Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley is in the process of creating an amendment that would bar the Trump administration from sending federal law enforcement to the streets.
“When I get back to D.C. next week, I will be introducing an amendment to the defense bill with Sen. Ron Wyden to stop the Trump administration from sending its paramilitary squads onto America’s streets. We won’t let these authoritarian tactics stand,” tweets Merkley.
BREAKING: When I get back to DC next week, I will be introducing an amendment to the defense bill with @RonWyden to stop the Trump administration from sending its paramilitary squads onto America’s streets. We won’t let these authoritarian tactics stand.
— Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) July 18, 2020
This decision comes at a time when backlash continues in the streets of Portland protesting the White House’s deployment of unidentified agents to violent try to control protestors.
You can see video footage of unidentified federal agents dressed in military attire at ongoing Black Lives Matter protests throughout the city:
Authoritarian governments, not democratic republics, send unmarked authorities after protesters. These Trump/Barr tactics designed to eliminate any accountability are absolutely unacceptable in America, and must end. pic.twitter.com/PE4YfZ9Vqd
— Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) July 16, 2020
A protestor is hit with impact munitions and runs back in pain pic.twitter.com/jpwNC6pCIJ
— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) July 17, 2020
Several lawsuits, including a lawsuit file by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon, have been filed against the Trump administration. According to Common Dreams, the legal complaint names “John Does 1-10” as defendants because “they have made it impossible for them to be individually identified by carrying out law enforcement actions without wearing any identifying information, even so much as the agency that employs them.”
Oregon’s governor, members of the state’s congressional delegation, and Portland’s mayor have all sided with the Senator demanding Trump withdraw these “paramilitary squads” from the streets immediately.
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