Durkan, other mayors call on White House to stop deployment of federal forces to major cities

SEATTLE — Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and other mayors from across the country on Monday called on the Trump administration to immediately stop plans to send federal forces to major cities.

The mayors also called on the White House to withdraw any forces currently in cities.

President Donald Trump on Monday announced plans to send federal law enforcement authorities to several major cities as part of an effort to crack down on ongoing protests.

“We’re going to have more federal law enforcement – that I can tell you,” the president said in the Oval Office.

Trump specifically mentioned protests in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Baltimore and Oakland, California.

“We’re not going to let this happen in our country,” he said, adding that the problem cities are “all run by liberal Democrats.”

Joining Durkan in the letter were mayors Keisha Lance Bottoms, of Atlanta; Lori Lightfoot, of Chicago; Muriel Bowser, of Washington, D.C.; Quinton D. Lucas, of Kansas City; and Ted Wheeler of Portland, Ore.

The mayors also called on congressional leaders to launch an investigation into the Trump administration’s deployment and threats to deploy federal forces into cities.

Click here to read the mayors’ full letter to Attorney General William Barr and Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf.

Click here to read the mayors’ full letter to congressional leaders.

Cox Media Group