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Trump Threatens to Send Federal Law Enforcement Forces to More Cities

As federal agents patrol Portland and head to Chicago, Democrats call the president’s plan “an American crisis,” barely 100 days before the election.

Chicago police investigating the scene where multiple people were shot over the weekend. The Trump administration plans to deploy about 150 Homeland Security Investigations special agents to the city in the coming days.Credit...Tyler Lariviere/Chicago Sun-Times, via Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Trump plans to deploy federal law enforcement to Chicago and threatened on Monday to send agents to other major cities — all controlled by Democrats.

Governors and other officials reacted angrily to the president’s move, calling it an election-year ploy as they squared off over crime, civil liberties and local control that has spread from Portland, Ore., across the country.

With camouflage-clad agents already sweeping through the streets of Portland, more units were poised to head to Chicago, and Mr. Trump suggested that he would follow suit in New York, Philadelphia, Detroit and other urban centers. Governors and other officials compared his actions to authoritarianism and vowed to pursue legislation or lawsuits to stop him.

The president cast the confrontation in overtly political terms as he seeks an issue that would gain traction with voters at a time when many of his own supporters have soured on his leadership amid a deadly pandemic and economic collapse. Trailing badly in the polls with just over 100 days until the election in November, Mr. Trump assailed the “liberal Democrats” running American cities and tied the issue to his presumptive fall opponent, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

“I’m going to do something — that, I can tell you,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “Because we’re not going to let New York and Chicago and Philadelphia and Detroit and Baltimore and all of these — Oakland is a mess. We’re not going to let this happen in our country. All run by liberal Democrats.”

The president portrayed the nation’s cities as out of control. “Look at what’s going on — all run by Democrats, all run by very liberal Democrats. All run, really, by radical left,” Mr. Trump said. He added: “If Biden got in, that would be true for the country. The whole country would go to hell. And we’re not going to let it go to hell.”

Democrats said the president was the one out of control. Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon said he would introduce legislation to limit the role of federal agents in cities like Portland. “This isn’t just an Oregon crisis,” he said. “It’s an American crisis. We need to stop Trump before this spreads.”

He added, “We won’t let these authoritarian tactics stand.”

Federal agents in Portland have snatched protesters off the streets and thrown them into unmarked vehicles without explaining why they were being detained or arrested, according to some of those who have been seized. Oregon’s governor, Kate Brown, has called it “a blatant abuse of power,” and the city’s mayor, Ted Wheeler, has called it “an attack on our democracy.” The state attorney general has filed a lawsuit seeking a restraining order against the federal agents for what she called unlawful tactics.

The Trump administration now plans to deploy about 150 Homeland Security Investigations special agents to Chicago in the coming days, according to an official directly involved in the operations. The special agents, known for conducting long-term investigations into serious crimes like human trafficking and terrorism, are expected to be in the city for at least 60 days to help combat violence and would be under the direction of the Justice Department.

Few are denying the city has a violent crime problem. Sixty-three people were shot in Chicago over the past weekend, 12 of them fatally. The White House referred questions to the Department of Homeland Security, which declined to comment, as did the Justice Department.

The Department of Homeland Security has put about 2,000 officials from Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Transportation Security Administration and the Coast Guard on standby to be quickly deployed to cities. At least 200 members of “rapid deployment teams” were sent to Washington, D.C., Portland, Pennsylvania and Seattle, the agency said this month. Many tactical agents from those teams from Customs and Border Protection and ICE are now in Portland.

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Videos Show How Federal Officers Escalated Violence in Portland

Peaceful protests were already happening for weeks when federal officers arrived on July 4. Our video shows how President Trump’s deployment ignited chaos.

Federal officers in military gear … … clouds of tear gas … … crowd control munitions … [shots fired] … and locals who want those officers gone. “What are you guys protecting?” “Get the [expletive] out of our city!” In just over a week, the chaotic scenes in Portland grabbed the nation’s attention and raised questions about whether the U.S. government is exceeding its authority and violating civil rights. The officers came because of an executive order signed by President Trump in late June to protect federal property from destruction. “If we didn’t take a stand in Portland, you know, we’ve arrested many of these leaders. If we didn’t take that stand, right now you would have a problem like — they were going to lose Portland.” So what’s going on here? And what methods are the officers using to protect federal sites? Crowd: “Breonna Taylor!” The protests against racism and police brutality, which started in May, had largely been peaceful and were held across Portland. But after federal officers arrived in the city on July 4, demonstrations became centered around this U.S. District courthouse and this building housing federal agencies. Both are property of the U.S. government. The buildings have clearly been vandalized, and the Department of Homeland Security has a mandate to protect them. That’s usually done by officers from the Federal Protective Service. But on the ground in Portland, we have seen a new task force, including U.S. Marshals … … BORTAC, a unit of Customs and Border Protection … … and a special response team from ICE, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. According to a government memo leaked to The Times, these units are insufficiently trained to perform crowd control. But that hasn’t stopped them from trying. Night after night, videos show these officers emerging from the two federal buildings as protesters draw near. Hundreds of videos reviewed by The Times show that although protesters were antagonistic, officers often responded with disproportionate force. [shouting] They blanketed streets with tear gas. “Are you OK?” They struck protesters with batons … … and used flash bangs, pepper balls and other less-lethal munitions to clear the streets. [chanting] Their actions often appeared to escalate rather than de-escalate matters. And in some instances, they attacked when there was no apparent threat. On July 11, protester Donavan La Bella was at the federal courthouse when an officer appears to have fired at his head in retaliation for tossing a spent tear gas canister. “[expletive] you!” [shot fired] La Bella’s mother told local media he suffered skull fractures and needed surgery. Later that night when field medics sought officers’ help for a wounded protester, they were aggressively cleared away. On July 18, a Navy veteran was batoned and pepper-sprayed in another unprovoked attack. His right hand was broken, and he needs surgery. Sometimes members of the press were hit. “He got shot in the back, obviously, and he’s wearing press —” This photographer, Mathieu Lewis Rolland, told The Times that a volley of 10 projectiles were fired into his back. “Ow, ow, ow!” In the middle of all this, protesters were detained in ways that alarmed civil rights advocates and former Homeland Security officials. “Can your people identify themselves as law enforcement?” On July 15, several federal officers were filmed driving in unmarked vehicles in the blocks around the courthouse. “How are we supposed to know who you are? How are we supposed to know you’re not kidnapping us and you’re civilians kidnapping us?” One protester was detained at this location nearby. “What are you doing?” Federal officers wouldn’t identify themselves … “Use your words!” … but patches on the right and left sides of their uniforms match those used by members of BORTAC, the tactical unit from Customs and Border Protection. They drove the protester away in an unmarked car. D.H.S. says federal officers have made 43 arrests since July 4. Agents do have the authority to make arrests if they believe that a federal crime has been committed, like damaging federal property or attacking officers. Crowd: “Hey, hey, ho, ho, these racist cops have got to go.” In recent days, the controversy mobilized a larger and more diverse crowd of protesters. [chanting] A so-called wall of moms led marches through Portland’s streets and to the federal courthouse where officers cleared them away. The federal presence has also inflamed tensions. Some demonstrators damaged paneling on the courthouse and tried to set them alight. Others threw water bottles and fired fireworks toward the building. On Wednesday, July 22, Portland’s mayor joined the protests and was caught in a cloud of tear gas. “This is a egregious overreaction on the part of the federal officers. This is not a de-escalation strategy. This is flat-out urban warfare.” At around the same time, a Customs and Border Protection plane was spotted circling overhead. C.B.P. officials told The Times it was sending a live video feed of the crowd to law enforcement on the ground. Crowd: “No justice, no peace! Protesters and local officials say this is all a case of federal overreach. Oregon’s attorney general has sued the federal government to stop arresting people. “Gas! Gas! Gas!” The president has doubled down, promising to send more federal officers to cities governed by his political rivals. “Because we’re not going to let New York and Chicago and Philadelphia, Detroit and Baltimore, and all of these — Oakland is a mess — we’re not going to let this happen in our country. All run by liberal Democrats.” The results could look like a national police force acting under presidential orders, able to ignore local demands and arrest residents. In Portland, it has been a recipe for chaos. [explosion]

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Peaceful protests were already happening for weeks when federal officers arrived on July 4. Our video shows how President Trump’s deployment ignited chaos.CreditCredit...Photo by Caitlin Ochs/Reuters, Illustration by The New York Times

Some cities have seen increased levels of crime since the protests over George Floyd’s death while in police custody in Minneapolis, but no president in modern times has threatened to send in federal law enforcement over local opposition.

In contrast to the president’s claims, many major cities remain safer than they were decades ago, despite the recent uptick in crime. Some protesters, including in Portland, have targeted federal property and officers with rocks and fireworks, and some protests weeks ago resulted in damage to businesses and looting. But most of the demonstrations throughout the United States have largely been peaceful.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot of Chicago made clear on Monday that the federal agents would be no more welcome in her city than they have been in Portland. “We don’t need federal agents without any insignia taking people off the street and holding them, I think, unlawfully,” she said at a morning news conference before reports of the deployment were confirmed. “That’s not what we need.”

In a four-page letter to Mr. Trump sent later in the day and obtained by The New York Times, Ms. Lightfoot said if the president really wanted to help Chicago, he should enact gun control, do more to curb the coronavirus and invest in community programs.

“Any other form of militarized assistance within our borders that would not be within our control or within the direct command of the Chicago Police Department would spell disaster,” she wrote.

Trump administration officials said the deployment to Chicago was separate from the operation in Portland, which ostensibly was to protect the federal courthouse there.

But the Homeland Security Investigations agents have broad authority to enforce federal laws in cities, and the Trump administration deployed them this year to so-called sanctuary cities in an enhanced arrest campaign against undocumented immigrants. The administration has also previously deployed federal officials to combat crime in Chicago, including agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The Department of Homeland Security asserted that it was acting within the law, pointing to 40 U.S. Code 1315. Chad F. Wolf, the department’s acting secretary, can deputize officers in any department agency, like ICE, Customs and Border Protection or the Secret Service, “as officers and agents for duty in connection with the protection of property owned or occupied by the federal government and persons on the property,” according to the law.

But the federal agents would not be limited to guarding federal property. Under the law, the agents could also conduct investigations of crimes committed against a federal property or federal officer throughout the city, Department of Homeland Security officials have said.

Carrie Cordero, a senior fellow for the Center for a New American Security, said that the federal statute did provide flexibility to tap members of various agencies to assist in guarding federal property, but that it was never intended to send border agents trained to investigate a drug cartel to crack down on protesters in the streets.

“What’s happening is the administration is using D.H.S. to perform basically a federal policing function, which in my view is unconstitutional and is certainly not what Congress intended when it created the department,” she said.

Stephen I. Vladeck, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin, said it was not clear how federal agents could occupy the streets of a city that is 99 percent not federal property. “It’s of course the prerogative of the federal government to enforce federal law and protect federal property,” Mr. Vladeck said. “It is not the job of the federal government to be a general police force for all crimes.”

Governors, mayors and other officials from the cities that Mr. Trump named on Monday quickly rejected the uninvited intervention of federal agents.

“It is deeply disturbing that President Trump is once again choosing to spread hateful rhetoric and attempting to suppress the voices of those he doesn’t agree with,” said Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan.

John Roach, a spokesman for Mayor Mike Duggan of Detroit, said the city had not suffered through the problems that others have after Mr. Floyd’s death. “Detroit is one of the few large cities in the country that has experienced no fires, no stores looted and never requested the National Guard during the protests,” he said. “Not sure where the president is getting his information.”

Asked on Monday about whether he had heard the president’s mention of Oakland, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California — not known for his brevity — responded curtly: “No, and we’d reject it.”

In Philadelphia, the district attorney likened the clash to the fight against fascism in World War II and threatened to criminally charge federal agents sent to his city if they exceeded their authority. “Anyone, including federal law enforcement, who unlawfully assaults and kidnaps people will face criminal charges from my office,” said the district attorney, Larry Krasner. “At trial, they will face a Philadelphia jury.”

Mr. Wolf dismissed the complaints, making clear that he had no intention to pull back regardless of the objections. “I don’t need invitations by the state, state mayors, or state governors to do our job,” Mr. Wolf said on Fox News. “We’re going to do that, whether they like us there or not.”

The dispatch of federal agents to cities has become a new front for a president seeking to regain political momentum heading into a fall campaign season. Eager to recast protests against racial injustice after the George Floyd killing into an us-versus-them battle for law and order, Mr. Trump in recent days has repeatedly blamed Democrats for countenancing violence and failing to stand up to crime.

Speaking with reporters in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump said federal agents had “done a fantastic job” in Portland, which was “totally out of control,” and he assailed the governor and other officials there for not welcoming the help. “These are anarchists,” he said. “And the politicians out there, yes, they’re weak, but they’re afraid of these people. They’re actually afraid of these people. And that’s why they say, ‘We don’t want the federal government helping.’”

He said other cities were in similar need of federal intervention, naming some of the nation’s largest urban centers. “How about Chicago?” he said on Monday. “I read the numbers where many people killed over the weekend. We’re looking at Chicago, too. We’re looking at New York.”

The policy closely mirrored the politics. At the same time the president was weighing the use of federal power, his campaign posted an advertisement online showing an elderly lady in her home at night trying to call 911 during a break-in only to be put on hold because the police had been defunded. “You won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America,” the ad said.

Peter Baker and Zolan Kanno-Youngs reported from Washington, and Monica Davey from Chicago. Jill Cowan contributed reporting from Los Angeles.

Peter Baker is the chief White House correspondent and has covered the last four presidents for The Times and The Washington Post. He also is the author of five books, most recently “Impeachment: An American History.” More about Peter Baker

Zolan Kanno-Youngs is the homeland security correspondent, based in Washington. He covers the Department of Homeland Security, immigration, border issues, transnational crime and the federal government's response to national emergencies and security threats. More about Zolan Kanno-Youngs

Monica Davey is the Chicago bureau chief, covering the Midwest. She joined The Times in 2003. She previously worked at The Chicago Tribune, and wrote for the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, the Roanoke Times and others. More about Monica Davey

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: Trump Threatens to Use Force in Major Cities. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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