House Freedom Caucus Republicans are asking Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray to prosecute anyone who topples or defaces monuments and states in the United States.
“We can acknowledge the necessity of federal intervention when states and local jurisdictions allow the rights of their citizens to violate public property to be attacked, vandalized, and destroyed,” House Freedom Caucus Chairman Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., said during a press conference on Thursday.
Biggs said federal police should "immediately begin making arrests of those who are attempting to violate rights and disturb our peace and vandalize our federal property and attacking our private property."
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced he would sign an executive order giving authority to federal officials to arrest people who vandalize or topple any monument on federal property. According to The Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Act, violators could face up to 10 years in prison.
Despite failing to pull down President Andrew Jackson’s memorial statue in Lafayette Park on Monday, protesters have vowed to topple the Emancipation Memorial in Lincoln Park in Washington, D.C. this Friday.
Last Friday, protesters did topple a statue of Confederate officer Albert Pike and set it on fire.
"You don't have liberty if you don't have order," Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas said. "It's time for the federal government to do its job and enforce the laws of the United States. We have federal laws on the books that prohibit the kind of vandalism that is attacking our memorials."
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