Federal Agents Leave Seattle: Mayor

US tactical forces deployed to Seattle to protect federal property have left the city according to Mayor Jenny Durkan, who said local officials complained that their presence was ‘escalating tensions,’ according to Reuters.

Mayor Jenny Durkan rejected the deployment, saying it did not have the consent of local officials and could incite the property damage it was supposed to prevent.

She tweeted on Tuesday that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told her that U.S. Border Patrol Tactical Unit agents had left Seattle. DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. –Reuters

Policing decisions in Seattle should be made by Chief @CarmenBest – not @realDonaldTrump. It’s why federal law enforcement officials as well as Democratic and Republican former heads of @DHSgov are raising alarm bells.

— Mayor Jenny Durkan (@MayorJenny) July 28, 2020

On Tuesday, Attorney General William Barr said that federal agents were stopping “rioters” in Portland who were trying to destroy the courthouse. 

Meanwhile last weekend, Seattle saw its largest Black Lives Matter protest in several weeks, while a man was shot at an Austin, Texas demonstration. Two protesters in Aurora, Colorado were shot and wounded, which led to the Tuesday arrest of a man.

On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security was sued over its deployment of agents to the Portland courthouse on grounds that it was unconstitutional for feds to take over the role of local and state law enforcement.

Widespread and mostly peaceful protests against racial bias and police brutality have taken place in the United States since May 25 when George Floyd, a Black man, died under the knee of a white officer in Minneapolis.

Federal agents sent to Portland have used tear gas, pepper balls and stun grenades on protesters outside a federal courthouse, who have tried to tear down a fence erected around it. –Reuters

On Wednesday, President Trump said the feds won’t leave Portland until the city is secured.

On Tuesday, Barr told a House panel that ‘far more’ officers had been injured than protesters, who are using industrial-grade fireworks, firebombs and other weapons – adding that two federal agents sent to Portland may have been permanently blinded by lasers.