WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump plans to deploy federal law enforcement to Chicago and threatened on Monday to send agents to other major cities - all controlled by Democrats.
Trailing badly in the polls with just over 100 days until the November election, Trump assailed the"liberal Democrats" running American cities and tied the issue to his presumptive fall opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden. Democrats said the president was the one out of control. Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon said he would introduce legislation to limit the role of federal agents in cities like Portland.
Few are denying the city has a violent crime problem. Sixty-three people were shot in Chicago over the past weekend, 12 of them fatally. The White House referred questions to the Department of Homeland Security, which declined to comment, as did the Justice Department. But the Homeland Security Investigations agents have broad authority to enforce federal laws in cities, and the Trump administration deployed them this year to so-called sanctuary cities in an enhanced arrest campaign against immigrants living in the US illegally. The administration has also previously deployed federal officials to combat crime in Chicago, including agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.