July 20, 2020

How the Portland Secret Police Happened

The rule of law matters most in times of crisis.

Today, America is in crisis along multiple fronts and instead, we may be sliding into unauthorized and unaccountable federal policing and domestic security activity.

This is the story of what has happened.

On May 25, George Floyd was killed by police officers in Minneapolis. In the weeks that followed there were public protests across the nation, as well some concurrent acts of violence.

A domestic security service is incongruous with the exercise of constitutional rights.

During the period, federal law enforcement personnel were deployed robustly—purportedly to protect federal property and restore public safety—in the nation’s capital and elsewhere. Over 15 different federal government agencies or components, including multiple agencies across the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) were reported as taking part in the federal law enforcement response in the District of Columbia in May.

Read the full article in The Bulwark.

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