In a large event from the East Room of the White House President Donald Trump on Wednesday delivered a plainly political campaign speech, claiming his top priority is protecting the American people, and promising to “immediately surge” agents from the Dept. of Justice and Homeland Security into Chicago.
“The Department of Justice will immediately surge federal law enforcement to the city of Chicago,” Trump announced. “The FBI, ATF, DEA, U.S. Marshals Service, and Homeland Security will together be sending hundreds of skilled law enforcement officers to Chicago, to help drive down violent crime.”
Reports show the a memo circulated within the Dept. of Homeland Security warned its agents are not trained for crowd control or general policing.
Trump continued his partisan remarks, attacking the “far left,” and telling attendees that the citizens of Chicago have the right to live in “safety, dignity, and peace.” He went on to denounce politicians who will not “do what is necessary to secure their neighborhood and to secure their city.”
Trump’s secret police force in Portland, Oregon is the subject of several lawsuits, and the mere presence of the heavily-armed, camouflaged paramilitary troops on the city’s streets is legally questionable.
As a result, Trump went on to claim that in Chicago “murderers and violent criminals are breaking a wide range of federal laws, we have that, it’s as wide as it can be.”
Legally, federal officers cannot arrest Americans on non-federal charges unless state or local law enforcement deputizes them first, which is not expected to happen.
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