PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) – Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield and multiple district attorneys sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi demanding federal agents stop using what they describe as reckless and unlawful tactics while operating in Oregon.
Rayfield joined Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan Vasquez, Washington County District Attorney Kevin Barton, and Clackamas County District Attorney John Wentworth in releasing the formal letter to Bondi and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
The letter details a months-long pattern of excessive force by DHS personnel, including incidents where federal officers used munitions that struck Portland Police Bureau officers and Oregon State Police officers, and tear-gas deployments that endangered residents and other law enforcement.
Oregon officials documented the same trend outside of Portland, where federal agents escalated basic encounters into volatile situations that put residents, officers and bystanders at risk.
“It doesn’t matter who you are, you have to follow the law and our Constitution,” Rayfield said. “We are asking the federal government to take reasonable steps towards prevention and de-escalation. We are putting them on notice that we are watching and will hold them accountable if they do not follow the law.”
In October, an unmarked van with federal agents stopped a group of teenagers at gunpoint at a Dutch Bros drive-thru in Hillsboro, prompting multiple 911 calls from concerned community members.
Then in November, federal agents arrested a 17-year-old high school student and U.S. citizen in McMinnville by stopping his car and breaking through his window while he was on his lunch break from school.
During the Dutch Bros incident on Oct. 3, employees called 911 as armed masked men jumped out of an unmarked van and surrounded a car full of teens placing their order.
“They are holding guns on both sides at them. It looked like military? We don’t know what’s happening,” one employee told dispatchers.
The workers said it happened without warning and they didn’t see any lights or sirens, so they were not sure if the men were law enforcement.
“They came out of nowhere and just started swarming. The customers at the windows didn’t have guns it was just the people who pulled up shouting get out of the car get out of the car,” another employee said.
When Hillsboro police responded, the ICE agents had already left the area. The three teens in the car told police they were pulled over earlier in the day by ICE agents and were not sure why they were targeted again.
The letter serves as formal notice that the Oregon Department of Justice and the three District Attorney’s Offices are actively monitoring federal conduct and will investigate any case where a federal officer appears to be acting outside the reasonable scope of their duties.
Rayfield and the district attorneys issued five specific demands, including halting unlawful actions, improving training, coordinating with local law-enforcement agencies at the Portland ICE facility, investigating excessive-force complaints, and cooperating fully with state investigations.
“Law enforcement, federal or local, has a responsibility to accomplish their mission while ensuring everyone’s safety,” Vasquez said. “Gratuitous force has no place at any level of law enforcement.”
Evidence cited in the letter includes sworn testimony from State of Oregon v. Donald Trump, where senior officials from DHS and the Portland Police Bureau acknowledged that federal officers repeatedly used disproportionate and unjustified force against nonviolent protesters and, at times, against other law-enforcement personnel.
“These are not normal circumstances,” the letter states. “The volume and severity of force used by DHS officers in Oregon over the last six months has eroded trust, jeopardized public safety, and undermined the cooperative relationships that effective law enforcement depends on.”
A spokesperson from the Department of Homeland Security confirmed the Dutch Bros incident was ICE activity and no arrests were made, but would not give any other details.
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