Law officers ask Obama for help policing pipeline protests
BISMARCK, N.D. — A dozen law enforcement officials in North Dakota are imploring President Barack Obama in a letter to send federal officers to help local police during protests against the $3.8 billion Dakota Access oil pipeline, citing costs, fatigue and a growing fear of vigilante justice.
The officials asked Obama for 100 Border Patrol agents and members of the U.S. Marshals Service Special Operations Group, along with an unspecified amount of financial assistance, saying they’ve been “completely and utterly abandoned” by the federal government.