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For Racial Justice Protests, US Taps Tactical Border Squads

Associated Press

   WASHINGTON - They are the most highly trained members of the Border
   Patrol, agents who confront drug traffickers along the U.S.-Mexico
   border and track down dangerous fugitives in rugged terrain.

   One day this past week, they were in a far different setting -- a city
   park in Portland, Oregon, looking for two people suspected of throwing
   rocks and bottles at officers guarding the downtown federal courthouse.

   Beyond the debate over whether the federal response to the Portland
   protests encroaches on local authority, another question arises:
   whether the Department of Homeland Security, with its specialized
   national security focus, is the right agency for the job.

   It's not just the Border Patrol Tactical Unit that has been called to
   duty in Portland. DHS has dispatched air marshals as well as the
   Customs and Border Protection Special Response Team and even members of
   the Coast Guard.

   "The Department of Homeland Security was never intended as a national
   police force let alone a presidential militia," said Peter Vincent, a
   former general counsel for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
   which is also an agency within DHS.

   The deployment of DHS agents and officers is legal, both under existing
   law and an executive order President Donald Trump signed June 26 to
   protect federal property and monuments. But it has made the agency,
   created to improve the nation's response to terrorism, a target of
   widespread criticism.

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