federal law enforcement officers said, hey, this interview is over. They left him there for about another hour and a half before he was released. And when we arrest somebody in this country, we have to have probable cause. And there's a lot of questions about, did that happen here? I mean, was this an event where there was probable cause? And it

really disturbs so many people. I think what seems particularly haunting to people is that this doesn't look like something that requires federal law enforcement or military personnel. This looks like a local thing that local law enforcement, especially as militarized as they are these days, could handle. So Ken Cuccinelli, he's the acting deputy secretary at the Department of Homeland Security. He told NPR last week that I fully expect that as long as people continue to be violent and destroy property, that that we will attempt to identify those folks. We will pick them up in front of the courthouse. If we spot them elsewhere, we will pick them up elsewhere. This doesn't look like America. This looks like another country. And when I talk to like federal law enforcement officials,

you know, they say things like, I don't know why they have to wear camouflage. You know, I don't know why they're using unmarked vehicles. Like there's a way you can look like a military force that's trying to intimidate people. And there's a way you can look like a military force that's trying to intimidate people, and there's a way you can look like law enforcement that is trying to investigate a possible crime. And very much so, folks here feel like it is this kind of occupying force, this sort of militarized force that is trying to intimidate. How are people and the protesters in Portland responding to this federal presence in their city now that there are these videos of these strange sort of abductions that are occurring? buildings are increasingly, I think, radicalized against the role the federal government is playing here. And they're increasingly angry. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler has had an evolution on this. He initially was supportive of federal law enforcement protecting their building. He

said, I don't have an issue with that. The thing he said that made him angry, though, was them kind of coming out of their building and starting to police the streets of Portland. The videos, the pictures, the experiences that we're all witnessing here in Portland should be shocking to all Americans. The words and actions from President Trump and the Department of Homeland Security have shown that this is an attack on our democracy. I think even folks that saw a role for the federal government to play here are now saying, why are they here? A Multnomah County commissioner named Sharon Myron, she's an ER doctor.

She's just kind of this warm, affable person. She got tear gassed. It does feel like this occupying force has come in that is, you know, in any other world, in any other scenario, you'd be watching this on TV and think this is like a dictatorship and they're coming in and taking over. It changes the way people think about the role law enforcement is playing here. And it makes you wonder, you know, what are they really doing here? You know, is it about protecting buildings? It increasingly starts to look like an occupation. And now it feels like these protests in Portland

aren't about George Floyd anymore. It actually seems like they're about the response to the protests that were about George Floyd anymore. It actually seems like they're about the response to the protests that were about George Floyd. I say this with a lot of humility, but I mean, the story we wrote about the vans, you know, basically federal officers picking people up, completely blew up. And prior to that, you know, it was sort of a smaller group of people that had been turning out to these protests. But that story comes out and the response was really huge. I mean, there were a lot more people that were out protesting, you know, even moms that were showing up and kind of dancing and, you know, basically organizing downtown. Feds stay clear! Moms are here!

Feds stay clear! Moms are here! Feds stay clear! Moms are here! Shooting a firework at a federal building, you know, or hitting a law enforcement officer with a hammer, which have happened, very much so, like, you know, that's going to be seen as criminal activity. But when you have moms out there dancing in the street, I mean, I think it really humanizes

sort of a protest movement. And in a way, it's like almost giving it a new identity and really kind of creating a sense of, like, this is what this is about, Portland. And federal government, what are you doing here? Explain yourself. After the break, Oregon sues the federal government. I'm Sean Ramos for him.

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Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling must be 19 years of age or older to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Conrad, you mentioned that, you know, initially the mayor of Portland was on board with these federal troops coming in that he felt that there was a need to protect federal property within the city. How has that thinking evolved over time? I mean, are there still people in elected positions in the city or the state who are saying, we need these federal law enforcement

members here protecting stuff? Or is this pretty much uniformly like, get these people out at this point? We should be careful how we talk about the mayor and his views towards federal law enforcement. What he saw was just like, you have a federal building here, you should use your resources to protect that building, just like, you know, we're using local police to protect, you know, our buildings. But at this point, I think everybody is wanting the federal government to really de-escalate the situation. They want kind of this enhanced federal law enforcement presence to go. How is the city or the state making that desire known or making it official? So the Oregon Department of Justice filed a lawsuit late Friday night. The lawsuit is claiming that there have been civil rights violations

pertaining to people being picked up. I mean, this idea that the unmarked vehicles are coming and grabbing protesters and that that, you know, the Department of Homeland Security says this activity will continue. They laid that out in a lawsuit. And they're also pursuing with kind of state prosecutors, they're pursuing a criminal investigation into the Donathan LaBella incident, the guy who was hit in the head with a crowd control device by a U.S. marshal. They're looking to see if there is a criminal case to be brought against federal law enforcement there. So those are two pretty huge things that the state did late Friday night.

And what exactly are they suing over in this lawsuit? So, yeah, the Oregon Department of Justice's lawsuit against the federal government alleges that the federal government's actions have violated Portlanders' free speech, their due process rights, and also resulted in unlawful seizures. And they say that they're creating a public nuisance. In a pretty powerful statement, Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said that the tactics must stop. You know, they not only make it impossible for people to assert their First Amendment rights to protest peacefully, but she says that the federal government's creating a more volatile

situation on the streets of Portland. Is this the only lawsuit over this sort of federal law enforcement presence in Portland? So the ACLU has also filed a lawsuit, the ACLU of Oregon, with the idea of trying to protect journalists and legal observers from basically being tear gassed during the protests. A happening. And that also includes journalists. And there's a lot of journalists on the ground. And a lot of them are freelance journalists that are kind of out there filming the incidents every night and providing just another way of documenting what's happening. I think when a lot of people watch these videos, their first reaction is like, who are these federal law enforcement officers? And the second reaction is, can they even do that?

Is this legal? Do we know or is this lawsuit going to resolve that question? Absolutely. I mean, the president of the United States and the Department of Homeland Security, they have a lot of power. I mean, it's the federal government. But the question is, is what's happening here actually legal? I tend to think that the Oregon Department of Justice, Ellen Rosenblum, they're doing more than just making a statement by filing the lawsuit saying the federal government wants to leave.

I mean, they think that there are legal grounds here where the federal government, the Trump administration, the Department of Homeland Security have overstepped. And so that's what this lawsuit is going to answer for us in a way. I know this is all happening pretty quickly, and we're talking, what, noon Monday. Has the federal government or even President Trump responded in any way at this point? Do you know? So yesterday, Trump responded on Twitter like he does. He said, we're trying to help Portland not hurt it. The leadership has for months lost control of the anarchists and the agitators. He said that we must protect federal property and our people.

These are, you know, not merely protesters. These are, quote, the real deal, whatever that means. It just feels like there must have been a better way here, a better way to protect buildings, protect, you know, a federal courthouse, while also facilitating peaceful protests. I think it's reasonable to think that the federal government is going to, just like any government, is going to protect buildings. I mean, those are funded by taxpayers. I think that the actions on the 4th of July were an escalation on the part of the federal government. Shooting a protester in

the head with a crowd control device, that really escalated the situation. Picking people up in unmarked vehicles wearing military fatigues, that escalates the situation. And so I think that there's probably a better way to go about it than some of the things the federal government has done up until now. Conrad Wilson is a reporter covering legal affairs and criminal justice at Oregon Public Broadcasting. You can find and support his work at opb.org. We lost a great American over the weekend. Congressman John Lewis died of pancreatic cancer at 80 years of age. We thought about making an episode about his extraordinary life and leadership in the civil rights movement here in the United States, but ultimately decided this was the episode he would have wanted us to make today.

You know, I got arrested a few times during the 60s. Forty times. And since I've been in Congress another five times. And I'm probably going to get arrested again for something. But my philosophy is very simple. When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, say something. Do something. not fair, not just, say something, do something, get in trouble, good trouble, necessary trouble. Thank you. you