Oregon’s governor yesterday said the federal government has agreed to withdraw agents from Portland, a step towards ending a standoff with President Donald Trump over the use of federal force, although the department of homeland security said it would maintain its presence until conditions improved.
Governor Kate Brown said the government agreed to a phased withdrawal from a federal courthouse in Portland after weeks of clashes between activists and agents, some of whom did not have identifying badges and were seen on video footage pulling protesters into unmarked vans.
The withdrawal in Oregon coincided with the announcement of a deployment of federal law enforcement officials to Cleveland, Milwaukee and Detroit, expanding a separate programme aimed at curtailing a surge of murders and other violent crimes in some cities.
“Beginning today, all Customs and Border Protection and ICE officers will leave downtown Portland, and shortly thereafter will begin going home,” Brown said in a statement.
The US department of homeland security said it had agreed on a joint plan to end the violence in which state and local law enforcement would begin to secure areas around federal properties.
“The department will continue to maintain our current, augmented federal law enforcement personnel in Portland until we are assured that the Hatfield Federal Courthouse and other federal properties will no longer be attacked and that the seat of justice in Portland will remain secure,” DHS acting secretary Chad Wolf said in a statement.
President Donald Trump, seeking re-election in November, has sought to crack down on protests to highlight his focus on law and order amid protests and unrest across the country after the May 25 killing of a Black man, George Floyd, by Minneapolis police.
The federal government deployed teams of tactical agents to Portland in early July to defend the courthouse, drawing criticism from Democrats and civil liberties groups who alleged excessive force and federal overreach by Trump.
Brown and Portland mayor Ted Wheeler, both Democrats, complained they never asked for the federal officers and their presence was worsening the situation with protesters.
“We would do well to remember that this movement is not about the legal right of federal law enforcement to operate in our cities. It’s about the urgent and necessary work of criminal justice, racial justice and policing reform,” Wheeler told a briefing yesterday along with other Democratic mayors.
Solidarity protests spread over the weekend to other US cities, prompting complaints by Democratic mayors that illegal federal deployments were escalating tensions across the country. 
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan on Tuesday said US Border Patrol Tactical Unit officers had withdrawn from her city.
Separately, the justice department said it would send dozens of law enforcement officials to Cleveland, Milwaukee and Detroit, following similar deployments to Chicago, Kansas City, Missouri; and Albuquerque, New Mexico earlier this month.
Distinct from the operation in Portland to secure the federal courthouse, these deployments are being made under what is known as Operation Legend, an initiative launched to address spikes in violent crimes like murders, which have risen by nearly 31% in Detroit compared to 2019.