Border Patrol Responsible for Portland Arrest
Source: The Nation
An internal memo, obtained exclusively by The Nation, details a coordinated program of domestic counterinsurgency.
By Ken Klippenstein
For days, federal agents in unmarked cars have reportedly been snatching Portland protesters off the streets. On Thursday, video emerged of federal agents clad in camouflage fatigues and unspecified police patches apprehending one such demonstrator and placing him in an unmarked vehicle. Social media lit up with speculation about the intentionsand the identityof these agents. A memo consisting of internal talking points for the federal agency responsible for the arrest, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and obtained exclusively by The Nation provides some answersand even more questions.
Dated July 1st, the memo is titled Public Affairs Guidance: CBP Support to Protect Federal Facilities and Property and marked For Official Use Only. It describes a special task force created by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in response to President Trumps Executive Order on Protecting American Monuments, Memorials, and Statues and Combating Recent Criminal Violence. That task force, the Protecting American Communities Task Force (PACT), has been tasked not only to assess civil unrest, but also to surge resources to protect against it.
The Portland arrest of Mark Pettibone, first reported by Oregon Public Broadcasting, followed several similar arrests involving officers from BORTAC (Border Patrol Tactical Unit)CBPs equivalent of a SWAT teamas well as the U.S. Marshals Special Operations Group. A CBP spokesman confirmed to The Nation that CBP agents were responsible for the arrest, pointing to authorities under the Protecting American Communities Task Force.
Violent anarchists have organized events in Portland over the last several weeks with willful intent to damage and destroy federal property, as well as injure federal officers and agents, said the CBP spokesman. These criminal actions will not be tolerated.
The talking points memo identifies a series of potential questions, including many of those being asked in response to the Portland arrests. In several cases, it instructs CBP officials not to answer them, citing operational security. For example, in response to questions about where CBP personnel are being deployed, the memo says it would not be appropriate to disclose law enforcement operational specifics which could jeopardize operational security. As for questions about when CBP personnel will be deployed and for how long, the memo states, We do not give out operational specifics, however we hope this support will be short-term, just for the July 4th weekend. The CBP spokesman, however, did not give any indication the operation would be coming to an end. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its components will continue to work tirelessly to reestablish law and order, he said.
Read more: https://www.thenation.com/article/society/border-patrol-portland-arrest/
bucolic_frolic
(43,492 posts)There's no international border in Portland Oregon.
Why should I think this is using federal enforcement for private purposes - "law and order" for an election campaign?
Still reminds me of "The Molly MacGuires"
LiberalArkie
(15,738 posts)ancianita
(36,223 posts)bucolic_frolic
(43,492 posts)and I would add, though they wouldn't, that US border extends 12 miles into the sea.
Well it's good the US Government is prepared for amphibious invasion by immigrants.
The last one was about 25 Japanese post Pearl Harbor, leading to the airwar over Los Angeles.
So yes, CPB jurisdiction. And what a waste of resources because coastline is an extremely infrequent point of entry for illegal immigrants.
ancianita
(36,223 posts)Yes, 12 mi into oceans, seas, gulfs, all that. 100 mi out for commercial use rights.
Just because CPB can, doesn't mean they should. I agree on all that waste of resources to show the threatening gesture to all Americans, wasted on all the arms and gear against TAXPAYERS because they're so afraid of property damage. It's perverse. It's fascist.
maxsolomon
(33,461 posts)Because they dare to confront the Proud Boys, Patriot Prayer, and other assorted murderous (yes, I literally mean murderous) Fascists in the streets.
It's definitely a template for suppressing dissent, but it's important to remember that they're focusing there first because they're fucking terrified of Anarchists/Black Block/Antifa.
FORTY-ONE small towns filled with armed yahoos were convinced, on the flimsiest of rumors, that they were being invaded by school-bused Antifa looters bent on burning those places to the ground.
It's likely that Trump is just as knee-jerk stupid as these small-town Gun Store owners, and believes there is a legitimate, militant Anarchist threat that needs to be quashed; and that it is fueling the BLM movement.
There isn't, and it isn't.
Next up: Seattle, as payback for #CHOP.
NCjack
(10,279 posts)card, news bulletins, meeting schedule, and weapons. That's not going to happen. But, they continue to grab people that fit the "profile". That would be justification for sending in military to occupy the streets.
If the border patrol has the resources to harass Portland, they have too much. Time for Congress to give them a budget reduction.
maxsolomon
(33,461 posts)The thing about Rose City Antifa is: they have a fucking Facebook page. I've belonged to it for years.
It's not some super secret squirrel organization.
LiberalArkie
(15,738 posts)ancianita
(36,223 posts)grantcart
(53,061 posts)It exists to allow BP to establish road blocks within 100 miles from the border to routinely ask travellers a single question, "Are you a US citizen?".
Arrests would still have to meet the same standard.
LeftInTX
(25,803 posts)Otherwise the entire state of FL would be overrun with CPB
rockfordfile
(8,709 posts)DonCoquixote
(13,616 posts)it is the red states hate of the coasts.
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,804 posts)I do not accept their "reason" for their action.
Newest Reality
(12,712 posts)onetexan
(13,080 posts)against American citizens
jalan48
(13,910 posts)to American citizens within the country.
LiberalArkie
(15,738 posts)jalan48
(13,910 posts)Newest Reality
(12,712 posts)Surprised?
First it was external and now it is becoming internal. That's a systemic problem and it has been written about and the structure can be studied.
When conditions are ripe, the "Homeland" inverts its attention and utilizes terrorism as justification. Citizens become the targets. When there is secrecy under the guise of secure missions, lookout.
This needs oversight immediately or we may be seeing a preparation for November and the DHS could become a tool.
George II
(67,782 posts)LiberalArkie
(15,738 posts)ancianita
(36,223 posts)grantcart
(53,061 posts)Oprtations, like forming sweeps for finding violent felons.
Guessing that DOJ has formed a task Force targeting protest leaders.
MrsCoffee
(5,803 posts)TeamPooka
(24,296 posts)swag
(26,490 posts). . .
In an escalation of their operations against Black Lives Matter demonstrators in Washington, D.C. last month, and in defiance of the Portland city government, CBP have snatched protesters and put them in unmarked vans for detention. Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that CBP drove a detained protester, his face hooded by his hat, in a circuitous, disorienting path before arriving to detain him back at the federal courthouse near where he had been detained.
Unidentified federal officials, wearing the same uniforms, shot 26-year-old Donavan LaBella in the head with a less-lethal round on July 11 after he kicked away a gas canister the officers threw at him. LaBella suffered a fractured skull.
On Friday morning, after the latest evening of confrontation, Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf tweeted pictures of what I saw in Portland yesterday that showed nothing more than graffitid buildings. Beside him in a subsequent picture were CBP officers kitted out in military-style uniforms as if they were an occupying army. Their uniforms said POLICE on the front.
We will prevail, Wolf tweeted. On Fox News, he estimated the size of his contingent at about 100 or so officers.
Sen. Ron Wyden, one of Oregons two U.S. senators and a Democrat, said CBP had become an auxiliary force of the presidentsand promptly committed an abuse of power.
. . .
Xipe Totec
(43,892 posts)So, unless the CBP was on boats or in airports, they have no business anywhere on Oregon.
ancianita
(36,223 posts)and NH, MA, NJ, DE, DC, CT, RI, MD, FL, AND MI.
aggiesal
(8,958 posts)ancianita
(36,223 posts)bluestarone
(17,122 posts)I bet NOT!
swag
(26,490 posts)LiberalArkie
(15,738 posts)stillcool
(32,626 posts)The Mouth
(3,171 posts)Practice, practice, practice.
Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is federal property in Oregon. A few years ago an armed mob attacked it and held it and damaged it, and I don't remember federal gestapo coming out to stop them.
Amaryllis
(9,527 posts)EarthFirst
(2,906 posts)Its a gross misuse of their organization to engage in law enforcement activity on American citizens.
47of74
(18,470 posts)And violators should be considered guilty of treason.
The only way to preserve our democracy is a judiciary that will go the whole 9 miles in punishing people who violate the constitutional rights of others. Enough with injunctions and politely asking Republicans not to violate peoples rights. Start holding them criminally accountable.
Stuart G
(38,458 posts)....This article in "The Nation" is the proof.
ancianita
(36,223 posts)Fights with paramilitaries , usually at the beginning of right wing shifts, are important fights to keep the nation aware of having to act against them. An early kidnapping event like this, creating public outcry, can pre-empt the right wing shifts and stop nazi momentum.
These are highly charged, symbolic events. Right now they're getting just the right outrage and interpretation on TV to warn the nation about paramilitaries.
Chris Hayes continually uses that word and kidnapping, at least twice in his lengthy coverage tonight.
Also, right wing leadership's attempts to paint antifa as terrorist are failing. The right wing attacks on antifa haven't even reached the public, except for Portland and DC.
Mainstream media are ongoing in keeping on its radar the use of paramilitaries (full of white supremacists) against Americans.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/fbi-white-supremacists-in-law-enforcement
LiberalFighter
(51,350 posts)47of74
(18,470 posts)Seize the whole fucking place and turn it into a court of law and maximum security prison with plenty of room for a gallows. And hold as many of these fucks as possible accountable and never allow them to go to ground.
GoneOffShore
(17,346 posts)Villa Belmonte.
And 56th and Fifth could be pmurT's Piazzale Loreto.
We can but hope.
Progressive Jones
(6,011 posts)cannabis_flower
(3,769 posts)In 1984 only it wasn't Federal law enforcement. In 1984, I was living with a boyfriend who was selling various types of drugs (marijuana, LSD and mandrex [methaqualone]). We were raised by officers who burst in and didn't identify themselves and showed no police identification. They had badges on their jackets but they took then off as soon as they came in and we didn't get the opportunity to see who they were We were all searched, put in unmarked vehicles and we thought we were going to Harris County jail.
Instead, they got on the freeway going south and we just about shit because then we thought maybe they were not police and we were going to end up in the bayou or something equally bad. Turns out we were taken to Pasadena, Tx jail. It was very scary. This has been going on a long time.