NY vows lawsuit as Trump mulls sending federal agents
NEW York would go to court to stop US President Donald Trump sending federal troops to the city, its mayor said on Tuesday, as the US president puts law and order at the forefront of his re-election bid.
Last week, the Department of Homeland Security deployed scores of Border Patrol police and federal marshals – many in combat fatigues – to Portland, Oregon, to tackle anti-racism protests.
On Monday, Trump said they had done “a fantastic job” locking up “anarchists,” and he threatened to deploy the militarygarbed law enforcement agents to other Democrat-led cities.
He called the move necessary, even claiming Chicago was “worse than Afghanistan”, but critics labelled it an election year political stunt.
“This president blusters and bluffs and says he’s gonna do things and they never materialise regularly,” said New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“If he tried to do it, it would only create more problems, it would backfire, wouldn’t make us safer and we would immediately take action in court to stop it.
“From my point of view, this would be yet another example of illegal and unconstitutional actions by the President,” he told reporters.
Trump’s decision to have federal law enforcement agents, some of whom don’t wear identification badges, intervene in local protests has sparked anger and legal questions.
Local l e a der s who a r e responsible for running local police forces say the deployment has escalated tensions.
Since the DHS force arrived in Portland, a video has shown them taking some demonstrators away in unmarked vehicles.
Most of those detained have been freed, but critics – including Oregon’s governor and senators – likened the federal agents to “secret police” in more repressive societies.
Oregon has sued DHS for rights violations, while the state’s governor, Kate Brown, demanded that the officers be withdrawn, calling the deployment a political “photo op.”
On Monday, the mayors of six major cities – Atlanta, Washington, Seattle, Chicago, Portland and Kansas City – said in a letter to Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad Wolf and Attorney General Bill Barr that the uninvited paramilitary deployments violate the Constitution.
The White House denies accusations of abuse of power, insisting the agents are needed to protect federal buildings targeted by anti-racism demonstrators.
“If we left tomorrow, they would burn that building down. We have them on video trying it, several times,” said Wolf on Tuesday, calling the protesters “violent anarchists”, while simultaneously denouncing local officials’ inaction.
Since African-American man George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25, sparking nationwide protests against police brutality, Trump has sought to paint the demonstrators as radical leftists intent on destroying the country.