Seattle mayor says federal agents have left city

SEATTLE — Seattle’s mayor said Tuesday she received confirmation that U.S. agents had left the city after being deployed to the area last week to protect federal buildings.

Mayor Jenny Durkan said the Department of Homeland Security notified her that federal agents have “demobilized and left.”

The Trump administration sent a team of tactical border officers to Seattle on Thursday, The New York Times reported.

“The President’s actions to target Democratic cities through the use of federal forces is chilling and increased violence in Portland, Seattle and other cities – exactly what the President wanted,” Durkan tweeted Tuesday.

Durkan, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and other local leaders said in a joint news release that the Department of Homeland Security’s Border Patrol Tactical Unit had demobilized.

Durkan, Inslee and other area officials said they were concerned with the move last week and said it was made without consulting state and local officials, KIRO-TV reported.

“This demobilization means Washingtonians no longer have to worry about the White House’s aim to provoke confrontation and undermine peaceful protests,” Inslee said in a statement. “Those peacefully protesting have raised the public’s consciousness of the urgent need for racial justice, and I have no doubt they will continue to use their voices to call for action. We must continue making progress toward a better and more just Washington for everyone.”

The federal agents arrived in Seattle after businesses were vandalized downtown and in the nearby Capitol Hill area, The Associated Press reported. Last month, protesters set up an occupied zone that covered several blocks of the Capitol Hill neighborhood. Authorities cleared out the area on July 1, the AP reported.

Cox Media Group