American democracy and freedom has never been as threatened as it is today. In Portland, we are witnessing the use of federal troops, uninvited by the state or local authorities roving the streets, beating peaceful protestors, kidnapping them and holding them incognito.
Trump is threatening to unleash U.S. quasi-military troops (Homeland Security) on other “Democrat” cities he doesn’t like. Even the Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney in Oregon has joined as counsel suing his own government to stop this madness. The thinnest legal justification for this invasion is found in 40 U.S.C. § 1315 which gives the Secretary of Homeland Security the ability to “protect the buildings, grounds, and property that are owned, occupied, or secured by the Federal Government…”
Roving bands of feds, however, have strayed far from their mission and are simply brutalizing peaceful citizens who are not on or near any federal property. The danger of this is apparent. We have all witnessed the results of allegedly well-trained police officers attempting crowd control during the George Floyd riots. At least local cops are supposed to understand crowd control techniques and the concept of excessive force and are at least trained in using appropriate levels of force. To their credit during the height of the George Floyd protests many local police agencies did not respond to extreme provocations with violence, although many did. Just as some BLM peaceful demonstrations were hijacked by rioters using the peaceful protests as cover for rioting, so too did armed cops use ‘law and order’ as an excuse to engage in ultra-violent blood sport.
But generally (not always), trained cops showed some tolerance of peaceful protests and seemed to understand the First Amendment right to protest. Turning completely untrained federal troops loose in the streets who know nothing of crowd control, troops who care less than nothing about excessive force, who are only there to terrorize and brutalize protestors is to invite armed conflict between citizens and federal agents. Every night I am shocked that we have not yet witnessed the rise of armed militias who are no longer content to merely throw tear gas canisters back at law enforcement.
Over the years, we have seen innumerable armed-to-the-teeth right wing ‘militias’ who have always talked tough about the feds encroaching on their freedoms. I’m guessing the only reason they haven’t taken to the streets is because they like the fact that the feds are cracking lefty skulls. The point here is that in Our America, unmarked vans with unnamed troops, don’t scoop innocent or guilty people upoff the streets and take them to unnamed undisclosed locations.
Arrested people have a right to be taken to court after jail, not a dungeon in some undisclosed federal building. Their families have a right to be told where their loved one is and whatap happened to them. Charges get filed in courts; public defenders are appointed. People do not simply disappear. Due process of law is the crown jewel in our Bill of Rights. But in Trump’s America, our Constitution is merely an impediment to him doing what he wants.
That is precisely and completely, exactly what it is supposed to be. When I see stories about these things happening in China, I forward them to the civil rights warriors in my law firm with the warning, “Do not think for one minute this could not happen in America, because it can.” Unfortunately, it is.
David Lane has been a civil rights attorney for 40 years and is a partner with the Denver law firm Killmer, Lane & Newman, LLP
