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Some Chicago aldermen are stressing the need for a stronger law enforcement presence and federal partnership as the city deals with crime.
President Donald Trump has hinted that there could be a federal surge in the city, which could include National Guard troops and immigration authorities, as Democratic leaders like Mayor Brandon Johnson and Gov. JB Pritzker rail against the possibility. However, others have had a more nuanced take, as they want more support but not to the extent of sending in the guard.
“100% need help, 100% want help. I just don’t wanna see 18, 19-year-old kids on the streets of Chicago with M-16s, I believe that’s a recipe for disaster, so my preference would be money to hire more police,” Alderman Nicholas Sposato told Fox News Channel’s “America Reports” on Wednesday. Sposato is only one of two independents on the city council, as 48 out of 50 are Democrats.
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“But the president and the governor need to talk and figure something out,” he added.
The other independent on the board, Alderman Anthony Napolitano, told FOX Business Network’s “The Bottom Line,” there’s a “gang problem” in the city.
“It’s hypocrisy because our politicians here are always putting politics and agenda over people in the city of Chicago,” Napolitano, a former local police officer, said.
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Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez, a Democrat, also raised concerns about crime in the city while talking to Fox News Channel’s “Fox Report” on Sunday.
“I think a federal surge would, in fact, be helpful. Even though we see our statistics are trending in the right direction, who would argue against making them trend even further, even lower, meaning less victims on the street,” he said.
“It’s absolutely asinine to me hear my Democratic colleagues say that we don’t want more help,” he added, noting that the city has typically welcomed help from federal agencies like the FBI and the ATF.
Meanwhile, Washington D.C., has seen a sharp decrease in various crimes since the federal takeover last month. Although many Democrats have criticized the decision to have troops patrolling the streets, the presence of additional law enforcement won the praise of Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat who was originally critical of the policy.
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“For carjackings, the difference between this period, this 20-day period of this federal surge and last year represents an 87% reduction in carjackings in Washington, D.C.” Bowser said in a news conference last week. “We know that when carjackings go down, when use of gun goes down, when homicide or robbery go down, neighborhoods feel safer and are safer. So, this surge has been important to us for that reason.”
As for Johnson, he recently signed an executive order heavily limiting local law enforcement’s ability to cooperate with federal authorities amid a possible surge.
“We will protect our Constitution, we will protect our city, and we will protect our people,” Johnson said at a recent news conference. “We do not want to see tanks in our streets. We do not want to see families ripped apart. We do not want grandmothers thrown into the back of unmarked vans. We don’t want to see homeless Chicagoans harassed or disappeared by federal agents.”
Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom and Emma Bussey contributed to this report.
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