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Acting Secretary of State for Homeland Security, Chad Wolf, who appeared on Fox News Tuesday night and was not ratified by the Senate, made a damned admission about his department’s conduct in Portland.

Federal officials in Portland have sparked a violent backlash for aggressive and legally dubious tactics against protesters in the city. Local officials have demanded that federal officials, some of whom use unmarked vehicles and wear camouflage without identifying badges, leave the police force and engage the police. But President Donald Trump and Wolf seem intent on using Homeland Security forces to intimidate, beat up and arrest protesters in an attempt to make the federal government appear tough.

And while speaking with Fox presenter Martha MacCallum on Tuesday, Wolf seemed to confirm what many of his agency had accused of making illegal arrests.

“Because we don’t have the support on the ground, the department needs the support of the local law enforcement agencies to go out and proactively arrest people,” said Wolf. “And we have to do that because we have to hold them accountable. That idea that they can attack federal property and law enforcement officers and go across the street and say you can’t touch me is ridiculous. “

Check out the following clip:

Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wold says his Portland division’s actions are “proactive” arrests of people, arguing that his stormtroopers are not tied to the physical jurisdiction of federal property. pic.twitter.com/tIkcSTSmKf

– nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) July 21, 2020

Saying that his officers are proactively arresting people, Wolf suggests that they make arrests before people have committed crimes. This would be an illegal arrest, of course – you cannot arrest someone just because you believe they could commit a crime.

Some might argue that this is an unfair reading of what Wolf said, as what he said referred to individuals who have committed crimes, such as attacks on federal officials. The problem is that there have been several incidents where federal officials have swept people off the streets despite there being no clear evidence or reason to believe they were involved in a crime. One person, Mark Pettibone, was reportedly arrested by agents and eventually released without ever being charged with a crime.

The seemingly “unfair” reading of Wolf’s statements seems to reflect exactly what is happening in Portland.