In Portland, Oregan, an unmarked gray van stopped suddenly in front of Mark Pettibone early Wednesday morning as he walked home from a peaceful protest.  Men wearing camo paramilitary outfits common with the alt-right extremists who commonly cause problems in the city jumped out.

From instinct, he ran, but after half a block, he realized he could not outrun them.  He fell to his knees and put his hands in the air.  They pulled his beanie over his head to cover his eyes, restrained his hands, and put him in the windowless van and drove around.  He did not know who his abductors were or where he was going.

Finally, they arrived at their destination:  the federal courthouse.  He was taken from the van to a holding cell.  There he was read his Miranda rights, but they never informed him why he was being detained.

Then, hours later, he was released.  He was never told why he was detained, nor did he learn what federal government agency detained him.

Reporting from Oregon Public Broadcasting and the Washington Post detail how federal agents are using this quasi-military, “secret police” tactics to detain protestors, many of whom get released without charges after hours of detention.

“Usually when we see people in unmarked cars forcibly grab someone off the street, we call it kidnapping,” Jann Carson, interim executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon said in a statement to the Washington Post. “Protesters in Portland have been shot in the head, swept away in unmarked cars, and repeatedly tear-gassed by uninvited and unwelcome federal agents. We won’t rest until they are gone.”

Speaking on Fox “News” Thursday, Acting U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan said federal agents were involved in these sweeps and called the protesters criminals, despite the fact that many are released without charges.

“I don’t want to get ahead of the president and his announcement,” Morgan said, “but the Department of Justice is going to be involved in this, DHS is going to be involved in this; and we’re really going to take a stand across the board. And we’re going to do what needs to be done to protect the men and women of this country.”