Trump asked the Justice Department to identify cities that were acting outside the law.
–The United States Government declared this Monday to the cities of New York, Portland and Seattle as “anarchist jurisdictions” considering that their authorities did not act in the face of recent massive protests against racism and police brutality, a decision that would allow it to suspend part of the federal funds that go to those districts.
In a joint statement, the three affected Democratic mayors called the measure “unconstitutional” and responded to the White House: “The president (Donald Trump) plays a cheap political game with funds allocated by Congress. Our cities are uniting. to communities; our cities are thriving after fighting a pandemic and facing the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. “
New York, but especially Portland, in the state of Oregon, and Seattle, in the state of Washington, were the scene of almost daily protests for months and until a few weeks ago against police racism after the death or attack on African-Americans by part of the police.
This month, Trump, who clearly sided more with the police than with the victims’ families, asked the Justice Department to identify jurisdictions that, in his opinion, were not enforcing the law.
It’s a statement, The Justice Department said today that the authorities in New York and in western Portland and Seattle were lenient with the violence of the protests and did not adopt measures to counter them, such as the massive deployment of the National Guard, as claimed by one and the other. time Trump.
These three municipal governments “allowed the persistence of violence and the destruction of property and refused to adopt reasonable measures to counteract criminal activities,” the Department of Justice denounced, quoted by CNN.
In parallel, the attorney general and secretary of Justice, William Barr, welcomed the government’s decision.
“We cannot allow federal taxpayers’ money to be wasted while the safety of citizens is not protected,” he said in another statement, in which he also highlighted the reduction of the police budget and some reforms in criminal matters approved in those three cities in response to complaints in the streets.
The mayor of New York rejected the White House measure
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Before publishing the joint response with his two peers from Portland and Seattle, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio rejected the White House decision and said that such a categorization does not correspond to the reality that he himself saw hours before the walk around the city.
“I saw peace, tranquility, I saw people doing things, people excited that it is the first day of school … I saw everything but anarchy,” he declared in his daily press conference.
“This is just another one of President Trump’s games; it is insulting to the people of New York, and his intention to withhold our funding funds is unconstitutional,” he added.
The city’s legal team announced that it will go to court if the federal government withdraws funds that correspond to New York.
In his decree of 2 this month, Trump gave the director of the Office of Management and Budget 30 days to prepare directives on funding restrictions for those cities that were included in the Department of Justice’s list of “anarchist jurisdictions.”
Those funds represent a huge portion of New York’s annual budget.
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, meanwhile, accused the Trump administration of committing “an erroneous and openly illegal use of federal power.”
“Trump, the Justice Department and Barr’s obsession with Seattle and me is irrational and, what is even more important, a great distraction,” added the Democratic leader just six weeks before the general elections, which will define the reelection of the president and before which Trump presents himself as the candidate of “law and order.”
Despite the special electoral scenario, this is not the first time that Trump has faced cities governed by opposition and rebellious mayors.
In 2017, after the then-new president announced that he would suspend federal funds to cities that declared or acted as immigration sanctuaries – that is, they did not cooperate with federal forces to detain and deport thousands of undocumented immigrants – a A group of cities took the White House to court and, after years of fighting, beat it.
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