McEnany Cites Specific Laws Justifying Constitutionality of Feds Acting In Portland

During Tuesday’s White House press briefing, Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany cited 40 U.S. Code 1315 as evidence that the Trump administration and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is operating legally in Portland, Oregon.

ABC’s Jon Karl had asked “[W]here in the Constitution does the president derive the authority to send federal law enforcement officers to the streets of American cities against the will of the elected officials in those cities?”

McEnany answered that Code 1315 “gives DHS the ability to deputize officers in any department or agency, like ICE, Customs and Border Patrol and Secret Service as quote ‘officers and agents.’ They can be deputized for the duty, in connection to the protection of property owned or occupied by the federal government and persons on that property,” she continued. “When a federal courthouse is being lit on fire and commercial fireworks being shot at it, being shot at the officers I think that falls pretty well within the limits of 40 U.S. Code 1315.”

Karl then asked if President Trump sees any “limitations to that power” and if “that’s a matter of protecting federal property, how far does that power extend to the streets of Portland. What are the limitations of that, the authority to protect it?”

McEnany responded that, “[U]nder the law we believe they can conduct investigations of crimes committed against federal property or federal officers. In the case where you have someone shooting off a commercial grade firework and then running across the street, we don’t believe that extends past the jurisdiction.”

After the Portland has been under fire by riots for almost two months with the mayor’s and the state’s governor’s seeming approval, federal law enforcement had no other choice but to go in and stop the chaos themselves. As reported by the Daily Caller, border patrol agents detained people in Portland last week to “investigate links to assaults on law enforcement officials and vandalism on federal property.”

In a statement, Customs and Border Patrol said that, “[W]hile the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) respects every American’s right to protest peacefully, violence and civil unrest will not be tolerated. Violent anarchists have organized events in Portland over the last several weeks with willful intent to damage and destroy federal property, as well as injure federal officers and agents. These criminal actions will not be tolerated.”

No country can possibly survive if insurrection is tolerated. Hence, these Leftist mobs need to be stopped. Thank God for the Trump administration and its response.