Against protesters in portland, oregon. He was joined by the acting customs and Border Protection commissioner mark morgan. Thank you for being here this afternoon. Last night was the 52nd consecutive night of violent activity in Downtown Portland, targeting federal facilities and federal properties. Mainly the federal courthouse. The departments mission is very clear. We are charged with protecting federal facilities across the country. We have been protecting the courthouse in Downtown Portland since 1997 when it first opened. We began to see a rise in violent activity targeting federal facilities in late may in portland, coinciding with the death of george floyd. Let me reiterate that the department fully supports those who wish to peacefully protest. Let me say this again. We support and we will protect those who want to peacefully protest. Unfortunately what we are seeing in portland every night, roughly from midnight to 4 30 or 5 00 a. M. , is a complete opposite. Again, what is occurring in portland in the early hours of every morning is not peaceful protesting. These individuals are organized and they have one mission in mind. To burn down or to cause extreme damage to the federal courthouse and to Law Enforcement officers. At times we also see them targeting city property. These individuals congregate in the same area night after night. We see them planning their attacks. And yet the city of portland takes little to no action to stop or disperse this crowd. These individuals carry lasers, baseball bats, explosive fireworks, metal pipes, glass bottles, accelerants, and other weapons all targeting federal facilities and federal Law Enforcement. And yet the city of portland takes little to no action. These individuals have repeatedly destroyed protective fencing, extensively graffitied the courthouse, torn plywood down from the courthouse and lit it on fire, have erected barriers to block entrances to courthouses, attempted to breach the courthouse have thrown explosive materials in the courthouse and the city of portland takes little to no action. Ouse and the city of portland takes little to no action. The reasons increased d. H. S. Personnel are in portland is twofold. One, violent criminal activity every single night for 52 nights. And two, the lack of action from city officials and Law Enforcement. Department Law Enforcement officers are there to protect a symbol of justice at the courthouse. We mostly do that in a very defensive posture. However, we have been forced because of lack of local Law Enforcement presence to take measures such as arrests, to protect our officials. The law is clear on what our authority entails. Specifically, federal statute states that the secretary of Homeland Security, and im quoting, shall protect buildings, grounds and property that are owned, occupied and secured by the federal government. The law goes on to state that the department can conduct investigations, again, i. A. P. Quoting, on and off property in question, on offenses that may have been committed against property owned and occupied by the federal government or persons on that property. In other words, we are expressly allowed to leave federal property to conduct investigations and arrest individuals who have damaged federal property. We do this, of course, in conjunction with the department of justice. Many of our Law Enforcement officers in portland have other responsibilities around the country. They are away from their families and putting their lives at risk every night. The smear attacks leveled against our officers is disgusting. As it relates to officers deployed in portland, these highly trained officers are in multicamouflageware because they work on the southwest border and they work in an environment that demands that. That is their everyday uniform and it is completely appropriate. They have insignia on their uniforms that read police and they have patches and the acting commissioner will talk about that in a little bit which indicate which agency they are from. These officers are not military. Lets not confuse that. Ive seen Inaccurate Press reporting, accusing them of being military. Theyre not military. They are civilian Police Officers. These Police Officers are not storm troopers. They are not the guess tapo, as some have described them. That description is offensive, its hyperbollic and dishonest. And every Law Enforcement officer in every reasonable american and every reasonable american knows this. While i look forward to the day that our officers are redeployed back to their regular day to day mission, we will not shrink from our duty because of this violence. Ive heard the mayor of portland recently state that the federal government is to blame for this violent violence. Rational people know that is not true. He would have you believe that enforcing federal law insights violence. He would have you believe that Holding Criminals Accountable insights violence. In the last 52 days, portland has declared a riot on numerous occasions because of this nightly violence. And while this action helps, unfortunately they only take this action when city officials or local Law Enforcement are targeted. Not federal. On july 3, before any surge of d. H. S. Law enforcement resources arrived in portland, the mayor said the violence, and i quote, has been going on for more than a month now. Groups continue to target the Justice Center. They continue to hurt small businesses. And these attacks undermine public safety. These words are true today as they were before d. H. S. Law enforcement arrived in the city of portland. My message is very simple. If youre looking to peacefully protest in portland, the department respects your right to do so. Please do so away from the violent activity thats taking place near the courthouse on a nightly basis for your own safety. If you are a violent rioter looking to inflict damage to federal property or Law Enforcement officers, you need to find another line of work. We will not retreat, we will not continue or we will continue to take the appropriate action to protect our facilities and our Law Enforcement officers. If youre a local leader, now is the time to step up and protect your community. Work with the department and other federal authorities in portland to respond to responsibly bring this nightly violence to a close. And if youre in the media, report the facts. All the facts. Do not glamourize the anarchists and criminals and do not perpetuate the false narrative many of us have seen recently. I pulled two headlines before coming down here today. One, u. S. Official call pros test anarchists. Inaccurate and very misleading. Individuals trying to set fire to a building are no longer protesting, they are criminals. I or any other senior official at the department has no problem with Peaceful Protesters. Ive said that a couple of times the ill say that again. Second headline. Unidentified federal agents are detaining protesters in portland. Again, inaccurate and false. As youve heard i say, youll hear acting commissioner morgan say, all officers are identified as police Law Enforcement officers. We are only targeting and arresting those who have been identified as committing criminal acts. Like any other Law Enforcement agency does across the country every single day of the week. We all have the responsibility to condone the violent activity that is occurring night after night. I was in portland last week. Its a beautiful city. But unfortunately i saw buildings and businesses shut down and boarded up. I was briefed that the violence has cost the city businesses roughly 23 million in lost revenue. We cannot let one of our cities continue to experience this lawlessness night after night. Let me turn it over now our Deputy Director of our federal protective service. F. P. S. Has the mission to protect federal property across the country. He will walk you through the role of f. P. S. As well aspirational summary of the past few nights. After that well have acting c. B. P. Commissioner mark morgan talk talk to you about the role c. B. P. Is playing in portland. Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. As the secretary mentioned, the federal protective service or f. P. S. Were established in 1971 as part of the General Services administration with the responsibility for protecting federally owned buildings and property. F. P. S. Was transferred to the department of Homeland Security in 2002 as part of the homedland security act. And like the secretary mentioned, were responsible for the protection of public buildings and grounds that are owned, occupied or secured by the federal government. Since may 28, weve observed over 425 demonstrations and 260 attacks at federal facilities across the country. These attacks include bullets fired at federal facilities, arson and objects thrown through windows. On may 29, at a federal facility in oakland, california, during a pretty violent demonstration, two of our protective Security Officers were shot a a driveby shooting. One of those officers died of his injuries. In portland the county Justice Center has been under attack by demonstrators for the last 52 days. They paint that facility is painted every morning, its been painted about 47 times in the last 52 days. Directly adjacent to the Justice Center on one side to the north is the edith green Wendell Wyatt federal building. One of our federal facilities we protect. To the north im sorry, to the south is the hatfield United States courthouse which has been a primary target of recent attacks. Weve noticed during the demonstrations and violence at the Justice Center that some of that violence started creeping over to our two federal facilities and our staff thats normally assigned to portland was quickly overwhelmed. Due to the number of demonstrations and attacks that weve seen in portland, we requested support from c. B. P. And i. C. E. Within our authority, the secretary mentioned our Law Enforcement authority, its title 40, section 1315 of the United States code. We have the ability to crossdesignate d. H. S. Officers and agents with that authority when we need the snoins protect the federal facility assistance to protect the federal facile. Theres a facility. Theres a process to do that. There are guidelines on what is required for someone to have that authority. So we have to ensure that the training of those officers and agents are meet the requirement of the attorney general guidelines. Secondly, we have to provide those other d. H. S. Officers and agents with specific training on f. P. S. Authority and jurisdiction. So they know what theyre responsible for. Want to highlight what took place over the last 24 hours. This has been a recurring issue in portland. So typically between the hours of 6 00 p. M. And 11 00 p. M. , peaceful, normal demonstrations. You might see a march. Social advocacy and f. P. S. , we deal with about 900 of those a year. Its a simple process. We coordinate with the group. We provide an area for them to do their demonstration. And then once theyre done, we clean up and they go home. 900 a year. 99. 9 of those are peaceful. Last night at midnight, violent demonstrators blocked streets around the hatfield courthouse, the Justice Center, and the edith green federal building. So the streets were blocked. At 12 55 a. M. , we observed someone taking pictures of the water intake system at the edith green federal building. Later that night, twitter user tweeted, so we can now shut off the water to the building, the feds are staying in, to make it a nightmare for them. At 1 20, protesters were beginning to bang on the walls of the hatfield courthouse and i think if youve seen images of that, weve got plywood on the front of that. We painted that plywood with paint that cant catch on fire. So demonstrators were banging on those walls, trying to tear the plywood off. A short while later, protesters were kicking the main doors of the courthouse and shining lasers at officers. About 20 minutes later, a fire was reported at what usde to be the elk statue in the middle of the city park across the street from the hatfield courthouse. Its an area where violent demonstrators typically are meeting at nighttime. A short while later the grunegrupe has grown increasingly violent and agretsive. The plywood was taken down and a window was broken while protesters were attempting to breach the courthouse. Several hard objects, including canned food and glass bottles, were thrown at our officers who were out to move them. Protesters advanced toward and engaged the officers, throwing Water Bottles and other hard objects, fireworks and using lasers. We talked about the green lasers being used out there. We have three officers who currently have eye injuries and they may not recover sight in those eyes from those laser attacks. We have purchased antilaser glasses, if you will. These are glasses that the officers are wearing now to prevent those eye injuries. At 3 29 this morning, the protesters smashed the glass of the courthouse with a fire extinguisher and attempted to throw commercial grade fireworks inside the courthouse through the broken glass. Our teams went outside to push them away from the front of the courthouse. The teams faced significant resistance from the crowds, fire, with and glass body bothles were thrown at officers and protesters attempted to light a free on fire directly in front of the courthouse. We did make a total of seven arrests last night. Two of those were for 18 u. S. C. 1111 which is assault on a federal Law Enforcement officers. The other five were for misdemeanor charges of failure to comply with instructions or vandalism at a misdemeanor level. I do want to quickly discuss the uniforms that our officers are wearing out there. I know mr. Morgan has bought some examples of what his officers are wearing. This is what im wearing is the typical f. P. S. Uniform that our officers are wearing in portland. Because of the nature of the assignment theyre working, they are wearing long sleeves. They wear an external vest carrier with their ballistics inside. The panels on the back, police Homeland Security. The panels on the front, police d. H. S. It has the name williams. We are going to convert the name to their badge number. Because about 38 of our officers out there have been [indiscernible] and their personal information has been put online. And they wear a badge on front. Next photo, please. So, weve got some c. B. P. Officers out there assisting us. This is a typical uniform. Mr. Morgan will get into more detail on that later. But its a standard uniform. It is more tactical. But its a standard uniform that these teams wear day to day. Next slide. This is the i. C. E. Special ration team officers. Same type of uniform, cam flannel. You can see the police camouflage. You can see the Police Panels in the front and back. The s. R. T. And then the badge or their patch on the side there. Mr. Morgan. Thank you. Im going to be brief. C. B. P. s role with respect to whats happening in portland is really straightforward. As part of the department of Homeland Security, c. B. P. Is there to support f. P. S. And you heard with respect to their primary mission, to defend a federal property. As this countrys largest Law Enforcement organization in the United States, we have a considerable amount of highly trained Tactical Units that provides be a Immediate Response capability with respect to a wide, vast array of highrisk incidents. And they are highly and specialized to receive high training and specialized training in skills and tactics. We have our s. R. T. , our special response team. And thats the Tactical Unit thats attached to our office of field operations. In addition to, that as im sure everyones heard the past few days, bore tack. Thats our specialized Tactical Team thats assigned to our United StatesBorder Patrol. These agents and officers are among the most highly trained agents and officers that we have within c. B. P. And that includes training in riot control. In fact, bortac was established in 1984 precisely to respond to riot control in defention facilities. The special response team, they have an extensive experience with respect to responding to protests and ries at our land ports of entry and theyve been doing that for a very long time. In addition to that, bortac and s. R. T. , these teams are dispatched to help local, state and federal Law Enforcement organizations throughout the United States with respect to a variety of Law Enforcement operations. Theyve been doing this for decades. A couple things too that i want to footstomp on that the secretary said. And both Deputy Director cline much with respect to the arrests youve seen, specifically with respect to the units bortac that youve seen out there in the past few days, i want to make sure everybody understands that these arrests are highly coordinated within the incident command there at portland. F. P. S. Has the lead and ther