Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf tells Fox that they're "proactive arrest[ing] people" in Portland.
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"Because we don't have that local support, that local law enforcement support, we are having to go out and proactively arrest individuals, and we need to do that because we need to hold them accountable," Wolf said.
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"This idea that they can attack federal property and law enforcement officers and go to the other side of the street and say 'you can't touch me' is ridiculous. We don't do that in any type of law enforcement."
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The backstory: the DHS officers in Portland are ostensibly there to defend the courthouse, ie: they've been seconded to the federal agency that normally does that and it's within their turf.
They're also allowed to pursue/investigate, and that's where the questions are raised.
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The viral video of a guy being tossed into a vehicle and driven away raised a lot of questions. DHS said they did that to question the man, who was later released.
Obviously, at least, that's a possible violation of the constitution - tossing someone in a van to question them.
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An aside: Wolf and Mark Morgan held a press conference today where each specifically objected to press reports characterizing the Portland situation as draconian or fascist.
Wolf said "they are not the Gestapo" and Morgan said it's "disgusting" to call them "storm troopers."
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And: in a (lengthy) thread on the guy seized and taken away in the van, as captured in the viral video, a Harvard law professor argues that the feds essentially admitted today that they didn't have grounds to do that and thus it was unlawful.
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Today on TV, the Deputy Director of the federal paramilitary force in #PDX discussed the infamous van video. He described a textbook example of an unconstitutional arrest.
But... he doesn’t seem to know it.
That is a BIG PROBLEM. Let’s unpack this. It’s important.
(thread)
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Replying to
Proactively arresting people? I can guess what that means. “Hey, you’re in the wrong tribe. Better take you off the street.”
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