The Department of Homeland Security’s response to anti–police brutality protests in Portland, Oregon, has disturbed and angered many employees, who called the deployment of the federal force an unusual maneuver that could do long-term damage to the agency’s reputation.
In recent days, Oregon leaders, including the governor, have called on DHS officers to leave Portland as nightly protests have grown in size. Videos captured by protesters and media have shown the consistent use of tear gas and other "less than lethal" weapons from officers guarding the Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse in downtown Portland amid a backdrop of federal officers outfitted in camouflage snatching people off the street in unmarked vehicles.
The Trump administration and senior DHS officials have said the federal response in Portland — where officers from US Customs and Border Protection and ICE are deployed — is necessary to protect the federal courthouse from damage, and they have called some protesters violent criminals. The situation in Portland, they’ve added, is unique and requires a federal response due to local leaders’ apparent unwillingness to help protect federal property.
But conversations with 17 DHS employees, all of whom requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, reveal that many at the agency disagree with the show of force. Some called for an investigation, while others said they feared the long-term consequences for the agency’s reputation.
“Despite working at DHS, I watch and learn about every day’s new descent into lawlessness and authoritarianism just like the rest of the world,” one employee said. “Being a part of this corrupt regime, even as I play no role in the decision-making process, leaves me disgusted by my employer and saddened for my country.”
Department of Homeland Security taskforce agents were again out firing waves of teargas and throwing stun grenades against a hard core of a few hundred demonstrators in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The confrontation centered on the courthouse at the heart of several blocks of downtown Portland that have effectively fallen under the control of the protesters after the city police withdrew.
But after pushing back demonstrators, many of them kitted out in helmets and gas masks, the federal agents retreated into their courthouse citadel to mocking jeers and women who were part of the “Wall of Moms” protest linking arms and chanting: “Our streets.”
This ritual was played out three times on Wednesday morning but the end result was the same as every other night. The DHS officers dispatched by the president to put down the demonstrations have instead become prisoners of the building they are ostensibly there to defend.
“The feds don’t have control of the streets,” said a woman holding a sign, “100% not a terrorist”, who gave her name only as Shannon. “I think they’re more scared than us. They’re hiding in there. They don’t know what they’re doing.”
On Monday, the president declared the deployment of the DHS taskforce a success. “In Portland, they’ve done a fantastic job. They’ve been there three days, and they really have done a fantastic job in a very short period of time,” he said.
The view from Portland’s streets tells a different story.
