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After Over a Month of Violent Rioting in Portland, Border Patrol Called In to Restore Order

After violent antifa riots were allowed to rock downtown Portland, Oregon, for over a month, Border Patrol agents over the holiday weekend were finally deployed to restore order.

Acting Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Mark Morgan expressed frustration over the situation on Fox News Sunday: “Where are the local political leaders?” he asked. “These are not protesters, these are criminals.”

Saturday night, about a thousand agitators threw bricks and shot fireworks at the police, injuring several officers and damaging property. There were more than a dozen arrests.

Independent journalist Andy Ngo shared images and video from the riot on Twitter.

Antifa militants also set an Oregon Trail statue on fire, and not for the first time, according to Ngo. A sign saying “STOLEN LAND” was put on the statue.

Last week, antifa goons also completely destroyed a statue of an elk for no apparent reason.

“What we saw in Portland last night was criminal and we stood strong with our federal partners to resist that,” Morgan told “Fox & Friends Weekend.”

Police in Portland declared a riot around 11 p.m. local time Saturday as Independence Day marked the 38th consecutive day of civil unrest in the city.

Videos showed graffiti painted on downtown buildings and showed a fire burning as a crowd gathered.

“These are not protesters, these are criminals who got together and organized and planned and actually brought weapons, they brought shields, they brought frozen water bottles, rocks, lasers, weapons with the intent to destroy a federal building and harm law enforcement officers,” CBP Commissioner Morgan said on Fox and Friends.

He added, “I don’t care what your ideological beliefs are, your political affiliation, violence, we should all be united, is wrong.”

Morgan went on to say that he’s glad that President Trump “understands the importance of law and order and that it’s a cornerstone of American society.”

He added that “one of the criminals” tried to assault one of the CBP officers while he was being arrested overnight and pointed out that “a pipe bomb, a fused incendiary device and machete was actually discovered” during a search.

“Think about the deadly consequences from the criminal actions,” he added.

Acting Deputy Sec. of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli posted a picture of the pipe bomb materials onto Twitter.

“It’s a game to them. It’s a deadly game,” Morgan said. “It’s serious. This is about law and order. We must be united,” he continued. “Where are the local political leaders, standing up, saying this is unconscionable, this is wrong, and these individuals should cease and desist and be arrested? Where are they?”

Morgan went on to say that United States Marshals, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI has “committed a lot of resources to making sure that these individuals are arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law for the criminals that they are.”

“We are doing a disservice to peaceful, lawful protesters when we call these individuals protesters,” Morgan said. “They’re not. They’re criminal thugs with an agenda.”

“We’re going to escalate to the use of force that’s needed to repel these criminals and apprehend them and prosecute them,” Morgan added.

The CBP chief said federal agents would remain in place and take care of the problem. “We’re not walking away from our federal facilities like police departments have in some communities. We’re staying,” he said.

Forced to face no-nonsense federal officers Sunday night, the antifa mob was much less rambunctious than they’ve been with Democrat-controlled local police, according to Ngo.

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About Debra Heine

Debra Heine is a conservative Catholic mom of six and longtime political pundit. She has written for several conservative news websites over the years, including Breitbart and PJ Media.

Photo: (Photo by John Rudoff/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

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