U.S. agents to pull back in Portland but will stay on standby at courthouse
PORTLAND, Ore. — Some federal officers guarding a U.S. courthouse that has been targeted during violent protests in Portland will leave in the next 24 hours, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said Wednesday. But the Trump administration’s insistence that some agents would remain in the building and the entire contingent would stay in the city in case they’re needed sparked confusion and concern among demonstrators.
While each side declared victory in the political fight over the federal deployment, it was not clear if the agreement would reduce tensions on the streets of the liberal city, where protests have persisted for more than two months.
Many demonstrators are peaceful, but smaller numbers have thrown fireworks, flares and rocks at federal agents, used lasers to blind them and sprayed graffiti across the downtown Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse. Agents have responded with tear gas, pepper balls, stun grenades and nearly 100 arrests.
The deal also seemed likely to further muddle the situation by adding yet another law enforcement agency to the mix: Oregon State Police.
President Donald Trump earlier this month sent agents to the city from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the U.S. Marshals Service as protests against racial injustice increasingly targeted federal property. The deployment appeared to have the opposite effect, reinvigorating demonstrations with a new focus: getting rid of the federal presence.
The Democratic governor said CBP and ICE agents will begin leaving the downtown area Thursday, but acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf wouldn’t specify where the agents would go. He insisted that a federal presence would remain until the Trump administration was assured the agreement was working and state police were sufficiently protecting federal property.
The conflicts between protesters and the federal agents have been limited to roughly two square blocks around the courthouse and have not affected the rest of the city.
Mr. Trump declared victory, tweeting that federal agents prevented Portland from being “burned and beaten to the ground.”
Mr. Wheeler also claimed a win in a lengthy Twitter thread.
“The federal occupation of our community has brought a new kind of fear to our streets. Federal agents nearly killed a demonstrator, and their presence has led to increased violence and vandalism in our downtown core,” he wrote.
A protester was critically injured July 11 and required facial reconstructive surgery after a federal agent fired a nonlethal round that struck him in the head.
Wednesday’s announcement was an abrupt aboutface from just two days earlier, when the Trump administration said it might send more federal agents to Portland.