Acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan Monday slammed Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler's contention that federal agents are escalating the violence in his city as a "stupid statement that is not based in reality or fact.'
"It's just ridiculous," Morgan said on Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "The reality here is this violence began in his city well before we deployed additional resources. These individuals we're talking about are not protesters. they are criminals."
Every night, he added, there are people "willfully coordinating, organizing, and planning to intentionally attack and destroy federal property and harm federal agents and officers. Those are criminals. That's who we are talking about. That's why we are there and we are not going anywhere."
Morgan confirmed the federal agents on the ground include Border Patrol agents.
"We have our specially trained agents, the largest law enforcement organization in the United States and individuals we are sending up there are specially trained for specific situations just like this," said Morgan.
He also claimed a report in The New York Times, which quoted an internal Department of Homeland Security memo last week warning that many of the federal agents being sent to Portland were not specifically trained to control riots or to work in mass demonstrations was "false."
"It's kind of ironic," said Morgan. "We have over 300 ports of entry, where we have individuals and large groups and protests on a regular basis. (They are) not only trained but highly experienced in exactly these kinds of situations."
He added that President Donald Trump is right to have federal agents on the ground in Portland, as the federal protective services have a responsibility to protect federal property.
"What we need is we need local leaders to stop saying ridiculous, irresponsible things, reach out to these protesters and get the police to work with us to go out and stop and arrest these criminals," said Morgan.