Mayor Bill de Blasio vowed to haul President Trump to court if a single federal law enforcement official “steps foot in New York City” to crack down on protesters and rising crime.
“If one of these federal officers steps foot in New York City with the intention of denying the First Amendment rights of New Yorkers, we will be in court immediately and we will win,” de Blasio said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Wednesday.
De Blasio did not mention that federal agents from the FBI, ICE and DHS already operate in the five boroughs.
On Monday, Trump called on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to end the recent crime spree in the Big Apple, saying, “if the governor is not going to do something about it, we’ll do something about it.”
De Blasio said he’s joined 15 other mayors in a letter to the Justice Department imploring the feds to stay out of local affairs.
“We do not want these officers in our cities,” he said.
“I believe what the president is doing is unconstitutional,” he added, citing Trump’s deployment of federal agents to Portland to crack down on demonstrations that have targeted federal buildings.
De Blasio insisted he has the city’s surge in shootings under control.
“We will beat it back,” he said. “It’s not the place of the federal government.”