Talk:2020 deployment of federal forces in the United States

Major update

I just did a major update to the article anticipating future cities. Per recommendation, I added Washington D.C. and 'collapsed' lawsuits and reactions under their respective cities (this may become ambiguous later). Keep up the great work! Ocaasi ^{t | c}

Add this page to "Controversies of the 2020 United States presidential election" category?

I just noticed Category:Controversies of the 2020 United States presidential election. It's not clear to me how people are deciding which pages should be listed there and am wondering if this page should be added. -- FactOrOpinion (talk) 20:50, 6 August 2020 (UTC)

New GAO report

The GAO has just released a report, Federal Tactical Teams: Characteristics, Training, Deployments, and Inventory, which mostly focuses on deployments in 2015-2019 but also includes an appendix on "Reported Tactical Team Deployments for Civil Unrest and Protests in May and June 2020." This info strikes me as quite relevant to the article, and my guess is that the info should be displayed in a table, but I'm still not that experienced an editor, and I haven't ever created one. I found the Help:Table page, but may still need some help. Also wondering what the column labels should be: Team name / Location(s) deployed to / Notes? Is someone willing to help me with this? Thanks. -- FactOrOpinion (talk) 01:58, 11 September 2020 (UTC)

It's not a great source, since (1) it's a primary source, (2) it's acknowledged to be incomplete, and (3) the authors don't seem to have sought to verify the information received – they just say (for example) "the ATF said they did xyz in city abc". If it were to be included it should be in prose so these caveats can be made plain. But I'm not convinced it belongs in the article at all. Has there been any coverage of the report in secondary sources? – Arms & Hearts (talk) 10:40, 11 September 2020 (UTC)

The report was released yesterday. There's some reporting on it (e.g., from the Washington Times, an acceptable but not great source) and some tweeting about it from reporters (e.g., Ryan Reilly, Huffington's justice reporter). I can add something in the form you describe instead, but it's not clear where to add it, as this info precedes the creation of Operation Legend / mostly precedes the creation of PACT, and it cuts across cities. -- FactOrOpinion (talk) 11:38, 11 September 2020 (UTC)

Video coverage of and interviews with the abducted

This Guardian article goes into far greater detail about the experience of those detained in Portland. I'm not sure it's narrative color will add any facts to the article, but there may be some descriptions or quotations that are useful.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/investigations/portland-protesters-federal-response-trump/

Ocaasi ^{t | c} 04:22, 12 September 2020 (UTC)

Whistleblower: Trump sought heat ray and ammo stock for D.C. protests (Washington Post)

"Hours before law enforcement forcibly cleared protesters from Lafayette Square in early June amid protests over the police killing of George Floyd, federal officials began to stockpile ammunition and seek devices that could emit deafening sounds and make anyone within range feel like their skin is on fire, according to an Army National Guard major who was there. D.C. National Guard Maj. Adam D. DeMarco told lawmakers that defense officials were searching for crowd control technology deemed too unpredictable to use in war zones and had authorized the transfer of about 7,000 rounds of ammunition to the D.C. Armory as protests against police use of force and racial injustice roiled Washington."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-protest-lafayette-square/2020/09/16/ca0174e4-f788-11ea-89e3-4b9efa36dc64_story.html

Ocaasi ^{t | c} 17:15, 17 September 2020 (UTC)

This is mentioned in Donald Trump photo op at St. John's Church, which is covered in summary style in this article. – Arms & Hearts (talk) 23:36, 3 November 2020 (UTC)

Washington D.C. deployment of Bureau of Prisons forces

"Over 100 personnel from the Justice Department’s Bureau of Prisons, as well as others from the Marshals Service, are preparing to mobilize to the streets of Washington, D.C., for confronting potential election-related unrest, according to a document acquired by The Daily Beast and confirmed by the BOP."

https://www.thedailybeast.com/william-barr-preps-prison-guards-to-head-to-dc-for-election-unrest

Ocaasi ^{t | c} 20:42, 3 November 2020 (UTC)

DHS forces not legally deputized

"A report released Monday evening by the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General revealed DHS officers deployed to Portland this summer did not have the authority to act as law enforcement officers. The DHS officers were deployed under a statutory provision relating to federal property protection and included agents from Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP), and others. The Inspector General report found that many of the DHS officers who engaged in unconstitutional and violent attacks on protesters, press, legal observers, and bystanders were not properly authorized to be deployed for property protection to begin with. The Inspector General also found that some of these improperly-deployed federal agents had not even complied with DHS’s own process for designation as officers to protect property and that some of these agents used force on community members."

https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-statement-response-report-dhs-agents-deployed-portland-protests-were

Ocaasi ^{t | c} 00:25, 4 November 2020 (UTC)

DHS cut corners in deployment

"Department of Homeland Security officials cut too many corners when they deployed additional agents to Portland, Oregon, over the summer to quell riots near the federal courthouse, the department’s inspector general said in a new report this week, delivering the latest blow over the aggressive federal response. Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari said agents and officers were deployed without assurances they had received training beforehand on the legal authority they were acting under."

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/nov/3/audit-dhs-cut-corners-portland-riots-federal-polic/

Ocaasi ^{t | c} 20:46, 5 November 2020 (UTC)

Armed Agents at Ballot Counting Locations

"Armed Agents Are Allowed in Ballot-Counting Venues, Justice Deptartment Tells Prosecutors: Former officials expressed fears that the department’s legal interpretation would allow federal investigators to intimidate vote counters or interfere with their work."

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/04/us/politics/justice-department-armed-officers-election.html

Ocaasi ^{t | c} 21:00, 5 November 2020 (UTC)

The Verge article

This recent piece in The Verge may be useful for this article. – Arms & Hearts (talk) 18:48, 26 October 2022 (UTC)