Mark Morgan, the acting head of the Customs and Border Protection Agency, blasted Portland, Oregon’s, police Sunday, as ongoing violence in the city entered its 86th night.
As The Daily Wire reported early Sunday, after tangling with far-right counter-protesters in downtown Portland for most of the day on Saturday, “anti-fascists” and “Black Lives Matter” demonstrators moved into Portland’s residential districts Saturday night, pulling with them a home-made guillotine and creating a bonfire with American flags and mattresses.
“Videographer BG On the Scene recorded numerous videos of the night’s action, noting in one video that ‘protesters have brought out a guillotine to the streets,’” The Daily Wire noted. “Another video showed the rioters burning American flags and a teddy bear.”
The protests targeted the Penumbra Kelly Building, which “houses public safety offices.”
Morgan told Fox News Sunday that he believes Portland law enforcement must bring an end to the remaining violence, warning that people could get seriously hurt if police are unable to maintain control.
“It’s just a matter of time where someone is going to die if this is not stopped,” Morgan said.
“We’ve seen almost 90 days complete ineptness of local leadership to do what they need to do and let the law enforcement officers do what needs to be done to end this,” he continued. “It’s outrageous.”
The rot stems from the top, Morgan noted, adding that Portland’s prosecutor appears to be actively avoiding leveling charges against protesters arrested for assaulting law enforcement officers attempting to keep the peace.
“So someone can go there and actually resist a police officer and not be prosecuted for that,” Morgan said. “It’s unbelievable, and then they’re curious why they go right back out and reoffend. It’s simply ridiculous.”
Fox News notes that “[e]arlier this month Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt announced a new policy, which drops charges against people who were arrested for interfering with a peace officer or parole and probation officer, disorderly conduct, criminal trespass, escape, harassment and riot — unless they were accompanied by some other charge of physical violence or property damage.”
Morgan also suggested that Saturday’s clash of protesters was indicative of a bigger, brewing problem.
“If you don’t go in there and stop this, this is what you’re going to see, and it’s getting worse,” Morgan said. “Now you have groups on the other side coming. Now they’re clashing with each other. It’s just a matter of time where someone is going to die if this is not stopped.”
The CBP sent an elite force of agents to protect Portland’s downtown federal courthouse earlier this summer, but troops were pulled after Oregon authorities inked an agreement with the Trump Administration to provide the courthouse with Oregon State Police protection. Since then, though, violent protests have not ceased; instead, they have moved from the courthouse steps to the city’s residential neighborhoods.