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The Trump administration, which has pledged to use the full force of the government to protect federal property, expanded that effort Thursday by sending a team of tactical border officers to stand by for duty in Seattle.
The deployment to Seattle came on the same day that the inspector general of the Justice Department announced an investigation into tactics used by the federal agents in Portland and in front of Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C., in early June.

The Special Response Team being deployed is similar to the tactical teams currently operating in Portland, Oregon, where local officials have vehemently objected to their efforts to subdue street protests. Seattle officials have also said they do not want federal agents sent to target protesters.Seattle’s mayor, Jenny Durkan, said in an interview that she spoke earlier Thursday with Chad F. Wolf, the acting secretary of homeland security. She said he had assured her that the administration had no plans to deploy a surge of agents to Seattle and would not do so without communicating with the city. She had not been alerted to plans to position the tactical team but said that the department may be distinguishing between an active deployment and agents who are on standby.

Durkan said she made it clear that the city did not need the help of federal agents. “Any deployment here would, in my view, undermine public safety,” Durkan said.