Federal agents leaving: Some withdraw from Portland, while some are going to Detroit, Cleveland and Milwaukee.

Cleveland, Milwaukee, Detroit to get officers

After weeks of violent encounters between protesters and federal officers in Portland, federal agents will begin withdrawing from the city’s downtown Thursday while state police will remain downtown, the governor of Oregon announced. The development comes as the Justice Department plans to send nearly 100 federal agents and officers to Detroit, Cleveland and Milwaukee.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said Wednesday on Twitter that she had spoken with Vice President Mike Pence and others, and that the federal government had agreed to remove all Customs and Border Protection and ICE officers from downtown Portland.

“They have acted as an occupying force & brought violence. Starting tomorrow, all Customs and Border Protection & ICE officers will leave downtown Portland,” Brown wrote, in part, on Twitter. “Let’s center the Black Lives Matter movement’s demands for racial justice and police accountability. It’s time for bold action to reform police practices.”

But Chad Wolf, acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said federal officers deployed to Portland will remain there to protect the federal courthouse and other buildings, and that they will rely on Oregon State Police to deal with protesters outside the fence line in city streets and parks.

“DHS law enforcement officers will remain in Portland,” Wolf said. “Let me repeat, our entire law enforcement presence that is 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 and set afire.”

Federal Protective Service officers and U.S. Marshals would continue to be deployed inside the courthouse, Wolf said, while Oregon State Police and city officers will replace DHS officers outside.

In another development, Justice Department plans to send nearly 100 federal agents and officers to Detroit, Cleveland, Ohio, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in an expansion of Operation Legend, a federal crime initiative that began earlier this month.

The department will send 42 agents to Detroit and more than 25 each to Cleveland and Milwaukee – cities that officials said have seen rising violent crime rates. The federal officers, drawn from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and other agencies, will help local and state officials in criminal investigations, the Justice Department said Thursday.

The announcement comes as state and local officials, drawing from the unrest in Portland, are increasingly skeptical and apprehensive of a surge of federal law enforcement resources to their cities.

Attorney General William Barr has defended the expansion of Operation Legend, saying it’s targeting cities with violent crime problems.

MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ/AP Demonstrators blow back tear gas with leaf blowers during clashes with federal officers at the federal courthouse in Portland.