New: Federal officers clearing into city streets, stretching legal limits

“By the time the security forces halted their advance,the federal courthouse they had been sent to protect was out of sight,two blocks behind them.”

@ByMikeBaker @thomasfullerNYT https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/25/us/portland-federal-legal-jurisdiction-courts.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

“If the federal troops are starting to wander the streets, they appear to be crossing the line into general policing, which is outside their powers,” says @robertltsai

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/25/us/portland-federal-legal-jurisdiction-courts.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

DHS says their operating under a federal statute that lets them “conduct investigations” into crimes against fed property

@DaveLapanDC, a former spokesman for the same agency, says “That’s not an investigation, that’s just a show of force.”

Two different nights, but the cinematic Star Wars scene happened again
https://twitter.com/mrolmos/status/1286941911631056898?s=21 https://twitter.com/mrolmos/status/1286941911631056898