Federal agents sent to Portland in 2020 were "unprepared" to quell unrest, watchdog finds

Washington — Hundreds of federal law enforcement agents who were deployed to Portland amid civil unrest last summer lacked proper training and equipment, a new report from the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) internal watchdog revealed.

Under orders from the Trump administration, federal agents were sent to Portland in July 2020 to quell violent clashes that rocked Oregon's largest city in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. In the report released Wednesday, the department's Office of the Inspector General (OIG), led by Joseph Cuffari, found that DHS did not have a "comprehensive strategy" in its deployment of 755 federal agents, an operation that carried a price tag of $12.3 million. The 28-page document, intended to "assess the authority, preparation, and activities of DHS law enforcement officers deployed to protect Federal property," found federal agents were "unprepared" to communicate with other officers to protect federal buildings.