Acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan said Monday there are different needs for federal law enforcement in the nation's cities that are being hit hard by violence, and it is important Americans understand it is not overreaching to have agents in their cities.
"We need to separate two things [that are] happening," Morgan told Fox Business' "Mornings With Maria." "One is the violence and anarchy against federal property. That's going to require one response. That's what you're seeing in Portland and Seattle, versus the increased crime that's going on in Chicago and Kansas City and other states and cities."
The cities with increased crimes will require agents and other federal officers to work with state and local leaders specifically to address violent crime.
"That's not what we're seeing in Portland," Morgan said. "We're going to go wherever the threat tells us we need to go and keep in mind, it wasn't that long ago in Oakland, we had SPS Officer Patrick Underwood that was shot and killed and another one wounded. This is serious and people need to separate peaceful protests from the criminal anarchy that's going on."
In addition, approximately 200 agents are being sent into Chicago or will be sent to rein in out-of-control violence, Morgan said.
Over the weekend, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot called for President Donald Trump to enact gun control measures if he wants to help her city because it is being inundated with weapons from states without gun control measures.
"I'm not going to be pulled into her political narrative," said Morgan, adding, President Donald Trump is sending additional resources to help the federal officers already in Chicago working with the city's police to address the increase in violence.
"This is exactly what we should be doing," he said. "We should be talking about coming together, sharing information, working together, law enforcement, not defund law enforcement. That's one of the absolute travesties of the narrative that's going on right now."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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