Post by Odysseus on Jul 25, 2020 17:26:58 GMT
Gil Kerlikowske, a former CBP commissioner who served in the Obama administration, said he questioned whether the agents had the appropriate training to handle the situation unfolding in Portland. Handling a demonstration inside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility or even at an official border crossing is not the same as going into an urban area where residents are engaged in civil disobedience, he said. Kerlikowske, who has served as Seattle’s police chief, also said he believed deploying camouflage-clad agents who could not readily be identified by name sends the wrong message and fuels tensions.
BORTAC is a tactical unit more akin to the Marine Forces Special Operations Command or the FBI's hostage rescue team that is used to working in remote, rugged areas along the border, so the team’s like "a fish out of water" when it comes to guarding federal buildings in an urban area and dealing with crowds of protesters, he added.
"This is political theater for an audience of one," Kerlikowske said, referring to Trump, who he said wants to demonstrate his facade of “toughness.” He also noted that the homeland security secretary, the CBP commissioner, and the ICE director were all appointed to their jobs in a temporary capacity, without confirmation by the Senate. “They're one tweet away from being fired, so who are they going to attempt to please?" he asked.
John Sandweg, a former lead DHS official in the Obama administration, noted that because border agents are used to operating near the border where the agency exercises authority to conduct stops, seizures, and detentions without a warrant, their deployment to a city with a population of nearly 700,000 was bound to lead to problems. That at-will power is one most Americans don’t know about and has long been decried by advocates who maintain the agency doesn’t legally have those additional powers. “To put them in the middle of a city — they don’t receive training to operate in that environment,” Sandweg said. “This was a real mistake.”
BORTAC is a tactical unit more akin to the Marine Forces Special Operations Command or the FBI's hostage rescue team that is used to working in remote, rugged areas along the border, so the team’s like "a fish out of water" when it comes to guarding federal buildings in an urban area and dealing with crowds of protesters, he added.
"This is political theater for an audience of one," Kerlikowske said, referring to Trump, who he said wants to demonstrate his facade of “toughness.” He also noted that the homeland security secretary, the CBP commissioner, and the ICE director were all appointed to their jobs in a temporary capacity, without confirmation by the Senate. “They're one tweet away from being fired, so who are they going to attempt to please?" he asked.
John Sandweg, a former lead DHS official in the Obama administration, noted that because border agents are used to operating near the border where the agency exercises authority to conduct stops, seizures, and detentions without a warrant, their deployment to a city with a population of nearly 700,000 was bound to lead to problems. That at-will power is one most Americans don’t know about and has long been decried by advocates who maintain the agency doesn’t legally have those additional powers. “To put them in the middle of a city — they don’t receive training to operate in that environment,” Sandweg said. “This was a real mistake.”
It's all about giving candy to the toddler in the Oval Office...
