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As millions are about to lose unemployment benefits + face eviction as moratoriums end, Chad Wolf, author of the family separation policy + who was appointed by Trump, is directing DHS, ICE + Border Patrol agents to attack + kidnap protesters off #Portland streets. A thread.
Recent unemployment reports show that nearly half of US adults are currently without a job. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/29/nearly-half-the-us-population-is-without-a-job-showing-how-far-the-labor-recovery-has-to-go.html
And as unemployment skyrockets, currently, at least 25 million people in the US are set to lose their $600 unemployment "boost." https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/17/over-25-million-americans-set-to-lose-the-600-unemployment-boost-next-week.html
To compound the crisis, in cities across the US at the end of July, moratoriums on evictions are set to expire. Tens of thousands are now threatened with homelessness as the #COVID19 pandemic explodes. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/03/experts-fear-a-wave-of-homelessness-once-eviction-moratoriums-end.html
It's in this context that the #COVID19 pandemic is once again exploding. This Thursday, the "U.S. shattered its daily record for coronavirus infections, reporting more than 77,000 new cases as the number of deaths in a 24-hour period rose by nearly 1K." https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/17/us-shatters-coronavirus-record-with-over-77000-cases-in-a-day.html
In this reality, it doesn't matter how much Trump chants "build the wall" or retweets Qanon conspiracy theories - his numbers are still tanking, even among sections of his (older) base. https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/16/politics/trump-polling-coronavirus/index.html
When faced with such a playing field, Trump does what he always has: goes on the attack against invented enemies in an attempt to change the subject, make himself look strong, and center himself in the news cycle in such a way that pivots away from the disaster all around him.
Seizing on the toppling of statues + the ongoing protests in #Portland, Trump marshaled the Department of Homeland Security to act as his defacto strike force in an executive order, "Protecting American Monuments, Memorials, and Statues and Combating Recent Criminal Violence."
According to the Nation, this force includes DHS, ICE + Border Patrol agents and the "task force, the Protecting American Communities Task Force (PACT), has been tasked not only to assess civil unrest but also to “surge” resources to protect against it." https://www.thenation.com/article/society/border-patrol-portland-arrest/
In the last few weeks, DHS agents have almost killed on protester by shooting them in the head with a impact munition, attacked people at protests, and kidnapped people off the streets in unmarked vehicles. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/07/17/portland-protests-federal-arrests/
Ironically, for years prior, the DHS in #Portland has worked closely with far-Right organizers such as Joey Gibson, whose demonstrations have almost always ended in police and the far-Right protesters attacking their enemies and the wider community.
This pattern is part of a national trend, where police and the State focus their resources against social movements from below and view white nationalist and far-Right groups as an auxiliary support apparatus to the State. https://theintercept.com/2020/07/15/george-floyd-protests-police-far-right-antifa/
Currently heading up the DHS is Chad Wolf, who was appointed by the Trump administration and is seen as a supporter of the administration's Nativist and anti-immigrant policies. Many have attacked Wolf's appointment as unconstitutional. https://www.rollcall.com/2019/11/15/legality-of-wolf-cuccinelli-appointments-to-dhs-questioned/
Emails show that Wolf had a hand in crafting the infamous family separation policy at the US border. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/trump-admin-considering-chad-wolf-architect-family-separation-dhs-chief-n1070006
Wolf also works closely with Stephen Miller, who in college worked with Richard Spence to organize speaking events for white nationalists such as Peter Brimelow. Years later, Miller would be pushing white nationalist publications on race and immigration. https://itsgoingdown.org/what-you-need-to-know-about-stephen-millers-connection-to-richard-spencer-white-nationalism-why-it-matters/
Under Miller and Trump, several former members of white nationalist and Nativist think-tanks like FAIR (Federation for American Immigration Reform) have gotten jobs within DHS, ICE, and the Border Patrol. https://itsgoingdown.org/the-white-nationalists-that-no-one-protested/
Within the DHS, ICE, and CBP, Trump finds a supportive army; a highly militarized force which can clamp down on protesters with massive amounts of violence and virtually no oversight. This is a relationship that has been building for years. https://www.sltrib.com/news/nation-world/2019/01/14/border-patrol-union/
And while many Democrats have attacked the DHS presence in #Portland, under Obama such powers were expanded under the Indefinite Detention Act, through NSA spying, and continuation of the Patriot Act. https://theintercept.com/2018/05/01/ndaa-2018-aumf-detention/
Everyone opposed to the current buildup of authoritarian police state power needs to oppose the violent gangs of DHS agents in #Portland and their attacks on demonstrations. If we don't fight these atrocities now, they will become normalized next time. https://itsgoingdown.org/solidarity-with-the-people-in-the-streets-of-portland-against-the-federal-occupation/
In the end, the goal of the State is to scare working and poor people everywhere from fighting back at a time when the pandemic is ranging, unemployment is rising, evictions are skyrocketing, and more and more people are without income. Their house of cards is falling apart.
This is also why the State attempts to play up the fear of "violent anarchists," "ANTIFA," looters, Marxists, or Black Lives Matter to their base. While they want to sell the manufactured threat to their supporters, they also need a broad context to clampdown on mass protest.
Now is the time to support those in #Portland taking to the streets and standing up for their communities against the threat of massive State violence. Follow accounts like @PopMobPDX, mobilize in solidarity, and let everyone know we won't let fascism take hold.
