They’re sending in the stormtroopers. I wonder what took them so long:
The Trump administration is deploying law enforcement tactical units from the southern border as part of a supercharged arrest operation in sanctuary cities across the country, an escalation in the president’s battle against localities that refuse to participate in immigration enforcement.
The specially trained officers are being sent to cities including Chicago and New York to boost the enforcement power of local Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, according to two officials who are familiar with the secret operation. Additional agents are expected to be sent to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston, Boston, New Orleans, Detroit and Newark, N.J.
Among the agents being deployed to sanctuary cities are members of the elite tactical unit known as BORTAC, which acts essentially as the SWAT team of the Border Patrol. With additional gear such as stun grenades and enhanced Special Forces-type training, including sniper certification, the officers typically conduct high-risk operations targeting individuals who are known to be violent, many of them with extensive criminal records.
The cities are already militarized so I suppose this isn’t really an escalation in that sense. But targeting the Latino communities specifically (you know they aren’t going into say, Polish neighborhoods) does take it to the next level.
There was a time when the wingnuts all used “states’ rights” and “local control” to justify their racism. It was always nonsense, of course. If they had the power they always wanted to inflict their racist values on everyone in the country. They finally found their true champion.