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Border Patrol Responsible for Portland Arrest
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/border-patrol-portland-arrest/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.
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Border Patrol Responsible for Portland Arrest (Original Post)
swag
Jul 2020
OP
stillcool
(32,626 posts)1. all perfectly legal...
A former senior DHS intelligence officer explained that while other federal agencies are required to wear identifiers when conducting arrestsNCIS agents have to wear both marked jackets and hats during arrests, for examplethat is not the case with the DHS. The fact is, they dont have to do anything in marked vehicles, he said. Such operations happen all the time and at the discretion of supervisors.
If it gives them a tactical advantage, they will find a way to justify it, a current DHS official told The Nation.
But just because the practice is legal, that doesnt mean it works in law enforcements favor. Its good for public image to have visible police presence as a deterrent, the former intelligence officer said.
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Mission creep is what CBP, Border Patrol, and ICE have been engaged in since 9/11, Budd said. There are all sorts of interesting powers that CBP, ICE and Border Patrol have under Title 42 pandemic law, which has been triggered with Trumps Covid-19 national emergency declaration. Even though he claims we should not be in pandemic lockdown, he refuses to lift the emergency declaration because this gives these agencies more authority. All of this is legal because of vague and broad authorities given to these agencies after 9/11.