Tell your Members of Congress: Oppose Trump's secret police snatching people off the streets!

 

Senator Dianne Feinstein

SF Office: (415) 393-0707
DC Office: (202) 224-3841
LA Office: (310) 914-7300
Fresno Office: (559) 485-7430
San Diego Office: (619) 231-9712

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Senator Kamala Harris

SF Office: (415) 981-9369
DC Office: (202) 224-3553
Sacramento Office: (916) 448-2787
LA Office: (213) 894-5000
San Diego Office: (619) 239-3884

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Speaker Nancy Pelosi

SF Office(415) 556-4862

DC Office: (202) 225-4965

Email Contact: https://pelosi.house.gov/contact-me/email-me

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Rep. Jackie Speier

San Mateo Office(650) 342-0300

DC Office(202) 225-3531

Email Contact: https://speier.house.gov/email-jackie

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Call Script

My name is __________. I am a constituent, and my zip code is _______. I am a member of Indivisible SF.

For Speaker Pelosi:

I thank the Speaker for her remarks regarding the federal agents snatching people off the streets in Portland, Oregon. She said: “Trump and his stormtroopers must be stopped.” I agree, and I want to know what the House will do to stop him. I want the House to use all of its oversight powers to oppose this unconstitutional deployment of force against protesters exercising their rights, and withhold any DHS funding that could be used for this oppression.

For Rep. Speier:

I thank Representative Speier for her remarks regarding the federal agents snatching people off the streets in Portland, Oregon. I ask the Representative to continue to speak out about this, and do everything in her power to oppose this unconstitutional deployment of force against protesters exercising their rights, including withholding any DHS funding that could be used for this oppression.

For Sen. Harris:

I thank Senator Harris for speaking up about unidentified federal agents snatching people off the streets in Portland, Oregon, but I’m concerned that she thinks the problem is limited to their cars being unmarked. There is only one word for being seized and dragged into a van by masked assailants in paramilitary attire who refuse to identify themselves, and that word is "kidnapping."

I ask the Senator to make a stronger statement condemning these agencies’ actions unreservedly, and to use all power available to her to oppose this unconstitutional deployment of force against protesters exercising their rights, including by cosponsoring the NDAA amendment by Senators Merkley and Wyden to prohibit these actions and withholding any DHS funding that could be used for this oppression.

For Sen. Feinstein:

I’m concerned by Senator Feinstein’s silence about unidentified federal agents snatching people off the streets in Portland. There is only one word for being seized and dragged into a van by masked assailants in paramilitary attire who refuse to identify themselves, and that word is "kidnapping." It is not justified at any time, and certainly not at a time when the administration is claiming that graffiti and property damage are an excuse to slander innocent protesters as “violent anarchists.”

I expect my senator to speak up in the name of justice, free speech, and the rights of people to petition their government for redress of grievances, and to do everything in her power to oppose this unconstitutional deployment of force against protesters exercising their rights, including by cosponsoring the NDAA amendment by Senators Merkley and Wyden to prohibit these actions and withholding any DHS funding that could be used for this oppression.


Background

For most of this month, federal authorities have been showing up to protest areas in Portland, Oregon, where protesters have already been under a month of regular assault by the Portland Police Bureau, and started snatching alleged protesters off the streets of Portland—considerable distances away from the federal property they’re ostensibly there to protect.

That protection was ordered by Trump on June 26, following a wave of protests that dismantled Confederate and other racist monuments. Trump’s executive order commanded federal authorities to protect “American Monuments, Memorials, and Statues” among other “government property.”

The order is terrifying enough, and the execution of it in Portland is more so. Federal authorities, under the command of DHS but not wearing name tags or other ID, have been prowling the streets—especially after dark—and shoving people they allege to be protesters into unmarked vehicles without reading them their rights or telling them why they’re being detained.

DHS issued a statement confirming the actions, which are still ongoing, and providing a list of alleged actions that form the pretext of DHS’s deployment. Most of the list is incidents of graffiti, with some property damage mixed in, and all of it attributed, without evidence, to “violent anarchists.”

Under the Constitution, every person is presumed innocent until they have been proven guilty of a specific crime in a court of law, and has the right to petition government for redress of grievances, to speak their minds freely, and to peaceably assemble.

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler has said that federal authorities are unwelcome, and further wrote a joint letter with several other mayors around the country calling for an end to the federal occupation.

Oregon Governor Kate Brown also issued a statement via Twitter condemning the federal occupation.

DHS Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli confirmed to NPR that this is not an example of federal agents going rogue—this came from the top, and “this is a posture we intend to continue not just in Portland but in any of the facilities that we're responsible for around the country.” In the same interview, he confirmed that DHS had detained alleged protesters using unmarked vehicles in Portland, and that they are not limiting their activities to the vicinity of federal property (“If we spot them elsewhere, we will pick them up elsewhere.”).

CUCCINELLI: The legal justification is that they are people suspected of damaging or attacking federal personnel or property. That's the justification. That's the basis for jurisdiction.

Trump’s deployment of federal force to kidnap civilians, suppress protests, and slander protesters as “violent anarchists” is a terrifying abuse of power. Using militarized federal agencies to quell dissent violates both the letter and the spirit of the law that forbids using the US military on US residents.

We must come together to oppose this unconstitutional, uncivil brutality and demand that the rights of free speech and peaceable assembly and the presumption of innocence shall not be infringed.

References


 

This Week's US Congressional Call Scripts: