After days of protests, federal agents agree to withdraw from Portland — with conditions
For days, as fireworks and tear gas erupted in the streets of Portland, Ore., during the deployment of federal tactical teams cracking down on raucous public protests, Donald Trump campaigned against the “sick and deranged anarchists & agitators” who he said had threatened to leave Portland “burned and beaten to the ground.”
But even as the president was doubling down, Vice President Mike Pence and other senior administration officials were negotiating an agreement with Oregon’s governor, Kate Brown, to begin withdrawing the federal tactical teams from Portland.
On Wednesday, Brown announced that the federal law enforcement agents guarding the federal courthouse in downtown Portland would begin withdrawing as early as today.
“We know where we are headed,” she said. “Complete withdrawal of federal troops from the city and the state.”
Federal officials confirmed an agreement but hedged on the timing, cautioning that a departure would depend on the success of the state’s promise to secure the area.
“Our entire law enforcement presence that was currently in Portland yesterday and the previous week will remain in Portland until we are assured that the courthouse and other federal facilities will no longer be attacked nightly,” Chad Wolf, the acting secretary of homeland security, told reporters Wednesday.
The agreement, although still tenuous and framed by political divisions, marked a stark turnaround for an administration that had aggressively defended the presence of the federal forces. Federal agents more prone to investigating drug smugglers than handling demonstrations had come to the city without the support of local leaders, only to find themselves mired in an endless cycle of clashes with demonstrators who opposed the federal presence.
The agreement to hand over responsibility to the Oregon State Police represented a tactical retreat from the continuing confrontations while allowing the administration to save face by saying it had accomplished what had been its main objective, the security of federal properties.
“President Trump and his administration have been consistent in our message throughout the violence in Portland: The violent criminal activity directed toward federal properties and law enforcement will not be tolerated,” Wolf said. “State and local leaders must step forward and police their communities.”