President Donald Trump has launched a new federal policing effort with officials from the Department of Homeland Security and Border Patrol to help crackdown on some unlawful protests throughout the United States, starting with Portland, Oregon. The new federal police force has raised some criticism from the local government in Oregon, as well as lawsuits from the lawsuits from the Attorney General and ACLU.
In Portland, suits against the federal agencies as well as 10 unnamed federal law enforcement officers claim the actions taken by federal law enforcement personnel in Portland violated residents First, Fifth, and Tenth Amendment rights. Specifically, the suits cite instances in which unmarked individuals in camouflage with military weapons unlawfully detained Portland residents without warrants or probable cause.
The allegations regarding the Tenth Amendment are to do with the delineation between state, and federal laws, states rights. Federal law enforcement may not enforce state laws in Oregon without the permission of the state. Damage to private property due to looting or riots, the reason being given for the police presence, would fall under state laws. The federal officers do not currently have authorization from the state to enforce state laws in Portland. State officials have repeatedly asked for the officers to leave, stating that their presence makes the city more dangerous.
While an initial incident at a courthouse involving fireworks on the Fourth of July seems to have escalated things, federal law enforcement has since acted far beyond federal property and have detained individuals, not in relation to any damage to federal property.
This week, the events at Portland have spread throughout the country. Kansas City, Seattle, and Chicago all have an unauthorized federal law enforcement presence. New York, Detroit, and Philadelphia are expected to come next.
COVID-19 Response Check-In:
It seems as though Trump may be slowly acknowledging the reality of COVID-19, starting with calling mask-wearing "patriotic", and ending with canceling much of the Republican National Convention due to novel coronavirus surges in the states in which it's held. He also has reversed his stance on school reopenings, saying schools in hot spots should hold off and that things would "get worse before it gets better."
The country is expected to pass 150,000 COVID-19 deaths in the coming week. Approval of Trump's pandemic response hit a record low this week at less than a third of all Americans, according to a new Associated Press-NORC poll.