Thread by @weareoversight

In June 2020, the Trump admin. unleashed a brutal response to racial justice protests. We uncovered records related to the crackdown on protests, shedding more light on the clearing of Lafayette Square, the involvement of various federal agencies, and more. #FoiaFriday

We uncovered emails and documents about the law enforcement response in Portland, Ore., including a log of complaints made to DHS about officers’ actions there.
americanoversight.org/new-records-ab…

We obtained complaints related to federal officers’ alleged behavior in Portland last June and July, which were collected in a spreadsheet by the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.

In one entry, a food delivery worker alleged that around midnight on July 16, 2020, he was "caught in the middle of a protest next to the Mark Hatfield Courthouse in Portland."

CRCL wrote that "he had just finished doing a ‘postmates order’ when he got into his car.” An officer then asked him to get out of his vehicle, which he refused to do "because he claimed he had not broken any laws."

The driver said the officer “proceeded to force my window down and break it until they finally backed off.”

The complainant asked for "justice and compensation," saying that he needed to use his car to make a living.

Our investigations have also shed light on the involvement of ICE, the US Marshals Service, and the Secret Service.

On June 1, federal officers violently cleared Washington, D.C.’s Lafayette Square, a park in front of the White House.

A timeline released to American Oversight by the Secret Service in response to our request for directives regarding the use of force that day shows a minute-by-minute accounting of activities related to that day's protest.

Other records produced in response to our FOIA requests detail the involvement of the U.S. Marshals Service in the protest response on June 1 and during the following days.

Just over an hour before the protest clearing, a message to officials outlined the deployment of deputy marshals to Lafayette Square and said that USMS would “be providing support to the U.S. Park Police at Lafayette Park.”
documentcloud.org/documents/2080…

We also obtained records from Immigration and Customs Enforcement that include a series of emails from before and after the Lafayette Square incident.

The documents are substantially redacted, but provide yet another glimpse into how law enforcement officers from across the federal government were deployed against the June protests D.C.

Learn more about what we’ve uncovered regarding the Trump administration’s response to protests here:
americanoversight.org/new-records-ab…