Internal DHS report shows 'politicized response' to racial justice protests in Portland

An internal report from the Department of Homeland Security which analyzed its own collection of intelligence on racial justice protesters in 2020 showed how Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf and Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli led efforts to politicize intelligence operations in Portland, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting.

The report shows that two DHS heads requested "operational background reports" (OBRs), also known as “baseball cards,” on every person who attended protests. The requests were reportedly based on a belief that a “U.S person” was funding the protests in the city.

“Now the public knows much more about how political DHS officials spied on Oregonians for exercising their First Amendment right to protest and justified it with baseless conspiracy theories,” Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden said.

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DHS Intelligence and Analysis personnel compiled baseball cards on only those who were arrested or charged with “violent acts.” The baseball cards included past criminal history, travel history, “derogatory information from DHS or Intelligence Community holdings,” as well as social media profiles.

"The intelligence collection operation coincided with a federal law enforcement deployment to Portland that lasted for over a month in 2020. The contingent, made up of officers from the U.S. Marshals Service, Federal Protective Service and Customs and Border Protection, had limited training in crowd control. Their violent tactics and the popular resistance they sparked fed a Trump administration narrative that Portland was under siege by what the administration routinely characterized as violent antifa terrorists," OPB's report stated.

Read more at Oregon Public Broadcasting.