Thread by @Pedroconsafos

In Portland & elsewhere, it's not Trump's "secret" police or a new paramilitary force. This is the #BorderPatrol, & bipartisan Congresses for decades have bloated its budget & enabled it to act with impunity in our communities along the US-Mexico border. We breathe this reality.

I've described here how from Nixon to Trump and all in-between, the militarization of border communities, including quadrupling Border Patrol personnel, set-up a formula for an unaccountable police force.

Now it's ready to usurp local police power.

webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache…

Emboldened by a white supremacist with authoritarian aspirations, this formula becomes a greater threat to you and the Constitution meant to protect you because Border Patrol enjoys unprecedented powers within 100 air miles "from any external boundary.”
law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/…

Consider that under the Obama administration in 2014, when the DOJ revised its racial profiling guidelines it excluded Border Patrol and it's parent agency, CBP. A greater threat for POCs.

My friend @ChrisRickerd explains this dangerous precedent here:
aclu.org/blog/speakeasy…

The DOJ racial profiling guidance excludes the Border Patrol in this way:

"U.S. Border Patrol interdiction activities in the vicinity of the border..."

dhs.gov/news/2014/12/0…

DHS' justification for using Border Patrol is this EO:
whitehouse.gov/presidential-a…

CBP's response to presence in Portland:
cbp.gov/newsroom/speec…

Info on New Task Force to Protect American Monuments, Memorials, and Statues:
dhs.gov/news/2020/07/0…

And violence? Yeah, that frames Border Patrol's MO.

Reports of abusive practices and a general disregard for human life are all over the place. Here is @AFSCSanDiego's report on Border Patrol use of chemical agents on migrants seeking asylum in the US:
afsc.org/sites/default/…

Plenty of respectable news outlets have covered Border Patrol's abusive culture:
theintercept.com/2019/01/12/bor…

politico.com/magazine/story…

kpbs.org/news/2019/oct/…

archive.thinkprogress.org/teenage-migran…

qz.com/1734240/crimin…

motherjones.com/politics/2018/…

time.com/5868431/border…

rollingstone.com/politics/polit…

Not to mention Border Patrol's endemic rape culture.

See @BuddJenn's harrowing & courageous testimony here:

https://twitter.com/BuddJenn/status/1196095794060750848?s=20

(Jenn is now speaking out for the rights of migrants & encouraging agents to tell the truth about Border Patrol culture)

#BorderPatrolRapeCulture

Is this a dress rehearsal for something more ominous, as elections near, poor pandemic policies kill 1Ks, & civil unrest call for abolishing old enforcement ways?

This is not haphazard planning. Nefarious intentions are underway. We should be prepared.

https://twitter.com/Pedroconsafos/status/1284220290386411520?s=20

To understand complexities of Border Patrol brutality, abuse of authority, malfeasance, corruption, etc. follow these orgs:
@AFSCSanDiego - local #SanDiego work
@SBCCoalition - informative weekly newsletter & coalition
@AllianceSnDiego - local San Diego work coordinating networks

Take action with @afsc_org and @DetentionWatch supporting the #DefundHate coalition:

afsc.org/defund-hate

detentionwatchnetwork.org/defundhate