Freedom of Speech and Assembly – U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley

U.S. Senator    Jeff Merkley
When our founders created this nation, they had a vision for a country where people could come together to speak their minds, free from fear that they would be punished by their government for sharing their views.  So when federal agents without any identification were sent to Portland last month, where they teargassed demonstrators and pulled others into unmarked vans, Senator Jeff Merkley stood up for Oregonians’ constitutional rights.

“Federal forces have shot an unarmed protester in the head with impact munitions, and paramilitary forces in camouflage have been grabbing people off the streets and putting them into unmarked vans,” Jeff said last month. “These are the actions of an authoritarian regime, not a democratic republic. This gross violation of Americans’ civil rights must end immediately.”We shouldn’t let bad actions of a very few be an excuse to quash the rights of everyone else. “I don’t condone vandalism and I condemn anyone threatening harm to anyone,” Jeff said.  But, he continued, the federal law enforcement did not arrest the violent few.  They attacked the peaceful many.  The violence came overwhelmingly not from the street, but from the President’s forces.

In addition to demanding that Attorney General William Barr and Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf remove these forces from Oregon and helping open critical investigations from the Inspectors General of the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, Jeff introduced a standalone bill and a No Secret Police in America amendment to Congress’ National Defense Authorization Act that would prohibit the deployment of secret paramilitary forces in America.

To read Jeff’s statement welcoming the July 29 announcement that federal forces would be withdrawn from Portland, click here.

 

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