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Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in our sister publication, Portland Mercury. We will be posting dispatches from Portland as they become available.
Portland’s city attorney says federal police are brutalizing protesters, and the government is weaponizing its longstanding settlement agreement with the city.
In response to an investigation launched last week by the federal government into the Portland Police Bureau’s policing practices at the local ICE facility, the city’s legal counsel laid out a pattern of excessive force and favoritism toward conservative streamers by federal police.
The federal investigation concerns Portland police’s alleged discrimination against conservative counter-protesters at the ICE facility. The US Department of Justice announced the investigation after Portland Police Bureau (PPB) officers arrested right-wing online influencer Nicholas Sortor last week near the ICE facility in South Portland, charging him with disorderly conduct. Sortor, 27, was one of three people arrested by PPB that night, after officers responded to fights between protesters and counter-protesters at the ICE building.
The city denies the discrimination allegations against PPB, and says federal officers have been using excessive force on protesters and violating the Constitution.
On Monday, Portland City Attorney Robert Taylor sent a sharply-worded letter to the US Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, citing several examples of police brutality by federal agents toward peaceful protesters.
“Does the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice care about the Constitution anymore? Many in Portland and across America have reason to be concerned about the answer to that question,” Taylor wrote in a letter to R. Jonas Geissler, deputy assistant attorney general at the DOJ. “In Portland, we appear to be witnessing the federal government engaging in unconstitutional uses of force in violation of the Fourth Amendment against otherwise peaceful demonstrators exercising their First Amendment rights.”
Taylor also responded to the DOJ’s claims of ideological discrimination within Portland’s police force. His letter points to evidence of the federal government illegally engaging in viewpoint discrimination “by targeting demonstrators based on the content of their speech, while favoring those with whom the federal government agrees.”
“For example, it appears the federal government is providing special access to the ICE facility for social media ‘influencers’ who favor the federal administration, while targeting with force those who use social media to document the conduct of the federal government.”
The letter cited three instances of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents shoving an elderly couple to the ground, using impact munitions to disperse a large, mostly peaceful crowd, and spraying pepper spray directly into the face of a 19-year-old woman having a conversation with DHS agents.
In recent litigation against the Trump administration to stop the deployment of National Guard troops to Portland, the city included police reports as evidence that protests are now being inflamed by right-wing counter protesters and social media streamers.
Documents submitted in the court case show PPB officers have confronted right-wing counterprotesters who frequently show up to the ICE facility, including Rhein Amacher, Chelly Bouferrache, and Katie Daviscourt, recommending they stay away from the protest crowd.
Amacher was allegedly assaulted by a protester in a conflict during a protest. In an October 4 social media post, Daviscourt wrote that she is “going to go to war” with the PPB due to the Bureau’s testimony about her.
“I cannot wait to see DHS absolutely crush this agency,” she wrote. Daviscourt reports for the conservative outlet The Post Millennial, which is run by right-wing activist Andy Ngo.
In recent days, right-wing streamers could be seen perched atop the ICE building, providing cover from any weapons dispersed, and signaling a cozy relationship between DHS agents and conservative social media streamers.
“If the Civil Rights Division is concerned about the Constitution, the Civil Rights Division should ensure that all people – even those with whom the administration disagrees – receive the equal protection of the First and Fourth Amendments,” Taylor wrote. “At present, it appears the Civil Rights Division is failing that solemn duty in Portland and elsewhere in America.
Referring to two recent temporary restraining orders against the federal government granted by an Oregon judge over the weekend, Taylor said Portlanders and other Americans are concerned the Civil Rights Division “will choose allegiance to a president who is ‘untethered to the facts’ instead of the rule of law and the Constitution.”
“Please do not fail Portland and please do not fail America.”