President Donald Trump called on Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to establish law and order amid crime and lawlessness in Chicago, the third largest city in the United States.
“While I have been heartened to see crime reductions nationally the last few years, I have been horrified by the continued violence in this great American city,” the president wrote.
“Your lack of leadership on this important issue continues to fail the people you have sworn to protect,” Trump wrote to Pritzker and Lightfoot, citing the article. “I am concerned it is another example of your lack of commitment to the vulnerable citizens who are victims of this violence and a lack of respect for the men and women in law enforcement.”
“More Americans have been killed in Chicago than in combat zones of Afghanistan and Iraq combined since Sept. 11, 2001, a deadly trend that has continued under your tenure,” Trump later emphasized.
“The combination of crime, high state and local taxes, and onerous state and local government regulations have caused thousands of Illinoisans to flee to other states,” he also wrote. “Between 2010 and 2019, Illinois lost more of its population than any other state in the nation.”
Trump said that despite millions of dollars of federal funding that has been allotted each year to support public safety in Chicago, “these substantial sums of taxpayer money are not being turned into results, and the safety of [Chicago’s] most vulnerable communities continues to deteriorate.”
The president offered Pritzker and Lightfoot the option of meeting with members of his cabinet to help create “a plan to make Chicago safe.”
“My administration would also welcome the opportunity to engage with you and your colleagues as you develop bipartisan policy recommendations to improve policing and make our great cities safer for all,” Trump wrote.
“If you are willing to put partisanship aside, we can revitalize distressed neighborhoods in Chicago, together,” he added. “But to succeed, you must establish law and order.”
“This brings historic reforms to make our justice system fairer and to help inmates successfully transition back into society by providing prisoners with a second chance through rehabilitative programs and fair sentencing,” Trump said of the move.
“Nationwide, nearly 9,000 communities have designated Opportunity Zones, including over 130 in Chicago, which are incentivizing investments in areas that have been forgotten for far too long,” Trump said.
“My administration continues to work closely with Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and others across the political spectrum to advance further policy improvements and meaningful reforms,” he wrote.
