Fed thugs not wanted in Chicago
Lightfoot says camouflaged troops operate ‘unlawfully,’ ACLU threatens action amid reports of Trump deployment
Unmarked federal troops in camouflage uniforms hit protester Christopher David, a U.S. Navy veteran, with pepper spray Saturday night in Portland, Ore. (Twitter/Zane Sparling)
By Ted Cox
Chicago political leaders and civil-rights groups are saying the city has no use for unmarked federal troops in camouflage uniforms arresting protesters, as in Portland, Ore.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday that such troops were operating “unlawfully,” and the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois warned it “will hold the Trump administration and any such federal forces accountable” amid reports that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was planning to deploy 150 federal agents to Chicago.
The Chicago Tribune reported on the planned deployment Monday, confirmed by a New York Times reporter adding that the deployment, intended to combat “gang violence,” will last 60 days and perhaps involve additional federal agents.
Both the Portland mayor and the Oregon governor have ordered the federal troops to be removed from the city. The troops were recorded beating a Navy veteran who was asking them about violating the U.S. Constitution on Saturday night, then spraying him in the face with pepper gas. The Navy veteran, Christor David, suffered broken bones in his right hand, according to a Washington Post story reprinted by the military publication Stars and Stripes. They’ve also been seen pulling protesters off the streets and into unmarked vans.
President Trump, however, insisted in a video Monday that “in Portland, they’ve done a fantastic job,” adding, “They grab ‘em, a lot of people in jail.”
Trump threatened to deploy additional troops to other major cities, including Chicago.
Lightfoot, who has previously charged that Trump uses Chicago as a political punching bag to distract from his own shortcomings as president, said at a news conference on Monday: “We don’t need federal agents without any insignia taking people off the streets and holding them, I think, unlawfully.”
The ACLU of Illinois echoed that Monday with a statement issued by Executive Director Colleen Connell saying: “In recent days, the Trump administration has threatened to send unmarked federal forces to Chicago and other cities across the country. Given the documented abuse in Portland by federal forces against the press and those protesting police killing of Black people, it is clear that we are in a fight to save our democracy against a reckless administration bent on terrorizing our communities and endangering lives.
“Make no mistake: Trump’s federal troops will not be a constructive force in Chicago,” she added. “As our colleagues have seen in Portland, Trump’s secret forces will terrorize communities, and create chaos. This is not law and order. This is an assault on the people of this country, the specific protections of protest and press in the First Amendment, and the Constitution’s assignment of policing to local authorities — not from a president acting like a despot.”
The ACLU has already filed suit against the deployment of federal troops in Portland, charging they “have been indiscriminately using tear gas, rubber bullets, and acoustic weapons against protesters, journalists, and legal observers. Federal officers also shot a protester in the head Sunday with a rubber bullet fracturing the person’s face and skull.”
ACLU Illinois warned it could file suit against a Chicago deployment too, with Connell saying, “The ACLU opposes the deployment of federal forces in Chicago by the Trump administration. We will hold the Trump administration and any such federal forces accountable for unconstitutional actions.”
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin also spoke out against the reported deployment, tweeting: “There is no place for violence or vandalism in the exercise of any constitutional right. The use of force against peaceful protestors or members of law enforcement in the reasonable exercise of their responsibilities is unacceptable.”
“We live in a democracy, not a banana republic,” added U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley of Chicago in a Facebook post touting a U.S. House investigation into the troop deployment. “This isn't how you police any city, and it's a downright un-American response to legal, peaceful protests.”
U.S. Rep. Bill Foster of Naperville echoed that, saying he’d be joining in that investigation and stating: “Once again, the Trump administration demonstrates its disdain for the protections of the U.S. Constitution and the First Amendment right to peaceful assembly. We live in a democracy, not a banana republic. I will not tolerate assaults on the freedom of Americans, especially those in Illinois, as part of President Trump’s political games to deflect from his failures in managing the coronavirus crisis.”