Ellen Rosenblum, Oregon Attorney General has sued the Department of Homeland Security for violating Black Lives Matter protester’s rights.
What We Know:
- Rosenblum sued the DHS on Friday along with other agencies for allegedly sending law enforcement to Portland to arrest BLM protesters without probable cause. She requested a restraining order against Homeland Security, the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Federal Protection Service so they will no longer be able to make arrests.
- According to the lawsuit, the officers issuing arrests “have been using unmarked vehicles to drive around downtown Portland, detain protesters, and place them into the officers’ unmarked vehicles, removing them from public without either arresting them or stating the basis for an arrest, since at least Tuesday, July 14”. Rosenblum claims these law enforcement officers are violating the Constitution by unlawfully detaining demonstrators.
- The lawsuit also claims law enforcement has violated the Fourth and Fifth Amendment by seizing people without a warrant and denying them due process of law. It says, the actions of law enforcement compels citizens who are “reasonably afraid of being picked up and shoved into unmarked vans — possibly by federal officers, possibly by individuals opposed to the protests”.
- People in Portland have flooded the streets to protest and fight against racism after the death of George Floyd, a Black man in Minneapolis who was killed in police custody. After President Trump announced he would send federal law enforcement to Portland as part of his promise to “dominate” protesters, protesting took a turn in Portland. Videos have surfaced on the internet of the chaos in Portland. Officers are seen in camouflage walking through the streets aiming their weapons and using smoke to press protesters back.
- Rosenblum says in the lawsuit, “Ordinarily, a person exercising his right to walk through the streets of Portland who is confronted by anonymous men in military-type fatigues and ordered into an unmarked van can reasonably assume that he is being kidnapped and is the victim of a crime.” She says the ordering of federal officers has been the cause of the chaos in Portland.
A federal investigation is being launched into the deployment of the federal officers per the Democratic members of Oregon’s congressional delegation.
