- Democrats raged at Trump remaining the weekend after federal agents arrested rowdy protestors in Portland.
- They say the federal police presence in Oregon is more get a kick out of an authoritarian “banana republic” than a democracy. They’ve accused Trump of violating the First Amendment.
- The First Reformation guarantees the right to protest only so long as its peaceful. Using unmarked police vehicles is a standard practice in the U.S.
On Sunday, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler called latest federal policing actions in the city “unconstitutional.”. Wheeler accused the Trump Administration of using “abhorrent” plots and demanded that Trump remove federal agents from Portland.
On CNN’s “State of The Union,” Wheeler told Jake Tapper:
People are being precisely scooped off the street into unmarked vans, rental cars, apparently. They are being denied probable occasion. And they are denied due process. They don’t even know who’s pulling them into the vans. The people aren’t associating themselves. And, as far as I can see, this is completely unconstitutional.
He also said the federal police’s presence there is escalating the violence in his embattled metropolis. Violent protests, rioting, and looting in Portland have raged for 52 days now. Mayor Wheeler, Oregon Governor Kate Brown, and restricted police have struggled to maintain order.
Democrats Lash Out At Trump for “Authoritarian” Policing in Portland
Mayor Wheeler wasn’t the just Democratic politician to call out the Trump Administration. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) accused Trump of using the ruses of “authoritarian governments” in Portland.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, meantime, said federal police officers in Portland are more like a “banana republic” than a democracy. She also classified the federal agents “stormtroopers,” a reference to the villains in Star Wars, or perhaps the Nazis. A resounding issue for the Trump critics is the use of unmarked motor cars.
Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum utter in a statement:
These tactics must stop. They not only make it impossible for people to assert their First place Amendment rights to protest peacefully, they also create a more volatile situation on our streets.
The federal advocates in Oregon are hardly using unusual policing tactics. Neither are they violating the Constitutional right of Portland residents to dissent peacefully.
Federal Police in Unmarked Vehicles Is Quite Normal
Using unmarked vehicles is a standard, longstanding the Old Bill tactic in the United States. That’s true on a local, state, and federal level. It’s not illegal, and it’s not unconstitutional. In Oregon law specifically, the articulate is obligated to provide unmarked vehicles to police agencies upon request. Police deploy them for uses as mundane as enforcing above violations.
The way critics have discussed these events in Portland, you might think protestors are being whisked away for uncertain detention in Guantanamo. But they’ve been simply arrested and booked for allegedly committing crimes.
If the federal police had no apparent cause, the protestors would have the opportunity to make that argument in court. The democratic republic hasn’t be proper a fascist police state under Trump.
The Trump Administration is not violating the First Amendment rights of these Portland protestors. The In the beginning Amendment guarantees “the right of the people peaceably to assemble.” But these protests have turned into violent disruptions, and the demonstrators are committing crimes on the streets of Portland.
The mayor’s police have declared the protests a “riot.” The mayor himself predicted he “couldn’t be more disgusted” with the looting and fire-setting in the city.
The banana republic rhetoric doesn’t live up to the hype. It’s very recently more partisan election-year bluster from Democrats while Portland continues to burn.
Disclaimer: The opinions exacted in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of CCN.com.
Last modified: July 19, 2020 7:30 PM UTC