QuickTake:

Two different groups of officers, both under the Department of Homeland Security, confronted protesters at the Eugene Federal Building on Tuesday. Learn the difference between the two forces, one of which is a SWAT-like unit designed for “high-risk situations.”

Officers from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and from the Federal Protective Service poured out of the Eugene Federal Building on Tuesday, Jan. 27, in a confrontation with demonstrators.

So the Eugene response included the combined heft of two different federal forces, though both fall under the same legal umbrella: the Department of Homeland Security. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is also under Homeland Security, but no ICE officers appeared to be a part of Tuesday’s protest response.

Here’s a guide to tell the forces apart.

Who were the officers wearing ‘POLICE’ on their uniforms?

Officers wearing dark blue uniforms with yellow text reading “POLICE” have been mistaken for local police. But they are from the Federal Protective Service, a federal law enforcement branch dedicated to “security and law enforcement services at U.S. federal government facilities,” according to recruitment materials.

These officers were the first to respond to the protest, under a mandate focused on building security.

The morning after the Jan. 27 protest, the city of Eugene and the Eugene Police Department posted a guide to identifying a city officer, whose uniforms read “Eugene Police” in white text.

Who where the officers in camo?

Later, as the protest continued, another group of officers appeared at the federal building to push protesters back with “less lethal” force.

The officers wearing camouflage uniforms were from Customs and Border Protection’s Special Response Team, according to patches on the shoulders of officers wearing uniforms. 

Customs and Border Protection has broad authority to act within a jurisdiction that is a “reasonable distance,” which the federal government defines as 100 air miles, from any external boundary or border of the United States. 

Eugene is 50 miles east of the Pacific Coast, falling within that jurisdiction. But Special Response Team officers are typically stationed at designated ports of entry and field offices. Oregon’s ports of entry include locations in Astoria, Coos Bay, Hillsboro, Newport and Portland; the first four ports defer back to a Customs and Border Protection field office in Portland.

The Special Response Team is a unit within the Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations, designed to respond to “high-risk” situations. It is touted as an option for career advancement in the agency’s recruiting materials.

Special Response Team officers have been deployed in response to nationwide protests, both during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and in anti-ICE protests that began in 2025 and continue this year. These officers have responded to protests in cities nationwide, including in Minneapolis following the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

In November, according to The Oregonian/OregonLive, the Oregon Department of Justice pointed to excessive force by a Special Response Team officer as evidence in the federal trial to block deployment of National Guard troops to Portland.

The team’s official Instagram page has boasted about the unit, often in edited videos taken during enforcement. 

“Each operation is planned with precision, executed with discipline, and driven by the mission to protect communities and uphold the security of our nation’s borders,” reads the caption on one post.