Please stop substituting “detained” or “arrested” with “abducted” for dramatic effect. This is like saying that ICE puts kids in “concentration camps”.
What do you call it when people in an unmarked van stop you on the street and force you to go with them without telling you who they are or why?
If that happened to someone you were walking with and they left you there, wouldn't you call police and report that your friend was abducted?
Also, the government officials have claimed the people weren't arrested, and my understanding (which could easily be wrong) is being detained by law enforcement means you're not permitted to leave, not that you must go with them, so I'm out of words.
Just saw the ruling from the judge in this case. Oregon lost and, in particular, was forced to concede that the police were identifiable as such by virtue of the evidence they themselves submitted to the court. See footnote #3 in the ruling:
It appears that the State has largely backed away from any argument that the federal agents were not at all identifiable as law enforcement. Mr. Pettibone acknowledges that their uniforms said “Police,” Pettibone Decl. [1-1] ¶ 3, and the video shows agents wearing clothing clearly marked as “Police.”
You call it an arrest if they're US Federal Agents and they take you to the police station, but you're arguing against something that was never claimed in most of this.
