U.S. Rep. Don Beyer, who represents the 8th District of Virginia that includes the City of Falls Church, issued the following statement Monday following a weekend of civil rights abuses by unidentified federal officers in Portland, Oregon, operating at the direction of Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf, and amid reports that similar DHS deployments are expected to begin in Chicago:
“Acting Secretary Wolf is overseeing authoritarian abuses that betray our bedrock principles and would horrify our nation’s Founders. These unidentified officers in Portland are unwanted by state and local officials, who have asked them to leave. Their actions plainly violate both the basic purpose of these agencies and the Department of Homeland Security, and the statutory authority which has been used as a pretext for their presence,” Beyer said in the statement.
“Ordering the occupation of U.S. cities, seeking the escalation of violence, and intentionally risking American lives over peaceful protests and graffiti is unfathomable and unacceptable. Secretary Wolf must resign immediately or be fired,” the statement continued.
