Federal authorities have escalated deployment of troops and federalized police in Washington, D.C., with promises to target other major cities. Leaders of largely Democratic cities from Boston to Los Angeles have pushed back against what they view as federal overreach. The White House framed the move as restoring order, while city officials note violent crime in Washington is at decades-low levels. Attorney General Pam Bondi tied the takeover to hard-line immigration enforcement and threatened to prosecute local officials who do not comply or face funding cuts. Mayors characterized the actions as attempts to intimidate cities and distract from administration failures.
(CNN) As the Trump administration escalates its deployment of troops in the nation's capital and vows similar moves elsewhere, leaders of largely Democratic cities across the country are pushing back. From Boston to Los Angeles, President Donald Trump's portrayal of the District of Columbia as a lawless wasteland to justify his military and law enforcement incursion is viewed as an opening salvo in a bid to undermine the autonomy of America's biggest cities.
On Friday, Trump promised to target Chicago next, then New York. Many big city mayors, however, remain defiant, saying: Not so fast, Mr. President. Stop attacking our cities to hide your administration's failures, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, a Democrat, said Tuesday, after Attorney General Pam Bondi threatened to prosecute local officials whose cities did not comply with the White House's immigration crackdown.
Bondi has made it clear the federal takeover in DC goes hand-in-hand with the administration's hard-line immigration enforcement, using control over law enforcement in the district as a way to try to put an end to the city's laws that protect undocumented migrants. The federal government could slash funding to cities that don't comply and send in law enforcement as it has done in Los Angeles and DC, Bondi has said.
On August 11, Trump announced the decision to declare a crime emergency and federalize DC's police force, saying his administration was going to restore the city back to the gleaming capital that everybody wants it to be. Washington's mayor and police chief were caught off guard, learning about the takeover for the first time as they watched Trump announce it live. Violent crime in the nation's capital is at its lowest levels in decades, according to city officials.
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