Trump says he plans to send federal law enforcement to several Democrat-led cities

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Monday that he plans to send federal law enforcement officers to several major cities in the U.S. as part of an effort to crack down on the protests against police brutality and racism that have gripped the nation in recent weeks.

"We're going to have more federal law enforcement -- that I can tell you," the president told reporters gathered in the Oval Office.

Trump specifically called out 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.”

On Monday, citing an unidentified official, The Associated Press reported that the Department of Homeland Security plans to send about 150 agents to Chicago to help deal with a spike in crime. The official told the AP it’s possible that Homeland Security Investigations agents might be deployed to other cities as well.

The move is Trump’s latest effort to use an agency to supplement local law enforcement in ways that have alarmed critics. Trump has already deployed agents to Portland, Oregon under the mantle of protecting federal buildings from protesters, drawing intense criticism from local leaders who say they have only exacerbated tensions.

“(Federal law enforcement agents have) been there three days, and they really have done a fantastic job in (a) very short period of time,” Trump said Monday. “These are anarchists. These are not protesters. … These are people that hate our country and we’re not going to let it go forward.”

Among the people targeted in crackdowns on protests in Portland was Christopher David, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and former member of the Navy’s Civil Engineer Corps, according to The Washington Post. David told the newspaper that he joined protests Saturday because he wanted to ask officers what they thought of the oaths they’d sworn to protect and defend the Constitution.

Video of his confrontation with officials, in which they can be seen beating him with a baton before spraying him in the face with a chemical agent, went viral over the weekend.

“It’s just us normal people out there,” he told the Post. “There (was) a whole group of pregnant moms standing out there linking arms and they got gassed. You hear people like Trump say it’s just a bunch of wacko fringe people in liberal cities who are out there, but no way. We’re all just normal people who think what’s happening is wrong.”

Protests nationwide were sparked by the May 25 death of George Floyd, who died at the hands of Minneapolis police. Four officers have since been charged in the 46-year-old's death.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Cox Media Group