Prosecutors in Oregon are warning the US justice department to rein in federal agents who’ve repeatedly used excessive force on protesters, immigrants and even local police.
A joint letter from Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield and district attorneys from Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington Counties, demands the US Department of Justice “immediately halt unlawful and reckless actions by federal officers operating in Oregon.”
The letter said that in addition to federal laws, officers are expected to follow state laws when working in any state.
Prosecutors cited several incidents where federal police at Portland’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building have used crowd control munitions like tear gas and projectiles indiscriminately during protests, resulting in Portland Police Bureau officers and Oregon State Police troopers being hit.
The letter also said immigration enforcement actions across the region also appear to involve excessive force, citing an October incident of agents in an unmarked van pulling guns on teenagers at a Dutch Bros Coffee in Hillsboro, and agents’ detainment of a 17-year-old in McMinnville last week, during which they broke a car window.
The letter is addressed to US Attorney General Pam Bondi and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem from Rayfield and Multnomah County DA Nathan Vasquez, Clackamas County DA John Wentworth, and Washington County DA Kevin Barton.
“The Supremacy Clause only affords immunity to federal officers from State criminal prosecution in the reasonable discharge of their duties, and not beyond,” the letter states. “The Oregon Attorney General intends to investigate any case where it appears a federal officer is engaging in conduct beyond the reasonable scope of their duties in executing and enforcing federal law. Any such investigations revealing criminal conduct by individual federal officers will be referred to the district attorney to evaluate for prosecution.”
US DOJ spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre confirmed receipt of the letter to the Mercury, but declined to comment further.
The prosecutors cited evidence presented at a recent trial for Oregon’s case against the Trump administration over National Guard deployment.
Portland Police Bureau Commander Franz Schoening testified that police in Oregon are now subject to tighter restrictions on when they can use weapons like tear gas as a crowd control mechanism, following a slate of police reform bills passed by the Oregon Legislature in 2020. Federal agents aren’t abiding by the same rules. Current state law dictates that tear gas can only be deployed if a riot is declared.
“Based on my personal observations … there are federal officers using crowd control munitions in a manner that would violate [Oregon Revised Statutes],” Schoening said during an October 29 court hearing.
Schoening also described instances of what appeared to be knee-jerk, excessive force used on anti-ICE protesters, including an incident on October 4 in which federal agents arrested someone for trespassing on the driveway of the ICE facility, then came back out and deployed CS gas on the crowd that demonstrated “no violent criminal conduct.”
“It was all passive trespassing, civil disobedience type conduct,” Schoening recalled. “Their use of CS gas on that crowd was startling.” Schoening said that same night, federal police “used a significant amount of crowd control munitions” in an effort to clear a crowd of protesters all the way down the block. He said Portland police officers were impacted by the heavy amount of tear gas and had to temporarily leave the area immediately surrounding the ICE facility.
Later that month, on October 18, local police officers were struck by crowd control munitions launched by federal police when a federal agent shot a smoke bomb-type of projectile that ricocheted off the driveway of the facility and back onto the roof where federal agents were standing, causing them to unleash a volley of munitions. Schoening said it appeared the federal agents began firing munitions at non-violent protesters after being hit by their own tear gas projectile.
Though Rayfield and other prosecutors say they’ll hold federal officers accountable if they break the law, tracking down offenders could prove tricky. Federal agents during immigration actions and at the local ICE facility wear no visible name badges and some cover their faces.
Asked if he was concerned that federal agents wearing face coverings could make it more difficult to identify them, Rayfield said prosecuting federal officers may be difficult, but not impossible.
“Absent federal cooperation, these cases can be very challenging,” Rayfield said in a statement to the Mercury. “We understand the urgency of this situation—and the fact that Oregonians are being harmed. Our team is taking this incredibly seriously and we are committed to doing everything we can to keep our communities safe.”
The Portland City Council is expected to consider an ordinance in the near future that would ban face masks for law enforcement in the city. Councilor Sameer Kanal, who serves on the Community and Public Safety Committee and is crafting the legislation, said Rayfield has outlined a pattern of behavior showing that the federal government isn’t interested in maintaining public safety in Portland.
“Our communities can’t truly be safe unless law enforcement is accountable for its actions, and accountability requires transparency,” Kanal said. Portlanders have a right to know who’s policing their communities, especially if those agents are violating their rights. No one is above the law, not even federal agents, and certainly not those who won’t prove they’re feds in the first place.”
Tuesday’s letter isn’t the first time the state has traded barbs with Bondi and Noem’s offices over immigration-related matters and the subsequent local demonstrations.
In August, Bondi sent a letter to Oregon and more than a dozen other sanctuary jurisdictions, including Portland, threatening federal action against state and local governments if they did not take steps to “eliminate laws, policies, and practices that impede federal immigration enforcement.” The city and state both responded to Bondi, saying their sanctuary laws did not impede federal efforts and were not in violation.
In October, just before Secretary Noem paid a surprise visit to Portland, the city’s attorney didn’t pull punches in a scathing letter to the US DOJ that cited several documented incidents of federal agents brutalizing non-violent protesters.
A federal court ruled in favor of Oregon on November 7, after Rayfield sued Noem over the Trump administration’s attempts to deploy the National Guard to Portland. The court order halted the National Guard from setting foot on the ground outside the ICE facility in South Portland, despite federal attempts to paint the city as “war ravaged,” due to ongoing peaceful protests.
Over a six week period, US District Court judge Karen Immergut issued multiple temporary restraining orders, a temporary injunction, and ultimately a permanent injunction barring a National Guard deployment to Portland. Rayfield called that ruling a “huge victory for Oregon.”
Courtney Vaughn
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