BOSTON — Boston Mayor Marty Walsh on Tuesday cemented his stance against federal agents being deployed to American cities amid protests for racial justice. Walsh signed a letter, along with mayors of major cities, calling for the withdrawal of federal agents from Portland, Oregon, and a stop to federal forces being deployed to other cities.
Walsh and 12 other mayors signed the letter to Attorney General William Barr. They call the actions of federal agents dealing with protesters in Portland a violation of “fundamental constitutional protections and tenets of federalism.”
Barr earlier this month announced the deployment of federal agents to Kansas City and other cities “plagued by recent violence.”
“President Trump has made clear: the federal government stands ready and willing to assist any of our state and local law enforcement partners across the nation responding to violent crime,” Barr said in a statement.
Walsh and other mayors are also sending a letter to Congress to hold hearings on the issue and prevent taxpayer money from being used for the deployments.
Walsh said Boston has not been included in President Donald Trump’s list of cities where federal agents will be deployed. The Associated Press reported 150 agents are expected to be deployed to Chicago in the coming days and stay there for two months.Subscribe
“That behavior and that type of so-called help is not welcome here in the city of Boston,” Walsh said. “It’s being done with no communication and working with no locally-elected or no Public Safety Agency in those different cities. It’s being done with no regard for the rights or safety of protesters and appears to be needlessly escalating situations.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Ayanna Pressley oppose the federal tactics. They called the federal agents “secret police” and said Trump’s policies are threats to democracy and protesters’ constitutional rights.
Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Joseph Kennedy joined in voicing their opposition. Markey tweeted that he was supporting an amendment to the defense bill being pushed by senators in Oregon to stop the use of unidentified federal agents in American cities.
“Unidentified and uninvited federal agents should not be occupying the streets of Portland or any city,” Markey tweeted.
Kennedy took a shot at Trump, tweeting that the use of federal agents was out of fear, “But the American people have rejected his fear mongering before and we will do it again.”
PEABODY, PATCH
