Portland Mayor Condemns Sweeps and Detentions of Protestors by Unidentified Federal Agents: ‘Tactics They’re Using Are Very Un-American’

Portland, Oregon Mayor Ted Wheeler condemned the militarized sweeps in his city, calling the use of nameless federal agents to detain peaceful protestors “unconstitutional” and “very Un-American.”

During an appearance on CNN’s CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, Wheeler decried the deployment of heavily-armed unidentified federal agents in camouflaged combat gear to grab protestors off the streets. These detentions have also included whisking away the protestors in unmarked vehicles without officially arresting or issuing Miranda warnings and so far, all of those detained have been released without any charges. Viral video of the agents’ assaults have stoked outrage and ignited fierce pushback from both liberal and conservative legal experts.

After 50 days of protests, the escalation of violence ramped up in the past few days, Lemon noted, before asking the mayor to explain why.

“This is just crazy,” Wheeler said. “We were coming to the end of the nightly demonstrations at least the part where people were vandalizing things and some scattered acts of violence. We saw the energy coming out of that. We thought it would be done in a couple days. Then the federal government sent in dozens if not hundreds of troops, they engaged in what I describe as really abhorrent tactics. And basically they blew the lid off of this. Since they have been here we had huge crowds come downtown. More violence. More violence. They basically kicked the hornets’ nest.”

Wheeler is one of six mayors who has signed a letter addressed to President Donald Trump objecting to the unilateral deployment of “federal forces” into their cities with no local or state coordination.

“How are local law enforcement officials and residents reacting?” Lemon asked.

“They’re not happy,” Wheeler said. “The law enforcement officials elected officials were unified. We didn’t ask for the troops. We don’t want them in the city. The tactics they’re using are very un-American. Everybody should pay attention to this. They’re coming into the city. Unmarked vans. Pull people off the street. They don’t necessarily have probable cause. They don’t actually identify who they are to the people they’re pulling into the van. There is really serious constitutional issues here.”

“Not only not charge them in some cases they didn’t even identify who they were,” Wheeler added. “So we have people who have come back and said I feel like I was kidnapped. They didn’t tell me why they pulled me in. Who they were. Why they were here. And that’s not the kind of thing you see in America.”

Wheeler went on to note that his state’s governor, two U.S. senators, along with local law enforcement leaders have all publicly opposed the federal crackdown.

“We’re all saying go away. They have definitely escalated the situation here. They created more danger for both local residents as well as local law enforcement,” Wheeler explained. “And the part that’s scarier for us in the part I want other people in America to pay attention to is the president admitted that he is sending federal troops in to cities based on the political affiliation of the people who run the cities. In other words, what he describes as ‘liberal Democrat cities.’ And that in my opinion is a blatant abuse of federal policing power.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.