What Americans living in parts of Oregon have devolved into these days is a far cry from those early settlers who had little time for the nonsensical and inane.
In recent weeks, federal officers cleared anti-ICE protesters from “occupied” property in Portland after they had blocked the entrance to the facility for more than 30 days. The protesters left behind a filthy encampment rife with feces, needles, trash, and debris so thick that the city had to hire private contractors to clean it all up.
But the biggest problem wasn’t the mess or the occupation, per se, it was the abject refusal of the Portland mayor to allow the local police force to protect and defend the lives and safety of Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees who were threatened by protesters.
And, as The Gateway Pundit reports, the order by Mayor Ted Wheeler to the Portland Police Bureau to stand down during the ICE facility siege may wind up costing them dearly: ICE employees are fighting back and threatening a lawsuit if he continues to prevent his officers from protecting them.
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The union that represents U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers says on at least two occasions last month two federal ICE employees called the Portland police while being harassed by protesters—but cops did not show up, because the Portland mayor had ordered them not to intervene.
Members of the union, called the National ICE Council, sent Mayor Ted Wheeler a cease and desist letter today demanding he instruct Portland police to assist federal agents if called upon.
Earlier, Wheeler said he did “not want the Portland Police to be engaged or sucked into a conflict” over his disagreement with the Trump administration’s border enforcement policies.
Translated: ‘Because I hate Trump and his immigration enforcement I refuse to protect anyone involved in carrying out his policies.’
Petulant, to be sure, but dangerous as well for the precedent it is setting. Besides encouraging more protests, Wheeler’s policy of disengagement will also encourage more violence against ICE employees. (Related: Left-wing agenda now becomes clear: The complete elimination of prisons, borders, and profits after the violent socialist “revolution.”)
‘Zone of terror and lawlessness’
“Your current policy forbidding Portland law enforcement agencies from assisting employees of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency who request law enforcement assistance while at or away from work is a violation of the United States Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause,” said the letter, written by attorney Sean Riddell, a former Oregon Justice Department attorney who was forced out by the attorney general for his rigorous investigation of ex-Gov. John Kitzhaber's wife Cylvia Hayes over improper green energy advocacy during his term. (She was eventually rebuked by the Oregon Ethics Committee.)
The letter said, in part, that while the ICE employees understand there is a “difference of opinion” between Wheeler and the president on the issue of immigration enforcement, “we fail to see why targeting the employees of ICE and leaving them vulnerable to violence, harassment and even death furthers a legitimate government interest,” The National Sentinel reported.
Riddell noted further that the policy “created a zone of terror and lawlessness” after ICE members were “subjected to threats of physical violence and harassment” since Wheeler announced the policy. The lawyer says failure to protect ICE employees is a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, and he is promising a lawsuit against the police department and the city if the policy remains in effect.
Regardless of what anyone thinks of POTUS Trump’s policies on immigration enforcement – which he promised during the 2016 campaign – this kind of open defiance of government and enabling of lawlessness is not conducive to the maintenance of a civil society.
Read more regarding the chaos in Portland and around the country at Chaos.news.
J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for NaturalNews.com and NewsTarget.com, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.
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