The state’s top attorney and the elected prosecutors of Oregon’s three largest counties are warning the federal government they plan to criminally investigate federal officers who overstep while executing President Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield along with District Attorneys Nathan Vasquez from Multnomah County, Kevin Barton from Washington County and John Wentworth from Clackamas County said in a joint letter released Tuesday that they are worried by federal officers’ tactics documented in recent months.
It raises concerns about how federal officers have made immigration arrests and how they have policed protests outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland.
Federal officers were filmed in October holding a group of teens at a drive-thru coffee shop at gunpoint. Last week, they broke a car window to arrest a teenage high school student on his lunch break.
“Oregonians have repeatedly reported the use of excessive force by (federal officers) throughout Oregon,” Rayfield and the elected district attorneys wrote. “The frequency and nature of these incidents suggest a pattern of behavior on behalf of your agencies and may be violations of Oregon law.”
Their letter is addressed to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
It also highlights local police, such as the Portland Police Bureau and Oregon State Police, have been hit by chemical munitions launched by federal officers outside the ICE facility in Portland.
The Oregon attorneys made five specific requests of the federal agencies:
- end all “unconstitutional actions” in the state
- train their personnel better if they interact with Oregon residents
- communicate with local law enforcement better
- investigate complaints of excessive force against their own officers
- and cooperate with any investigations into violations of Oregon law.
Officials at the U.S. departments of Justice and Homeland Security did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment.
While federal officers are not typically expected to comply with state laws — due to the supremacy clause legal principle that says federal law takes precedent — the Oregon attorneys cautioned that federal officers are not untouchable.
“The Supremacy Clause only affords immunity to federal officers from state criminal prosecution in the reasonable discharge of their duties, and not beyond,” the attorneys wrote.
Vasquez, Barton, Wentworth and Rayfield all confirmed to OPB they did not currently have any open cases or investigations into the conduct of federal law enforcement officers.
The letter follows a noticeable ratcheting-up by federal law enforcement in Oregon.
Immigrants’ rights advocates recently told OPB they’ve seen a more than 550% increase in calls to hotlines where people report ICE officers making stops. Stops have particularly increased in the suburbs of the Portland metropolitan area, they said.
On Nov. 17, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official tweeted that agents made more than 560 immigration arrests in Portland in October.
Some of the attorneys’ concerns stem from new evidence provided during the recent federal trial over whether President Donald Trump can dispatch National Guard troops to Portland’s ICE facility. The evidence “documented the frequent disproportionate use of force” against persistent protesters outside the facility, and an official with the Federal Protective Service testified during trial that federal officers’ tactics have led to three internal use of force investigations.
One recently released document showed federal officers apparently shot pepper balls at a Portland Police Bureau sergeant during a protest on Oct. 20.
An internal memo written by Portland Capt. David Jackson wrote that federal officers “had shot pepper balls in his direction for unknown reasons from the top of the ICE facility.” No officers were struck by the pepper balls, Jackson wrote.
Several officers then exited the ICE facility and confronted the sergeant in-person outside, reportedly telling him “help or get out of our way.”
The federal officers informed the Portland police sergeant “that individuals had been shining flashlights at the federal officers,” Jackson wrote. The officers then went inside and phoned a Portland police lieutenant and reiterated a message to “help us or get out of our way.”
The Portland Police Bureau declined to comment, but said it’s had communication with “federal partners” about the Oct. 20 incident.
