New reporting suggests that evidence submitted by Oregonians could help spur criminal investigations into federal agents’ conduct.

Free Speech For People counsel Ben Horton was featured in the Oregon Capital Chronicle, highlighting the growing case for accountability under Oregon law.

Read an excerpt below. Read The full article is here. 

In December, Free Speech for People, a Massachusetts-based left-leaning advocacy group, urged Oregon officials to pursue criminal cases against federal agents on the grounds that immunity “is not available in all circumstances and does not preclude criminal investigation.” The Oregon Department of Justice in mid-March also declined to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court for a homicide case against a federal Drug Enforcement Administration agent involving a fatal car crash. Legal experts say losing the case at the nation’s highest court could have made it harder to hold federal immigration agents accountable.

But the hurdles facing such prosecutions have led some advocates to question whether prosecutors are effectively avoiding a serious effort at bringing charges against federal agents. U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in October called efforts to arrest federal agents “illegal and futile.” Agency officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

Ben Horton, who serves as counsel for Free Speech for People, said his organization is “happy to see” the potential criminal inquiries, but that Oregon leaders could go further and prosecute more high-ranking federal officials. He pointed to federal officers outside the Portland ICE facility using tear gas and pushing back hundreds of protesters down the street hours after a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order in October barring the National Guard’s deployment to Portland. 

“That wasn’t a random act of a few line officers. That was ordered, that was planned, that was prepared, and it was clearly unlawful,” he said. “So I think we’re really interested in seeing them go up the ladder, especially in instances like that, where it is not just one officer who, you know, is doing something unlawful, it’s a sort of whole organizational issue.”

Read the letter we sent to state and local prosecutors in Oregon here. 

Learn more about our campaign to hold Trump accountable in the sates here.