President Trump blasted Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker in a letter Friday over ongoing gun violence that has plagued the city in recent years, accusing both Democrats of putting “your own political interests ahead of the lives, safety and fortunes of your own citizens.” READ THE LETTER BELOW Governor J.B. Pritzker Governor of Illinois Chicago, Illinois 60601 Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot Mayor of Chicago Chicago, Illinois 60602 Dear Governor Pritzker and Mayor Lightfoot: I write to you today to call your attention to and urge action on the devastating violence in Chicago. While I have been heartened to see crime reductions nationally the last few years, I have been horrified by the continued violence in this great American city. I recently read an article from the Chicago Sun-Times on June 8, 2020, “18 murders in 24 hours: Inside the most violent day in 60 years in Chicago,” which discussed the severe crime and lack of law and order in our Nation’s third largest city. The article details how “85 people were shot and 24 killed the previous weekend, the most in modern history in Chicago.” Your lack of leadership on this important issue continues to fail the people you have sworn to protect. I am concerned it is another example of your lack of commitment to the vulnerable citizens who are victims of this violence and a lack of respect for the men and women in law enforcement. The article recounts the following horrors: A hardworking father killed. A West Side high school student murdered. A college freshman who hoped to become a correctional officer, gunned down. 18 people killed Sunday, May 31, the single most violent day in Chicago in six decades. The weekend of May 29, 25 people were killed and another 85 wounded by gunfire. The most violent weekend in Chicago’s modern history, stretching police resources that were already thin because of protests and looting. Violence and death, which are disproportionately harming young African Americans, are tragic and unacceptable, particularly on such a shocking scale. According to the Chicago Sun Times, “shootings across the City increased by 71 percent last month,” and just this past weekend 102 people were shot in the city’s most violent weekend of the year. A 3-year old toddler was killed. More Americans have been killed in Chicago than in combat zones of Afghanistan and Iraq combined since September 11, 2001, a deadly trend that has continued under your tenure. The American people (hardworking taxpayers) send you millions of dollars in Federal funding each year to support public safety in Chicago. In 2018 and 2019, the City of Chicago benefited from $136 million in funding from the Urban Area Security Initiative Grant Program, and another $68 million was recently announced for Chicago from this important program. The Department of Justice awarded and is in the process of awarding nearly $20 million to support law enforcement and law-enforcement related entities in the City of Chicago and Cook County across 2019 and 2020, including resources for combating opioid abuse and recidivism reduction. The Department of Labor has also awarded funding to programs targeting prisoner re-entry and recidivism reduction in the Chicago area. My Administration allocated $898.6 million to the City of Chicago and Cook County from the Coronavirus Relief Fund, which […]

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