The Department of Homeland Security is pulling most of its officers out of Portland, Oregon, but the agency’s chief said they may return if Oregon leaders fail to ensure that state police can secure federal government properties in the city.
“We’re gonna have to wait and see on that,” acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf told Fox News opinion host Laura Ingraham late Wednesday when asked if he had faith in Oregon’s Democratic Gov. Kate Brown.
He emphasized that some officers remain.
“We will remain there,” Wolf said. “We will protect that courthouse. That is our responsibility, and that is our duty.”
DHS and Oregon officials announced separately on Wednesday that they had reached an agreement on the extent to which DHS would keep additional personnel in Portland. Brown, who has described the federal police standing guard around federal buildings as there to respond to rioting and protesting in general, said in a statement that the “occupying force” would be pushed out of town Thursday.
However, Wolf said the Trump administration was able to convince Brown to mandate her state police defend U.S. government facilities, including the Hatfield federal courthouse, so that DHS did not need to send in its own additional personnel to do so. Wolf also said DHS would not leave the city until state troopers had proven their ability to do the job.
DHS’s Federal Protective Service officers guard federal facilities nationwide. At the onset of violence and riots in late May and into June, the federal officers were unable to secure the building from attacks, and the department sent in agents from a Border Patrol tactical team and an Immigration and Customs Enforcement team. The border and immigration personnel are leaving the city, but some will remain (just not at the courthouse) until DHS is confident its additional staff are not needed.
“With the Oregon State Police, we have a robust presence coming in to downtown Portland across the street from that courthouse,” said Wolf. “We’re going to see if they can execute the plan that they have put in place. And that’s not going to happen overnight. We’re going to have to stay there, we’re going to have to understand if their plan is effective. And if it’s not, then we’ll continue to secure that courthouse.”
Wolf said other states that have had attacks near or against federal facilities this summer did not see federal police sent in because DHS was able to work with state and local officials to boost local and state police to help FPS protect those buildings.
“We have a good relationship with local and state law enforcement, and they come to our assistance when we need them to,” Wolf said. “We don’t see that in Portland, which caused what we’ve had over the last 60 days.”
