In it, we read the following -- but do go read it all (can this really be America, in 2020? Trump authorized, but otherwise untrained, rogue DHS "Secret Police" raids, on locally permitted. . . peaceful protests?!):
. . . .On information and belief, federal law enforcement officers including John Does 1-10 have been using unmarked vehicles to drive around downtown Portland, detain protesters, and place them into the officers’ unmarked vehicles, removing them from public [places] without either arresting them or stating the basis for an arrest, since at least Tuesday, July 14. . . .
The identity of the officers is not known, nor is their agency affiliation, according to videos and reports that the officers in question wear military fatigues with patches simply reading “POLICE,” with no other identifying information. . . .
In one widely reported incident, in the early hours of Wednesday, July 15, Mark Pettibone alleges that he was confronted by armed men dressed in camouflage who took him off the street, pushed him into a van, and drove him through downtown until unloading him into a building, which is believed to have been the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse. . . .
Pettibone alleges that he was put into a cell and read his Miranda rights, but was not told why he was arrested, nor was he provided with a lawyer. He alleges that he was released without any paperwork, citation, or record of his arrest. . . .
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been reported by the Washington Post to have taken responsibility for pulling Mr. Pettibone off the streets of Portland and detaining him. . . .
Defendants are injuring the occupants of Portland by taking away citizens’ ability to determine whether they are being kidnapped by militia or other malfeasants dressed in paramilitary gear (such that they may engage in self-defense to the fullest extent permitted by law) or are being arrested (such that resisting might amount to a crime). . . .
State law enforcement officers are not being consulted or coordinated with on these federal detentions, and could expend unnecessary resources responding to reports of an abduction, when federal agents snatch people walking through downtown Portland without explanation or identification. . . .
Defendants’ tactics violate the rights of all people detained without a warrant or a basis for arrest, and violate the state’s sovereign interests in enforcing its laws and in protecting people within its borders from kidnap and false arrest, without serving any legitimate federal law enforcement purpose. . . .
The late, great man, John Lewis, left all of us a very clear road map, of what to do next: peaceful civil disobedience -- every time we see these goon squads. Be forewarned, BPS and DHS -- we here in the City of Big Shoulders (due to our prior 2019 practice, in dealing with secret ICE raid trucks rumbling through our neighborhoods) are ready, organized and waiting. And in the end, many of you will lose your badges -- and perhaps your freedoms, for following clearly unlawful orders, in the face of lawful state and city commands, to stand down.
I am sorry it has come to this, but. . . you are NOT welcome here. Read our Constitution; we have the right to self-police locally -- unless we call you (we haven't). And we won't -- so, you must now depart when ordered by our Mayor, Lori Lightfoot (a force of nature who warned the president's press secretary to "watch your mouth, Karen!" this week), so long as our local police actions are not themselves in violation of federal law. And they are not. So. . . be gone.
नमस्ते
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