Trump orders federal agents to stay away from protests
Robin Respaut and Jasper Ward |
US President Donald Trump has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to “under no circumstances” get involved with protests in Democratic-led cities, unless they ask for federal help or federal property is threatened.
Cities must protect their own state and local properties, Trump wrote in a social media post. ICE and Border Patrol personnel will continue to guard federal buildings, Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The announcement comes a day after thousands of protesters took to the streets of Minneapolis and across the country to demand the withdrawal of federal immigration agencies from Minnesota, following the fatal shootings of two US citizens.
The Trump administration had sent 3000 federal officers to the Minneapolis area as part of a crackdown on illegal immigration, and many of those officials found themselves facing off with protesters and activists.
It’s the most recent example of Trump’s willingness to use federal personnel in cities.
He has sent federal law enforcement officers or National Guard members to a number of cities largely governed by Democrats, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, DC, and Portland, Oregon.
He has said the moves are necessary to enforce immigration laws and control crime. Local leaders in most of those cities have disputed that assertion.
The announcement comes after a judge ordered the release of a five-year-old boy and his father from a Texas detention centre where they were taken after being detained in Minneapolis last month.
Images of Liam Conejo Ramos, with a bunny hat and Spiderman backpack being surrounded by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officers, sparked even more outcry about the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota.
It also led to a protest at the family detention centre and a visit by two Texas Democratic members of Congress.
US District Judge Fred Biery, who was appointed by former Democratic President Bill Clinton, said in his ruling “the case has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatising children”.
A judge had previously ruled that the boy and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, could not be removed from the US, at least for now.
Neighbours and school officials say that federal immigration officers in Minnesota used the preschooler as “bait” by telling him to knock on the door to his house so that his mother would answer.
The DHS has called that description of events an “abject lie”. It said the father fled on foot and left the boy in a running vehicle in their driveway.
During the January 28 visit with Democratic members of Congress Joaquin Castro and Jasmine Crockett, the boy slept in the arms of his father, who said Liam was frequently tired and not eating well at the detention facility housing about 1100 people, according to Castro.
Detained families report poor conditions like worms in food, fighting for clean water and poor medical care at the detention centre since its reopening last year.
In December, a report filed by ICE acknowledged they held about 400 children longer than the recommended limit of 20 days.
Reuters
