Big City Mayors Threaten to Kick Officers Out If Trump Deploys More Feds Over Protests

The mayors of the country’s largest cities pushed back on President Donald Trump’s plan to deploy hundreds of federal officers to cities where they are not wanted.

Federal officers have been seen tear-gassing, assaulting, and snatching protesters into unmarked vans in Portland. Despite demands from city and state leaders to withdraw, Trump is planning to send more officers to cities like Chicago.

"We're looking at Chicago, too. We're looking at New York," Trump said this week. "All run by very liberal Democrats. All run, really, by the radical left."

"Unlike what happened in Portland, what we will receive is resources that are going to plug in to the existing federal agencies that we work with on a regular basis to help manage and suppress violent crime in our city," Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in response. "I don't put anything past this administration, which is why we will continue to be diligent and why we will continue to be ready. If we need to stop them and use the courts to do so, we are ready to do that."

New York threatens to sue:

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio threatened to sue the administration if it invades the city.

"We've seen the chaos secret police are creating in Portland,” he tweeted. “We won't let it happen here."

"It's the same way he uses ICE as an extension of his reelection campaign," he told NY1. "We have no illusions here. We do not welcome it. It will not work. Every time we've seen Trump do things that are illegal and unconstitutional, we challenge him in court and overwhelmingly beat him and he has to retreat. I think it's the same scenario here."

Other big city mayors hit back:

"There could be no possible justification for such an action. The Detroit Police Department has had the support of the Detroit community in making sure our city did not have a single store looted or a single fire started during the protests," said Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and Police Chief James Craig. "Unlike nearly every other major city in the country, the Detroit Police Department never requested assistance from the National Guard — we handled our issues as a community. We definitely have no need for any federal presence being sent in now."

"We're opposed to that action and if the Trump administration wanted to help cities they would've gotten off their rear ends back in March and April helped us with PPE and testing and contact tracing," added Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney.

 

Related News
Comments