U.S. President Donald Trump has said he will expand a federal law enforcement operation to Chicago and Albuquerque, New Mexico, by holding rhetoric with heads of state and local, if not a genuine one.
“This bloodshed will have to end,” Trump once said at the White House on Wednesday. “We don’t have the team to participate yet.”
Trump has threatened to send agents to major U.S. cities. Through Democrats dealing with violent crimes and vandalism opposed to federal buildings, in a call to their conservative base before the 2020 election. He said a liberal motion against classic police efforts has led to an increase in violent crime.
The increase sparked a national controversy over the use of federal forces in cities, due to objections from local leaders. So far, they have settled for playing in any way: accepting greater resources to combat gang violence, while vigorously resisting any attempt by management to deploy federal agents as it did in Portland, Oregon, where Department of Homeland Security officials clashed with protesters.
Attorney General William Barr, who was on the White House occasion with Trump, sought to differentiate the initiative of federal agents of the Department of Homeland Security to ease the riots in Portland.
He said police personnel from a variety of agencies will act as “street” agents and investigators who will work to “solve murders and violent gangs.”
“It’s different from the operations and tactical groups we use to protect ourselves from mass riots and violence. We will continue to face popular violence. But the operations we’re discussing today are very different, they’re old fights against crime,” Barr said.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s reaction to Trump’s announcement captured that tension. He welcomed more officials to help combat gun violence in the city if they sign up for existing federal efforts and do not commit to “playing police on our streets.”
“I am pleased to see that the president has understood the message. I’m glad to see you found out that what you did in Portland was a serious abuse of your presidential power,” he added. “That doesn’t mean I’m not going to visit Chicago, and we have to stay diligent.”
Lightfoot said it was too early to say whether the plan would raise the price to the city’s efforts to combat violence.
She also noted that Trump had attacked her and the mayors of Atlanta, Washington and Seattle. “The president must divert attention from his failed leadership over COVID-19.”
Through the two U.S. senators in Illinois, it was emphasized that the confrontation may focus more on the messages of the crusade than on a challenge to local law enforcement.
“After unnecessary threats from the president, we are relieved that the Trump administration plans to work with local officials and the Chicago government rather than undermining local law enforcement and jeopardizing our civil rights, as its agents did in Portland,” Democrats said. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, a vice presidential team imaginable for party candidate Joe Biden.
In fact, the president’s announcement Wednesday was about another program, run through another agency, about what management is doing in Portland. However, Trump the general picture in his comments.
In Portland, management argued that officials were protecting a federal court. But in other cities like Chicago and Albuquerque, Trump used federal forces to prevent crime in general, leading to an increase in violent crime in Chicago. As of July 19, homicides increased by 51% compared to last year, according to police reports.
The Trump administration filed “Operation Legend” this month in Kansas City, Missouri, ordering FBI agents, the U.S. Sheriff Service, the Drug Control Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to help local police combat criminal violence. . The operation is named after LeGend Taliferro, a 4-year-old boy who shot and killed when someone fired at his house.
As a component of the expansion, Justice Decomposer officials will be sent to Chicago and Albuquerque, who are led by Democratic mayors and in blue states.
More than a dozen mayors have written an open letter saying that “the deployment of federal forces on the streets of our communities through management has been requested and acceptable.” The mayors who signed the letter, adding Lightfoot, have called for a Congressional investigation into the Trump administration’s use of federal agents.
It is not known without delay why federal agents are deployed to Albuquerque, which, unlike Chicago, has not experienced a wave of violent crime. Protests in the city were generally peaceful. But last month, a man shot a protester at a rally calling for the removal of a statue of a Spanish conqueror.
Sheriff Manuel Gonzales of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, is scheduled to meet with Trump wednesday to discuss the deployment, which led to calls for his resignation from Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich and the conviction of other local leaders.
“Instead of cooperating with the Albuquerque Police Department, the president’s sheriff to storm soldiers to Albuquerque,” Heinrich said in a statement.
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