Lightfoot Says Feds Won't Send Secret Police Force To Chicago

CHICAGO — Mayor Lori Lightfoot said President Trump's administration will not be sending unidentified federal agents — like the controversial force deployed in Portland, Oregon — in an attempt to quell violence here.

"The Trump administration is not going to foolishly deploy unnamed agents onto the streets of Chicago," Lightfoot said at a Tuesday news conference. "As I understand it, what we will be getting are additional resources" from the federal government.

The mayor said she expects that help to include the addition of new agents in the Chicago offices of the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Lightfoot said the city welcomes the support to fight violence, with conditions.

“We welcome actual partnership, but we do not welcome dictatorship, we do not welcome authoritarianism, and we do not welcome unconstitutional arrest and detainment of our residents,” the mayor said.

In Portland, a "secret police force" sent by the federal government allegedly pulled peaceful protesters off the street and detained them, according to news reports.

On Monday, the Tribune reportedthe U.S. Department of Homeland Security planned to send 150 agents to Chicago. Lightfoot responded with a letter to the White House urging the president to reconsider the reported deployment. She outlined numerous issues with the reported deployment and the possible negative outcomes it may entail.

“What we do not need, and what will certainly make our community less safe is secret, federal agents deployed to Chicago," Lightfoot wrote in the letter. "Other form of militarized assistance within our borders that would not be within our control or within the direct command of the Chicago Police Department would spell disaster."

Unlike Portland, Lightfoot said city officials will being consulted with how federal assistance is deployed in Chicago.

"Unlike what happened in Portland what we will receive are resources that are going to plug into the existing federal agencies that we work with on a regular basis to help suppress violent crime," Lightfoot said. "The big difference, the US attorney himself, John Lausch is in the loop and will help manage the additional resources."

Still, Lightfoot told Chicagoans to be on the look out for the kind of unidentified federal agents deployed to Portland.

"If you do see something - and I hope it is not true - please contact the Mayor’s office, contact 911 or your local aldermen to let them know that something is up," Lightfoot said.

"We need everyone in the city to be our eyes and ears on this. We are not going to allow democracy to be hijacked by the federal government. That will not happen in Chicago."