It has now been almost a month since Trump decreed a federal takeover of the US capital, Washington DC. The move has generated terror among immigrant communities as ICE agents join federal patrols, but it has also provoked community resistance. Now, as Trump continues to level threats against other cities, leaders across the country are joining in to denounce Trump’s efforts.
Upon the first announcement earlier this month of the federal takeover of law enforcement in US capital Washington, DC, Trump already leveled threats against several other cities – specifically naming Baltimore, Chicago, Oakland and New York. To some, the targeting of so-called “Democrat-run” cities, or cities led by mayors who are part of the Democratic Party, is politically motivated. “President Donald Trump is so obsessed with punishing Democrats that he’s pretending red states don’t have a crime problem,” writes Edith Olmstead for The New Republic. Olmstead points out that when asked by a reporter this week, Trump appeared to shy away from sending federal forces to cities and states led by Republicans. However, data shows that over half of the cities with the highest violent crime rates are in Republican-controlled states – including several that recently deployed National Guard troops to DC.
Democratic city and state leaders have heavily denounced Trump’s threats, including one leveled against Chicago on Tuesday, in which Trump called the city a “hellhole” and claimed that Chicago residents are asking “Trump to come in.”
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker spoke out against Trump’s threat to deploy forces to Chicago, saying “if you hurt my people, nothing will stop me – not time or political circumstance – from making sure that you face justice under our constitutional rule of law.”
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson released a statement, stating that a Trump deployment of the National Guard to Chicago “is no substitute for dedicated local law enforcement and community violence interrupters who know and serve our communities every day.”
“We know that our communities are safest when we fully invest in housing, community safety, and education. The National Guard will not alleviate the housing crisis. It will not put food in the stomachs of the 1 in 4 children that go to bed hungry every night in Chicago,” Mayor Johnson stated.
Civil rights groups including the ACLU have also joined in on the condemnation of Trump’s threats against major US cities. “President Trump is manufacturing ‘emergencies’ to expand his power and create fear in major American cities,” said Hina Shamsi, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Security Project. “Regardless of whether the president cites false crime statistics, villainizes immigrants, or claims peaceful protest is insurrection, sending armed federal agents and military troops into our communities is unjustified and dangerous.”
On August 14, Oakland community leaders and elected officials gathered in front of Oakland’s city hall to condemn Trump’s threats and portrayal of the California city as crime-ridden.
“Oakland’s future depends on fact, not fear,” said Danielle Motley-Lewis, president of the Oakland and Berkeley chapter of the Black Women Organized for Political Action group.
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