We have all seen articles and video clips of federal law enforcement officers, including ICE agents, arresting and detaining peaceful protestors on the streets of Portland.  This is happening in other American cities as well as mandated by Donald Trump who claims that mayors and local police are not doing enough to quell the protests in their cities, so he is sending in federal troops.  This is despite the fact that local officials did not ask for federal assistance and have instead requested that those federal agents vacate their cities.  Doubling down, Trump has just announced that he is sending Federal agents to Chicago.  Everyone knows he is just playing political games before the election.

Now there is no question that federal agents have the power to enforce federal law and can arrest anyone found to be violating federal law.  For instance FBI agents can arrest those suspected of committing any federal crime such interstate sex trafficking, public corruption, spying, etc.  The Secret Service can arrest those guilty of counterfeiting.  ATF agents can investigate and arrest those guilty of illegal firearm and explosive sales.  And the list goes on – the common denominator being that federal agents can arrest and detain individuals guilty of violating federal laws.  In their official capacity they cannot arrest and detain individuals who have violated only state laws.  Nor are federal agents allowed to harass or interfere with the rights of individuals who have committed no crimes at all. 

This question was recently asked on a public forum:  “Can a Federal Law Enforcement officer arrest somebody for violating a state law?”

The answer supplied by Beau Baez, law professor at Northern Illinois University College of Law, reads as follows: “No, at least not in the officer’s capacity as a federal officer. The United States is made up of 51 co-sovereigns: one federal government and 50 State governments. Here is an example: John commits a crime in New York, which is witnessed by a federal law enforcement officer and a Florida law enforcement officer. If they witnessed a New York State crime, then neither the Federal nor State officer can effectuate an arrest. There are laws that allow citizens to make arrests, such as when a person sees a felony committed in front of them. In that situation, both the Federal and Florida officers can make the arrest in New York in their capacity as civilians, not as law enforcement officers.”

Note, that in the case of so called “citizen’s arrest”, state laws vary to some extent, but in general such arrest cannot not be made if it is feasible to inform local law enforcement and allow them to intervene instead or if it is not feasible to turn over the suspect to local law enforcement without delay.  Note in Portland there was no attempt to get local law enforcement involved at any point, so the actions observed were totally illegal, in some cases violations of civil rights by federal agents and even kidnapping.

While there is no doubt that federal law enforcement is certainly within their rights to protect federal property, it is certainly not legal for them to arrest people on city streets and detain them for two hours as happened in Portland.  It is certainly not legal for anyone not in local law enforcement to interfere with rights of peaceful protestors.

The aggressive solution is for mayors of cities harassed by Trump’s federal goon squads to publicly declare that they have ordered their local police to arrest anyone, including federal agents, who interfere with public protests.  They should make it clear that anyone not on federal property illegally detaining any individual will be arrested and charged with kidnapping.  Whether or not the charges stick can be determined while said officers spend the next few hours or days in jail.

They should also make it clear that anyone banishing a firearm and not identified to be a federal law enforcement officer will be arrested for violating state and city laws.  That would mean that feds identified only by generic “police” symbols on their person and carrying assault rifles would be continually harassed by every local law enforcement officer they encounter and would be forced to continually produce their identification.

This country is not a police state.  We are not under martial law. The federal government does not have jurisdiction in these state and local matters and mayors should declare their rights and make that abundantly clear.  The standard mode of operation of Donald Trump is to push as far as he can beyond the limits of his authority until he is stopped in his tracks.  It is past time for Trump to be slapped back when trying to exert federal authority where he has no authority to do so.

Cajun     7/20/2020