Democrats on Sunday pushed back against President Trump’s characterization of blue-state cities as crime-ridden and lawless, which the White House has used to justify calling up National Guard troops and sending federal law enforcement agents to Washington streets.
Mr. Trump said on Friday that he was considering using the same playbook in other major American cities, and that Chicago could be next. The administration has not indicated when the National Guard could be sent to Chicago, New York or any of the other cities the president has mentioned.
Rahm Emanuel, the former mayor of Chicago, said on CNN on Sunday that Mr. Trump’s threat was more a reflection of the president’s animus toward its Democratic leadership and desire to crackdown on immigration than a considered strategy to take on crime.
“When you look at what he did in D.C., he’s not going to actually deal with crime,” Mr. Emanuel said. “This is an attempt to deal with cities that are welcoming cities, known as sanctuary cities, and deal with immigration.”
Violent crime in Chicago, Washington and other major cities has fallen in recent years. In a statement on Saturday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois said that “there is no emergency that warrants the president of the United States federalizing the Illinois National Guard” or sending in federal agents. The governor said he had not received any communication from the White House about such a deployment and added that the president was “attempting to manufacture a crisis.”
On Sunday morning, Mr. Trump wrote on social media that he was also considering sending National Guard troops to Baltimore, describing the city as “out of control” and “crime ridden.” In an appearance on CBS, Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland, a Democrat, pointed out that homicides in the city had dropped significantly and said the president was relying on “tropes” and “1980s scare tactics.”
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