New York will go to court to stop President Trump from sending federal troops to the city to quell rising crime, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Tuesday.
After the Department of Homeland Security deployed scores of Border Patrol police and federal marshals to Portland, Oregon, last week to tackle anti-racism protests, the president said he could do the same in other Democrat-led cities.
Press TV reports: He called the move necessary but critics labeled it an election year political stunt.
“This president blusters and bluffs and says he’s gonna do things and they never materialize on a regular basis,” de Blasio told reporters.
“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,” the mayor added.
Trump’s decision to have military-clad federal law enforcement authorities intervene in local protests has sparked anger and legal questions.
Since African-American man George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25, sparking nationwide protests against racism and police brutality, Trump has sought to paint the demonstrators as radical leftists intent on destroying the country.