Deputy Secretary of DHS Ken Cuccinelli tells NPR not only are they not stopping the Portland tactics they're going to take them nationwide. talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/dhs-und… via @TPM
2/ Listening to Cuccinelli in this interview and other reporting from recent hours, we can see more clearly what the White House is doing and their purported legal justification. The Federal Protective Service is a federal police agency that protects federal facilities.
3/ Nothing really controversial about it. When you go to a federal courthouse and you see security there you probably realize it’s not the local PD. They’re federal agents. Since 2002 FPS has been housed with DHS. The White House and acting officials at DHS are now using ...
4/ this jurisdiction over federal facilities as hook to make ICE and CBP into a sort of federal political police run by acting appointees at DHS and responding to the President’s campaign needs. They are saying that they’ve authorized ICE and CBP to operate in support ...
5/ of the FPS mission. In other words, in their view it’s not really CBP it’s just officers backing up FPS. But of course there’s nothing happening that FPS can’t handle on its own. But through this hook of jurisdiction over federal installations, CBP is now assuming ...
6/ police powers over anyone either spray painting on fedneral facilities or who simply might be protesting near one. Because there have been some instances of vandalism against federal buildings and monuments, this is the hook through which DHS has authorized CBP and ICE ...
7/ as what amounts to Trumps private police force or domestic security service. It’s no accident that it’s ICE and CBP. They’re among the most politicized federal police agencies, most organizational loyal to and supportive or Trumps agenda and political ambitions.
8/ Critically they are also accustomed to and trained to deal with people with few political rights and little power to make use of the rights they have.
