Trump announces 'surge' of federal agents as crackdown on anti-racism protests widens

President Donald Trump has announced plans to send a “surge” of federal agents to US cities amid widening crackdown on anti-racism protests that erupted over the killing of African American George Floyd by the police in May.

Trump said on Wednesday he was “announcing a surge of federal law enforcement into American communities plagued by violent crime.”

“We’ll work every single day to restore public safety, protect our nation’s children and bring violent perpetrators to justice,” he added.

The president said he was seeking to make “law and order” in the “Democrat-run cities,” including Chicago, which he singled out as being in the most critical need of additional resources.

“Perhaps no citizens have suffered more from the menace of violent crime than the wonderful people of Chicago, a city I know very well,” Trump said.

Anti-police brutality protests, clashes continue in Portland

More than 1,000 protesters took to the streets waving signs against racism and chanting slogans.

This prompted Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to say that his people “do not welcome dictatorship.”

“The Trump administration is not going to foolishly deploy unnamed agents to the streets of Chicago,” she said.

Additional agents will also be sent to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and could eventually be seen in New York, Philadelphia and other locations, according to the President.

Trump’s move came in the wake of federal agents’ crackdown on protesters in Portland and Oregon, with unmarked cars and unidentified forces rounding up people and whisking them away in black minivans.

US police use unmarked vehicles to ‘grab’ protesters in Portland

US police use unmarked vehicles to drive around Portland a detain protests, witness say.

Those incidents, captured on videos, prompted calls from local leaders and members of Congress, for Trump to remove his secret police forces from Portland and Oregon.

With just over a hundred days until the presidential election, Trump, however, reiterated that his “administration will be working to remove dangerous offenders sprung loose by these deadly policies and, frankly, by these deadly politicians.”

Under the operation, agent from the FBI, Marshals Service and other federal agencies will be working with local law enforcement, according to the US Department of Justice.

New York, Chicago mayors vow to sue Trump if agents deployed

The mayors of New York City and Chicago said that they would take the president to the court if he sent unidentified agents to their cities.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said that he would challenge any deployment of federal agents in the courts.

He said the actions of unidentified officers grabbing citizens in Portland "appeared to violate basic constitutional rights."

“This president blusters and bluffs and says he's going to do things and they never materialize on a regular basis, so we should not overrate his statements, they are so often not true," De Blasio added.

Chicago Mayor Lightfoot also threatened to sue Trump if he tried to send federal agents into the city without her permission.

US riot police use tear gas, hit Portland protester with batons

US federal law enforcement officers crack down on protesters in Portland, Oregon, under the Trump administration

She said that the city would be working with federal agents to fight crime but warned that she would be vigilant against abuses of power.

Lightfoot said that “unlike what happened in Portland, what we will receive is resources that are going to plug in to the existing federal agencies that we work with on a regular basis to help manage and suppress violent crime in our city.”

“What happened in Portland was clearly “unconstitutional” and “undemocratic,” she added.

The Chicago Tribune reported on Monday that Washington would deploy 150 agents “to help tamp down violence” in the city.

Analysts say Trump is trying to portray Democrats as unable to protect citizens in the face of “violence”, just over a hundred days until the presidential election.

Trump said formerly that violence would worsen if his Democratic rival, Joe Biden is elected.

Trump, according to opinion polls, trails Biden in the run-up to November election.

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Democratic candidate Joe Biden leads US President Donald Trump by 8 percentage points in support among registered voters, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll.

Biden calls Trump first racist US president

In a related development, Biden on Wednesday described Trump as the first racist president of the United States.

He said the way Trump deals with people “based on the color of their skin, their national origin, where they’re from, is absolutely sickening.”

“No sitting president has ever done this. Never, never, never,” Biden said. “No Republican president has done this. No Democratic president. We’ve had racists, and they’ve existed. They’ve tried to get elected president. He’s the first one that has.”

Trump reacted to Biden’s remarks on Wednesday, saying, “I have done more for Black Americans than anybody with the possible of exception of Abraham Lincoln.”

“Nobody has even been close,” Trump added.

Biden has vowed that he will begin addressing institutional racism within his first 100 days of office, if elected.

Biden has previously accused Trump of having “fanned the flames of white supremacy”, but this is the first time he has directly called the president a racist.

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