The situation in Portland is "very different" than what is going on in other cities nationwide, where criminals are "completely out of control" for several hours every night but are being "absolutely untouched" by state and local leadership, acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said Sunday.
"What we have in Portland, every night between midnight and 5 a.m., you have anywhere from 2,000, 3,000, upwards to 4,000 violent individuals targeting, federal property, the federal courthouse, and federal law enforcement officers," Wolf told Maria Bartiromo, the host of Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures." "They are arriving every night using city streets, city parks and armed with rocks, bottles, basketball bats, power tools, commercial-grade fireworks."
In places like Chicago, Kansas City, Mo., or Albuquerque, the problem is street crimes usually involving gangs and drug dealers, and those issues are being targeted by President Donald Trump and the administration through Operation Legend, named for a four-year-old Kansas City boy who was shot and killed.
There have been violent protests in other communities, but their state and local leaders addressed those without incident, said Wolf.
The DHS is waiting for test results concerning three officers whose eyesight was damaged because rioters shone high-powered lasers were into their eyes, but Wolf said steps have been taken to protect officers "at all costs.
He added that he also won't be deterred after his own home in Alexandria, Va., has been targeted for a protest on Sunday.
"Most reasonable Americans understand what is at play in Portland, understand what the department is doing, what the president is doing, what the administration is doing," he said. "We're standing up for law and order. Anyone who says otherwise is not being accurate."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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