- Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler sent a letter Monday to US Attorney General William Barr and Chad Wolf, acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, opposing the deployment of federal forces in his city.
- The letter was cosigned by the mayors of Seattle, Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City, and Washington, DC.
- "Unilaterally deploying these paramilitary-type forces into our cities is wholly inconsistent with our system of democracy and our most basic values," the mayors wrote.
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Mayors of some of the biggest cities in the US are condemning President Trump's decision to deploy federal forces in Portland, characterizing it as an 'abuse of power' for political purposes.
Last week, Oregon's two Democratic senators condemned the Trump administration's "authoritarian tactics" amid reports that federal law enforcement agents — in unmarked vehicles, with no discernible chain of command — were snatching people off the streets of the state's biggest city.
Portland has been rocked by non-stop protest since the death of George Floyd after a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, the actions of a violent few seized on by a president running a last-ditch "law and order" campaign for reelection.
The deployment has been opposed by local leaders, including Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, who on Monday sent a letter to US Attorney General William and Chad Wolf, acting secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, demanding "immediate action to withdraw your forces."
The letter was cosigned by the mayors of Seattle, Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City, and Washington, DC.
"The murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis sparked a national uprising and reckoning," the mayors wrote. "Millions have joined the protests and exercised their constitutional rights. The majority of the protests have been peaceful and aimed at improving our communities."
Even when that is not the case and protests turn violent, the mayors wrote, "it still does not justify the use of federal forces."
Speaking to CNN over the weekend, Mayor Wheeler said the deployment was in fact "leading to more violence and more vandalism."
The administration has threatened to repeat the practice elsewhere, an idea firmly rejected by local officials.
"Unilaterally deploying these paramilitary-type forces into our cities," the mayors wrote, "is wholly inconsistent with our system of democracy and our most basic values."
The Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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