CrosswordNewsletters
DAILY BEAST
ALL
  • Cheat Sheet
  • Politics
  • Crime
  • Entertainment
  • Media
  • Innovation
  • Opinion
  • World
  • U.S. News
  • Scouted
  • Travel
CHEAT SHEET
    POLITICS
    • Biden World
    • Elections
    • Opinion
    • National Security
    • Congress
    • Pay Dirt
    • The New Abnormal
    • Right Richter
    • Trumpland
    MEDIA
    • Daytime Talk
    • Late-Night
    • Fox News
    U.S. NEWS
    • Identities
    • Crime
    • Race
    • LGBT
    • Extremism
    • Coronavirus
    WORLD
    • Russia
    • Europe
    • China
    • Middle East
    SCIENCE
    • Hunt for the Cure
    • Rabbit Hole
    TRAVEL
      ENTERTAINMENT
      • TV
      • Movies
      • Music
      • Comedy
      • Sports
      • Sex
      • TDBs Obsessed
      • Awards Shows
      • The Last Laugh
      HALF-FULL
        CULTURE
        • Power Trip
        • Fashion
        • Books
        • Royalist
        TECH
        • Disinformation
        SCOUTED
        • Face Masks
        • Clothing
        • Technology
        • Bedroom
        • Kitchen
        • Home
        • Fitness
        • The Case For
        • I'm Looking For
        • New Kids On the Block
        COUPONS
        • Adidas Promo Codes
        • DoorDash Promo Codes
        • H&M Coupons
        • Hotwire Promo Codes
        • Wine.com Discounts
        • Vitacost Coupons
        • Spanx Promo Codes
        • StubHub Promo Codes
        Products
        NewslettersPodcastsCrosswordsSubscription
        FOLLOW US
        GOT A TIP?

        SEARCH

        HOMEPAGE
        Politics

        Justice Department Deputized Border Patrol as U.S. Marshals for Protest Response

        WHEN THE BORDER CROSSES YOU

        The Department of Homeland Security insisted that all its officials on D.C. streets for the protest response were at all times identified.

        Spencer Ackerman

        Contributing Editor

        Erin Banco

        National Security Reporter

        Updated Jun. 10, 2020 2:45AM ET / Published Jun. 09, 2020 6:52PM ET 
        exclusive

        Reuters

        When the Justice Department brought a small army of often-unidentified federal police officers to the streets of Washington, D.C. amidst protests against racist policing, it made at least some of them into temporary U.S. marshals. 

        The unusual command structure, in which Department of Homeland Security officials acted on the orders of the Justice Department, is the latest detail to emerge about the highly controversial deployment – one that officials said was coming to an end. 

        Customs and Border Protection, which documents indicated loaned 400 personnel for the protest crackdown, told The Daily Beast that the Justice Department had requested its assistance. 

        CBP is a component of the Department of Homeland Security. But, an official there said, “We were deputized as Special Deputy US Marshals, so we weren’t using our DHS authority.” 

        A senior Justice Department official confirmed the deputization. “Some DHS agents were federally deputized as marshals and served under DOJ,” the official told The Daily Beast. A letter from Attorney General Bill Barr to Mayor Muriel Bowser said the department assigned additional law enforcement responsibility to the Drug Enforcement Administration and that the U.S. Marshals Service “has deputized officers from the Department of Homeland Security and from [the Bureau of Prisons]… to assist in the enforcement of federal law.”

        An anonymous official with the Department of Homeland Security told The Daily Beast that its personnel, estimated at nearly 800 out of an estimated 1,300-cop deployment that spanned cabinet departments, were at all times identified. That was not the case with several other agencies, notably a contingent from the Justice Department’s Bureau of Prisons.

        It is unclear if all components to the hundreds-strong force, including those that did not identify themselves, were similarly deputized as U.S. marshals. Several departments that took part in the irregular counter-protest deployment, including the Secret Service, did not respond to inquiries. The National Park Service, which oversees the Park Police, another component contributing to the counter-protest, sent a non-responsive statement. 

        Deputizing other federal law-enforcement agencies as U.S. marshals—a Justice Department entity that acts as enforcement for U.S. federal courts—is unusual but legal. 

        A former FBI agent, Mike German, said the Justice Department risked protesters’ safety by cobbling together a force that was unused to working together for crowd control in a volatile situation. 

        “The deployment of any militarized law enforcement units into protests is itself a provocative act, and many agencies have clearly revived the use of aggressive tactics that were discarded decades ago as ineffective and counterproductive,” German said, “so to put untrained law enforcement officers into these positions risks their own safety and the public’s.”

        But the Justice Department appears to have ended its temporary deputization. A spokesperson for CBP, the largest DHS contingent in the deployment, said the department no longer requested its staff for protest assistance. 

        “CBP has now demobilized all personnel in the National Capital Region,” the spokesperson said. 

        CBP, according to an internal document published by Yahoo, sent 400 law-enforcement officers to the protests and flew surveillance helicopters above them. The document indicated that 134 CBP personnel had been deployed to Lafayette Park in support of the Park Police, Secret Service, and National Guard. 

        The CBP official said CBP had initially dispatched personnel to the scene where those officers cleared the square of peaceful protesters ahead of President Trump’s June 1 photo op with a Bible in front of St. John’s Church, but “they ended up being redirected to other locations throughout the area.”

        The remaining DHS personnel will soon join CBP in abandoning the counterprotest mission. “DHS is beginning to draw down its officer deployments in the nation’s capital. We are thankful for their support in helping us carry out our missions,” said department spokesman Alexei Woltornist. 

        READ THIS LIST

        DAILY BEAST
        • Podcasts
        • Cheat Sheet
        • Politics
        • Crime
        • Entertainment
        • Media
        • Covid-19
        • Half Full
        • U.S. News
        • Scouted
        • Travel
        • Subscription
        • Crossword
        • Newsletters
        • Podcasts
        • About
        • Contact
        • Tips
        • Jobs
        • Advertise
        • Help
        • Privacy
        • Code of Ethics & Standards
        • Diversity
        • Terms & Conditions
        • Copyright & Trademark
        • Sitemap
        • Coupons
        © 2022 The Daily Beast Company LLC