TRUMP'S SECRET POLICE: COMING TO A CITY NEAR YOU
For weeks now, federal law enforcement has patrolled the streets of Portland, engaging in violence against demonstrators and in some cases seizing protesters in unmarked vans, in what seems a clear violation of their constitutional rights. Local leaders have called for the feds to withdraw, arguing the forces have done more harm than good. But the administration has waved off their concerns. Chad Wolf, the acting Homeland Security secretary, has claimed the agents are necessary to fight off “violent extremists” in the city, and on Sunday said that federal law enforcement needs no “invitations” from governors and mayors to move in. “We’re going to do that, whether they like us there or not,” Wolf told Fox News. Donald Trump, meanwhile, has vowed to expand the operation, telling a law enforcement roundtable last week that his government will “take over” left-leaning cities he claims have spiraled out of control because of Democratic leadership.
“We can’t let that happen,” he said. “We’re not going to let it go on.”
Trump is about to make good on his threats. The administration is preparing to deploy its secret police to Chicago, which the president has singled out over its gun violence. The Chicago Tribune reported Monday that about 150 federal agents will be sent to the city this week, under orders to quell the violence, though the exact size of the deployment and the particulars of their mandate remained unclear. Trump last week suggested the move was necessary to combat shootings in the city, which he said was “worse than any war zone that we’re in, by a lot.” “It’s not even conceivable,” he said at the roundtable after a weekend of shootings in the city. “That’s worse than Afghanistan.” John Catanzara, president of one of Chicago’s biggest and most powerful police unions, encouraged the move in a letter, describing Mayor Lori Lightfoot as “unwilling or unable to maintain order.” But Lightfoot, other local leaders, and activists in the city are not welcoming the federal agents, concerned that what’s happening in Portland could soon happen in Chicago. “Our democracy is at stake,” Lightfoot told Joy Reid in an MSNBC interview Monday, vowing to fight to prevent troops from occupying Chicago. “We’re not going to have tyranny in the city of Chicago.”
What’s happened in Portland has been disturbing enough. But the secret police mission in Chicago, vague as it is, could be even more concerning, considering the gun violence feds are ostensibly being sent in to bring under control is concentrated in neighborhoods that already tend to be ignored by the city’s power structures. “Escalating the level of surveillance and militarization of our communities does not make us safer, whether it is by federal agents or the Chicago Police Department,” Black Lives Matter Chicago, which has been critical of Lightfoot’s handling of police issues and racial justice protests in the city, said in a statement Sunday.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/07/portland-protests-trumps-secret-police-coming-to-a-city-near-you
If Portland is any example Trump's goons are likely to make the problem worse.
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