Acting U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan took Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to task on Wednesday over the mayor’s comments regarding federal agents in Portland, Oregon.
Morgan appeared on “Fox & Friends” to denounce Lightfoot’s claims a day earlier that the Trump administration was unconstitutionally arresting and terrorizing Portland citizens as part of “authoritarianism.” Morgan said he completely dismisses Lightfoot’s allegations about his agency.
“Well, first of all, I completely dismiss her reference [to] what’s happening in Portland. Those are misinformed, irresponsible, and reckless statements,” he said, according to Fox News. “And, they’re just devoid of any fact or truth.”
“Again, our presence in Portland is to respond to violent criminals who are willfully, knowingly, with intent, attacking federal property and the federal law enforcement that’s there to defend that property. Hard stop on that,” Morgan added.
On Tuesday night, acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf told Fox News’ Martha MacCallum that federal agents were in Portland to arrest violent protesters who had free run of the city for more than 50 days.
“Attacking federal police officers and law enforcement officers, which they have done for 52 nights in a row, is a federal crime. And so the department, because we don’t have that local support, that local law enforcement support, we are having to go out and proactively arrest individuals,” Wolf said.
On Tuesday, Mayor Lightfoot made multiple claims to several news outlets alleging that Trump was running a “dictatorship” by having federal agents enter Portland to arrest citizens. As Fox reported, Lightfoot told MSNBC that “tyranny” would not be allowed in Chicago, but that she would work “collaboratively” with other federal agencies – including the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives – to stop the violence.
Still, she told the Chicago Tribune, “[W]e do not welcome dictatorship, we do not welcome authoritarianism and we do not welcome unconstitutional arrest and detainment of our residents.” On Twitter that evening, Lightfoot tweeted: “Under no circumstances will I allow Donald Trump’s troops to come to Chicago and terrorize our residents.”
At around the same time, a gunman wounded 15 people outside a funeral home in Chicago’s South Side.
While Lightfoot suggests Trump is a dictator, she has suggested legal action against people who promote gatherings on social media during the continuing coronavirus pandemic.
Violence in Chicago has also exploded, with children caught in the wake as protests and riots continue in the city purportedly over the police-involved death of Minneapolis, Minnesota, resident George Floyd, who died on May 25. Chicago has shattered previous records for city violence, leading the city’s police union to ask the Trump administration for help, The Daily Wire previously reported.
“Mayor Lightfoot has proved to be a complete failure who is either unwilling or unable to maintain law and order here,” wrote Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara. “I would be willing to sit down anytime and discuss ideas about how we can bring civility back to the streets of Chicago. These politicians are failing the good men and women of this city and the police department.”