According to the Chicago Tribune, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is sending about 150 federal agents to Chicago this week to “assist other federal law enforcement and Chicago police in crime-fighting efforts.” There’s one problem with that, though.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot is not real pleased with this turn of events, saying at a news conference on Monday that she has great concerns about the general possibility of President Donald Trump sending feds to Chicago based on what has happened in Portland.
“We don’t need federal agents without any insignia taking people off the streets and holding them, I think, unlawfully,” Mayor Lightfoot said. On July 18, the US Attorney for the Oregon District requested an investigation into masked, camouflaged federal troops without identification badges who are arresting protesters in Portland, Oregon.
Acting Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Ken Cuccinelli on Monday said the efforts in Portland could be extended to other cities if there are spikes in violent protests, and it looks like his threat has come to fruition. The ACLU condemned the actions of the administration.
“Make no mistake: Trump’s federal troops will not be a constructive force in Chicago,” Colleen Connell, executive director of the ACLU of Illinois, said in a statement, according to The Hill.
“As our colleagues have seen in Portland, Trump’s secret forces will terrorize communities and create chaos. This is not law and order. This is an assault on the people of this country, and the specific protections of protest and press in the First Amendment,” Connell said.
Trump has been very critical of Chicago’s crime rate, as well as the violence in other big cities. But as Mayor Lightfoot has pointed out many times, Trump refuses to allow any legislation on handguns, which would help to clear the streets. He has been pushing a “law and order” message as he enters the final stretch of his reelection campaign.
Actually, Trump’s big law and order message came about when he got scared of the protests right outside the gates of the White House. That was his first use of federal troops. Now that Trump sees how easy it is to deploy his own private army, we will be seeing more of this crap, and it is all political.
The Radical Left Democrats, who totally control Biden, will destroy our Country as we know it. Unimaginably bad things would happen to America. Look at Portland, where the pols are just fine with 50 days of anarchy. We sent in help. Look at New York, Chicago, Philadelphia. NO!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 19, 2020
Trump alluded to the same issue in an interview with “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace, calling Chicago and New York “stupidly run” cities and blaming the violent crime there on Lightfoot and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“I’m going to do something that I can tell you, because we’re not going to leave New York and Chicago and Philadelphia, Detroit and Baltimore, and all of these — Oakland is a mess. We’re not going to let this happen in our country, all run by liberal Democrats,” Trump said, talking about violence in those places, and then mentioning Portland.
“We’re going to have more federal law enforcement, that I can tell you,” he said. “In Portland, they’ve done a fantastic job. They’ve been there three days and they really have done a fantastic job in a very short period of time, no problem.”
How much longer is this country going to allow this tyrant to get away with destroying everything we stand for? Trump is not winning any friends or influencing me or anyone else with his secret military force.
