Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot (D.) suggested at a press conference on Wednesday that President Donald Trump is deploying federal officers to cities because their mayors are Democratic women.
"The president has been on a campaign now for some time against Democratic mayors across the country," Lightfoot said. "Whether it's me, whether it’s Keisha Lance Bottoms in Atlanta, whether it’s Muriel Bowser in Washington, D.C., whether it’s Jenny Durkan in Seattle. You see a common theme here?"
Trump announced Wednesday a surge of federal officers to Chicago to combat the high levels of violent crime in the city. Year-to-date murders in Chicago are up 51 percent, and shootings are up 47 percent, according to the most recent crime statistics.
Trump also plans to send officers to Albuquerque, New Mexico—whose mayor is a man—as part of Operation Legend, an anti-violence initiative named after four-year-old LeGend Taliferro, who was fatally shot in Kansas City in June. Two weeks ago, Trump sent officers to Portland to quell protesters who have repeatedly attacked a federal courthouse and other government buildings. Federal officers have also been deployed to Kansas City.
The deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor sparked protests across the country this summer, some of which turned into violent anti-police riots.