DHS top lawyer says 'no legal barrier' to actions officers can take to defend federal property

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Staffers at a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) law enforcement agency received an alarming memo Wednesday, which was obtained exclusively by The Handbasket. The memo, sent to all staff at the United States Federal Protective Service (FPS)—which is tasked with protecting federal buildings—was meant to clarify their authority when dealing with situations near, but not directly on, federal property. And it gave the impression of essentially limitless power.

Benjamine Huffman, DHS Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Under Secretary for Management, sent an email to staff on Wednesday with an attached memo from DHS Acting General Counsel Joseph Mazzara titled “Federal Protective Service Policy and Off-Property Jurisdiction.” As members of state National Guards are sent to cities throughout the country, Trump has started claiming their presence is meant to “protect” ICE and other DHS agents in their violent and cruel attacks on immigrants. But with this new directive for FPS, it appears the administration is giving the green light for these agents to protect themselves—by any means necessary.

Mazzara began his memo by acknowledging there were some “concerns” about a specific statute and whether or not it prevents officers from taking actions off of federal property as a means to protect property and personnel. “Such concerns are misplaced,” he wrote, adding “the limits to FPS's authority off federal property are the edges of the constitution on one side and necessity on the other.”

He then provided examples of how this might play out in the field:

Mazzara made clear that FPS officers can use their police powers “in the vicinity of federal property protected,” including setting up fences or barriers to control pedestrian and vehicle access to certain areas. “This is not limited to the sidewalk or streets immediately adjacent to federal buildings as we do not live in a world of sticks and stones, but Mausers and Winchesters,” he writes, referring to brands of rifles. 

“All of it was quite alarming and an unusual email to receive both in content and tone,” one FPS employee whose name is being withheld for their protection told The Handbasket. “It’s quite clear that agents are being told they can go wherever.”

Members of the Texas National Guard were sent to the greater Chicago area this week where DHS agents have spent recent days abducting immigrants (even killing one man), and attacking and arresting journalists, protesters and even clergy members. In a post on X Wednesday night, the US Northern Command posted, “These soldiers are employed to protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other U.S. Government personnel who are performing federal functions, including the enforcement of federal law, and to protect federal property.”

FPS has approximately 9,000 buildings under its watch. According to an October 2024 report by the Brennan Center for Justice, the powers of FPS were greatly expanded when it became part of DHS during its post-9/11 founding. Securing federal buildings was obviously a primary concern at the time, but now with Trump falsely claiming our cities are under violent siege, it appears the administration is calling on the agency to act as antagonists to those protesting federal takeover. 

A Slate story from December about the Heritage Foundation’s plan to weaponize the FPS via Project 2025 described how the agency functions: “Its officers carry guns and make arrests just like other police—with the difference being that Congress has empowered the agency to bring in additional forces from among the department’s 90,000 other law-enforcement officers.” 

The story continued: “The homeland security secretary can assign those officers to work directly for the FPS at a moment’s notice, augmenting its police force with huge numbers of personnel who have received little more than cursory training to execute domestic law-enforcement functions.”

Another FPS employee whose name is also being withheld for their safety told The Handbasket of FPS leadership: “I guess they got jealous of ICE being able to do anything they want.”

But even reporting directly from the FPS has shown that the threats to DHS agents are few if any. Despite Trump claiming the city was “war ravaged,” Internal reports from late September reviewed by the New York Times show FPS describing the protests in Portland, Oregon as “low energy” on multiple days. Per NYT, the reports “offered no indication of a dangerous escalation of tensions, or unusual levels of protest activity that would prompt the level of alarm expressed by Mr. Trump.” These reports are prepared daily by FPS to inform other law enforcement agencies of threats, and despite being newly empowered to act with impunity, by their own reporting it doesn’t seem at all necessary.

In his email introducing Mazzara’s memo, Huffman wrote, “This guidance reaffirms that FPS officers and, by extension, any DHS personnel performing protective functions at ICE or CBP facilities may operate beyond federal boundaries when a clear nexus exists to the protection of federal property.” 

In reality, DHS has spent the past nine months operating far beyond its boundaries—now they’re just putting it in writing.