WASHINGTON — President Trump is sending military troops to Chicago, over the objections of the elected leaders there, and U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan thinks it’s a good idea.
Sullivan says Chicago’s violent crime rate justifies the deployment.
“It's just horrendous that you have young, mostly African American kids who are killed every single weekend in Chicago. I think Labor Day weekend there's like, maybe 10,” he said. “So something needs to be done. And these are tough issues, but, you know, most Americans would want whatever we can do to bring down crime rates.”
Sullivan spoke Saturday in Wrangell. A KSTK reporter asked what he thought of sending military troops to fight crime in Chicago and Portland, where elected leaders don't want them.
“I think when you get more resources to law enforcement, to bring down crime, to bring down drug dealing, to help our communities, I think it's important,” he said.
Trump’s deployment of troops to police Democratic-led cities raises legal questions, and it challenges the principle that the military shouldn’t be used for political purposes. Sullivan comes to the issue with a substantial background in both law and the military. He served as attorney general of Alaska and was also a colonel in the Marines until last year.
In a nearly three-minute answer to KSTK, Sullivan expressed no reservation about the Chicago deployment, then just getting underway.
Trump has given several reasons for sending troops to Chicago and Sullivan endorsed two of them — to protect federal buildings or agents from violence, and to reduce homicides.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, has called it an invasion and said Trump is punishing states that didn’t vote for him.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski considers the Chicago deployment inappropriate.
“I have concerns, again, about bringing in our military without the consent, without the agreement of a governor, and really taking over the role of law enforcement, at the direction of the president,” she said on “Talk of Alaska” Tuesday.
Aside from the legal questions it raises, Murkowski is skeptical that it lowers crime rates in the long run.
Alaska Congressman Nick Begich declined an interview request but sent a statement saying the troops are filling a gap created “by mayors, governors and district attorneys who have put criminals above law-abiding citizens.” Begich’s statement says the troops are “ensuring every resident’s freedom of movement.”
KSTK reporter Colette Czarnecki contributed to this story from Wrangell.
