The Democratic members of the General Assembly have asked U.S. Attorney Jason R. Dunn to oppose any augmented federal law enforcement presence in Colorado, following revelations that unidentified U.S. Border Patrol officers were grabbing Portland protesters off of the street using unmarked vans.

“We see both the deployment of these agents and the excessive force they have used as an unwarranted overreach on behalf of the federal government. Unmarked government vans scooping up citizens exercising their constitutional right to protest belong on the pages of dystopian novels, not the streets of the United States of America,” the lawmakers wrote. “We categorically object to these actions.”

NPR reports that the Border Patrol personnel are protecting federal buildings from destruction during Black Lives Matter demonstrations in Oregon. The employees are not identified on their uniforms to avoid doxing on social media and use unmarked vehicles to prevent vandalism.

“I’ve seen news reporting after news reporting, tweet after tweet, saying ‘unidentified, masked storm troopers,'” said Acting Commissioner Mark A. Morgan of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. “It is offensive to refer to these dedicated men and women that are out there as law enforcement professionals, to make that reference.”

The lawmakers asked Dunn, an appointee of President Donald Trump, to use his “position of influence within the administration” to avoid a similar scenario. “Under the Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, states have sovereign authority and the right to exercise police powers,” they wrote. “The deployment of federal forces in Colorado would not be welcome absent an invitation from the state’s leaders.”

Meanwhile, state Rep. Dave Williams, R-Colorado Springs, a staunch Trump ally, submitted a formal request Thursday inviting the White House and Attorney General William Barr to send the federal law enforcement forces to Colorado to address what he called “the violence (that) is being largely ignored by radical Democrats who are in a position to stop it.”

Williams wrote that he was requesting “intervention and expansion of ‘Operation Legend’ to protect law-abiding Colorado citizens abandoned by Governor Jared Polis.”

He also asked the federal government to intervene in various lawsuits aimed at blocking executive orders issued by Polis to slow the spread of the coronavirus, which Williams described as “punishing hard-working, honest citizens who are desperately trying to pay their bills and make ends meet while the economy is artificially shut down.”

Polis told Colorado Politics he was “disturbed” by Williams’ request and said his administration doesn’t want federal forces deployed in the state.

“The images from Portland of unidentified federal law enforcement pulling protestors off the street into unmarked cars are deeply troubling and should be concerning to every American regardless of political affiliation,” Polis said in a statement.

“I am disturbed to learn that anyone is pushing for the potential violation of people’s Constitutionally-protected First Amendment rights. The state of Colorado has not asked for federal troops and we do not want federal law enforcement in Colorado.”

Polis has already warned that the injection of federal riot police “makes the situation worse.”

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, a Denver Democrat, called Williams’ letter a “political stunt” in a statement to Colorado Politics.

“This is nothing more than a political stunt to distract from the president’s failure to contain the coronavirus,” she said. “The protests in Colorado have been largely peaceful. President Trump needs to stop fomenting violence.”

Dunn’s counterpart in Oregon has already requested an investigation from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General into allegations that federal agents detained protesters without probable cause. Trump has since promised to send a “surge of federal law enforcement” to Chicago and Albuquerque, ostensibly to combat violent crime.

A spokesperson for New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham responded that Trump “couldn’t find Albuquerque on a map.”

Dunn’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Colorado Politics reporter Ernest Luning contributed to this report.