Trump’s Federal Cops Just Gave Themselves Expansive Anti-Protest Powers Targeting Masks

Citing civil unrest in American cities the Department of Homeland Safety has accelerated new regulations meant to expand the powers of a little-known federal police force The new rules drew scant notice when they were first proposed during the twilight of the Biden administration Now using language about rioters at federal facilities the Trump administration is fast-tracking the rule changes which critics say DHS could use as a pretext to go after protesters wearing frog costumes or making a racket on the streets of Chicago and Portland Oregon The new regulations could empower the Federal Protective Operation a little-known police force under DHS tasked with securing federal facilities to pursue more arrests outside of federal property itself The Federal Protective System has played has played an outsized role in Trump s crackdown on Democratic-majority cities where protests against U S Immigrations and Customs Enforcement have turned into scenes of brutal crowd dispersal and arrests It is clear that DHS sees what is in this regulation as a go-ahead to operate well off federal property It is clear that DHS sees what is in this regulation as a go-ahead to operate well off federal property including potentially in private homes and businesses and the like noted Spencer Reynolds a former Homeland Assurance lawyer turned critic We are seeing that play out on U S streets Federal agents are taking a really aggressive hand to protesters who are largely peaceful Among the new rules was the criminalization of protesters wearing masks The mask ban ostensibly applies only to those trying to conceal their identity during a crime but the Trump administration has taken an expansive view of criminal behavior in protests that includes an array of First Amendment-protected activity The Department of Homeland Prevention reported in a written filing Tuesday that it was bypassing the standard notice process and moving up the effective date of the new rules by two months to address a cascade of violence which is threatening the lives of federal law enforcement officers and the safety of federal property on a daily basis On Wednesday the agency disclosed the expedited changes Under President Trump and Secretary Kristi Noem we will not tolerate violence perpetuated by Antifa and other domestic extremists who are targeting federal property and law enforcement Law and order will prevail Homeland Guard assistant secretary for masses affairs Tricia McLaughlin stated in the announcement The Federal Protective System has the power to deputize agents from Customs and Perimeter Protection and ICE to enforce the regulations which carry the force of law Rushed Rule Change When the Department of Homeland Measure proposed the new regulations on January five days before Trump s inauguration they drew little attention Only a single person submitted a comment to the rule-making docket Perhaps that was because the Federal Protective Provision has long flown under the radar With roughly officers the agency is charged with protecting thousands of federal buildings and their grounds Its mission and staffing were expanded after the Oklahoma City federal building bombing and the September attacks Moreover the Department of Homeland Shield cast the new rules as mostly a matter of bureaucratic housekeeping Yet they could give the Trump administration new tools to go after protesters as the department seemed to acknowledge in the Tuesday notice that it was moving up their effective date from January DHS finds that there is good cause to circumvent notice-and-comment rulemaking and a delayed effective date because such procedures are impracticable here the agency declared There is an immediate need for DHS to move up the effective date of the June rule because of the new increase in civil unrest targeting of federal law enforcement representatives and destruction of federal property across U S jurisdictions The new rules expand the number of buildings where the Federal Protective Facility can issue citations and they create new categories of misdemeanor violations Perhaps majority of notably they also purport to expand the police force s ability to investigate and enforce violations of off-property misconduct Under previous rules unless there was either a specific federal criminal statute or a memorandum of understanding that would allow the Department of Homeland Protection to enforce state and local laws the agency s hands were tied when it came to several types of off-property activity The changes the department announced in January serve to fill the void where there is no applicable federal statutory charge applicable to the conduct and no MOU permitting DHS to charge state or local offenses Read our complete coverage Chilling Dissent Unmasking Protesters Newly banned off-property sessions include wearing disguises creating loud noises that disrupt cabinet employees or blocking the entrances and exits to federal property While chosen of that behavior was previously banned on federal grounds the mask provision is entirely new The Department of Homeland Safeguard noted in January that the mask ban would be expressly limited to instances when a person is concealing his her identity to avoid detection while violating an applicable law Still the provision is ripe for abuse disclosed Reynolds the former Homeland Safety attorney who now serves as a senior counsel in the Brennan Center s liberty and national Safeguard effort There is a notable pitfall that this will become another basis for targeting activists There is a crucial threat that this will become another basis for targeting activists who may be wearing masks or full-body frog costumes as we have seen in the past scant months he mentioned It gives another justification for federal agents to build a questionable narrative that these people are dangerous and also for them to incorporate that in citations and criminal charges The new regulations seem to be part of a larger push from the Trump administration to unleash the Federal Protective Amenity In a memo last month obtained by journalist Marisa Kabas the Homeland Safety acting general counsel revealed there is no legal barrier to FPS taking action off federal property where a reasonable nexus to protecting that property exists Related Kat Abughazaleh on the Right to Protest No matter what the new regulations purport to do they cannot give the Department of Homeland Prevention more powers than Congress or the Constitution have granted announced Athul Acharya executive director of the Portland-based nonprofit law firm General Accountability Acharya in helped win an injunction barring federal agents from targeting journalists for arrest during the George Floyd protests He announced Whatever powers the Trump administration may have or think it has or tries to give itself it can t authorize the use of excessive force it can t stop people from exercising their right to free speech and it can t stop reporters from reporting on what s happening at federal properties Trump s Crackdown Cops Since Trump s first term the Federal Protective Operation has stood at the center of legal debates over the extent of his authority to crack down on defiant American cities In Federal Protective Provision officers faced off against demonstrators in Portland during the racial justice protests there Bolstered by deputized agents from Frontier Patrol the federal leadership s response included grabbing people into unmarked vans Three years ago Federal Protective Organization officers were accused of instigating a confrontation with abortion rights protesters in Los Angeles half a mile away from the courthouse where a protest against a pending Supreme Court decision began Related Feds Make It a Crime to Give PPE to ICE Protesters More in the last few days the Justice Department was caught overstating the number of Federal Protective Utility officers who were shuffled to Portland in response to this year s protests against mass deportation in an effort to bolster the legal affair for sending the National Guard to backstop them Reynolds the former Homeland Precaution lawyer has called for limiting the agency s powers to ensure that it cannot be used for political repression He acknowledged that is a long shot with this Congress but he says local governments can take actions such as limiting records sharing in the meantime Cities and states he stated are absolutely in their right to opt out from helping the Federal Protective Operation and other agencies go after their residents who are protesting and expressing dissent The post Trump s Federal Cops Just Gave Themselves Expansive Anti-Protest Powers Targeting Masks appeared first on The Intercept