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Biden Administration, Gun Violence Prevention, Hate-Crimes, Law & Order, News & Photo Features

FACT SHEET: President Biden’s Safer America Plan

New York City honors its police force in the Heroes Parade. While Republicans like to paint themselves as the “law and order” party – an image contradicted by January 6th and the aftermath, Democrats support law enforcement, community policing as well as criminal justice, gun safety. During the Summer, President Biden unveiled his Safer America Plan © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

With Republicans running campaigns based on increased crime rates and falsely charging “socialist liberal communist Democrats” with trying to “defund police” and supporting criminal justice, police reform and cashless bail, it bears noting that crime rates are rising in places ruled by Republicans as well as Democrats. (Nassau County, Long Island was America’s safest county of its size under Democrat County Executive Laura Curran; crime rates have risen 34 percent so far in 2022 under Republican Bruce Blakeman.)

Moreover, increase in crime rates reflects record levels of gun violence (a record 45,000 gun deaths in 2021, a rate that has hit records every year since Trump took over; per capita murder rates are 40% higher in states won by Trump than in those won by Joe Biden) as well as hate crimes and political violence that have accelerated with the rise of Trump and Trumpism bringing White Christo Fascism out of the shadows and into the mainstream. Trump basically gave permission for hate and political violence.

So, in addition to making it easier to buy assault weapons and refusing to raise the minimum age to 21, Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s response to the Uvalde school massacre was to send DNA kits to schools that parents can use to identify their children’s bodies AFTER they’ve been murdered rather than pass gun safety laws to proactively protect their lives. And while the Gun Lobby loves to dismiss the easy access to guns including weapons of war as a factor in America’s gun violence epidemic, and instead blame mental illness, Republicans at the federal and at state level (Texas) have voted against funding mental health services in schools and communities.

The reality is that whereas Democrats have supported law enforcement, Republicans have been the ones to cut funding: Trump wanted to rescind aid to police in sanctuary cities and the Republican Sedition Caucus in Congress is calling for ending funding to the FBI. While Republicans make a pretense of being the party of “law and order, – and work to overrule , overturn police reform and cashless bail , and repeal gun safety legislation – two words make clear the hypocrisy: January Sixth. In point of fact, President Biden released his Safer America Plan this summer. The White House provided this fact sheet – Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

President Biden knows what works to make our communities safer: investing in community policing and crime prevention. We need to fund police who walk the beat, know the neighborhood, are accountable to those they are sworn to serve, and build community trust and safety. We need to invest in mental health and substance use treatment services, crisis responders, and social workers to reduce the burden on police officers, connect people with community resources, and prevent violent crime. We need to expand community violence interventions – led by trusted messengers breaking the cycle of violence and trauma. We need to enforce our commonsense gun laws, require background checks for all gun sales in order to keep firearms out of the hands of felons and domestic abusers, and ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines – weapons of war that have no place in our communities.
 
President Biden has taken action to make our communities safer during his first 18 months in office. He has funded the police and issued an Executive Order to improve police accountability. President Biden has taken more executive action to tackle gun violence than any other president at this point in their Administration, including by reining in the proliferation of ghost guns and cracking down on gun traffickers and rogue gun dealers. President Biden is the first president in nearly 30 years to bring together Members of Congress from both parties to take action on gun violence, signing the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. The President also secured Senate confirmation of career prosecutor Steve Dettelbach to serve as Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), empowering this law enforcement agency with its first confirmed leader since 2015. And, the President has made unprecedented investments in community-led crime prevention and intervention.
 
The President believes we can and must do more to reduce crime and save lives. On July 21, President Biden announced his Safer America Plan to build on the progress he has made to reduce gun violence.
 
Today, the President is providing greater details regarding the Safer America Plan. President Biden’s fiscal year 2023 budget requests a fully paid-for new investment of approximately $35 billion to support law enforcement and crime prevention – in addition to the President’s $2 billion discretionary request for these same programs. The Safer America Plan details how this $37 billion will be used to save lives and make communities safer.
 
Specifically, the Plan:

  1. Funds the police and promotes effective prosecution of crimes affecting families today, including by funding 100,000 additional police officers who will be recruited, trained, hired, and supervised consistent with the standards in the President’s Executive Order to advance effective, accountable community policing in order to enhance trust and public safety;
     
  2. Invests in crime prevention and a fairer criminal justice system, including by investing $20 billion in services that address the causes of crime and reduce the burdens on police so they can focus on violent crime, and by incentivizing the reform of laws that increase incarceration without redressing public safety;
     
  3. Takes additional commonsense steps on guns to keep dangerous firearms out of dangerous hands, including by calling on Congress to require background checks for all gun sales and ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

 

1. Fund the Police and Promote Effective Prosecution of Crimes Affecting Families Today 

Fund the Police with the Resources They Need For Effective, Accountable Community Policing
 
As President Biden said during his State of the Union Address, “We should all agree the answer is not to defund the police. It’s to fund the police. Fund them with the resources and training they need to protect our communities.” We cannot abandon our streets, and we should not have to choose between safety, public trust, and equal justice. Instead, we can protect our communities and restore trust by investing in accountable, equitable, evidence-based, constitutional policing and other law enforcement practices. In May 2022 President Biden signed an Executive Order on Advancing Effective, Accountable Policing and Criminal Justice Practices to Enhance Public Trust and Public Safety (Executive Order 14074), which advances effective, accountable community policing in order to enhance trust and public safety. Through the Executive Order, the President mandated policing reforms and best practices for federal law enforcement officials. President Biden’s Safer America Plan would not only increase funding for police across the country—it would also extend the Executive Order’s reforms and best practices to state and local law enforcement. The Plan will:
 
Put 100,000 additional officers for effective accountable, community policing on our streets.  The Safer America Plan will provide the investment necessary to recruit, train, support, and manage 100,000 additional police officers for effective, accountable community policing over the next five years. Specifically, the Plan calls on Congress to appropriate $10.877 billion in mandatory funding over five years for the COPS Hiring Program, which, combined with the President’s discretionary funding proposal for this program, will fully fund this goal with $12.817 billion in total. These funds will be used to get officers out of their stations and squad cars and into the community, walking the beat on foot patrols that have been shown to enhance officer morale, improve community relations, and have a deterrent effect on crime.
 
These new funds will incentivize state and local police departments to undertake commonsense reforms the President required of federal law enforcement agencies in May in Executive Order 14074. These reforms include banning chokeholds and carotid holds except where deadly force is authorized; training officers in de-escalation tactics to prevent the unnecessary use of force; restricting the use of no-knock warrants; requiring that body cameras be activated when conducting arrests and searches and when on patrol; submitting data to the new National Law Enforcement Accountability Database that the Justice Department will create; and undertaking other consensus reforms. We will also prioritize funding for officers that are representative of the communities they are sworn to serve (including recruits who live in or are from the community), and we will require that officers hired with federal funds be properly screened, including to ensure that they do not have a history of termination or resignation under investigation for serious misconduct from another police department.
 
Support state, local, Tribal, and territorial officers with the high-quality training the President has already mandated at the federal level by the Executive Order. Training varies widely across states and across law enforcement agencies. The Plan will fund training that enhances accountability, transparency, and the well-being of state and local officers and the communities they are sworn to serve. That includes an infusion of resources to enhance evidence-based training of law enforcement on topics including crime control and deterrence tactics, community engagement, use of force, interacting with people with disabilities, responding to persons in mental health crisis and to domestic violence calls, responding to First Amendment protected public protest activity, and more. The Plan will also fund the purchase and operation of body-worn cameras. The Plan calls on Congress to appropriate $1 billion over five years for these purposes. These funds will also be used to incentivize state and local law enforcement agencies to implement reforms such as those discussed above that the President required of federal law enforcement agencies in Executive Order 14074.
 
Recruit and retain police officers who demonstrate a commitment to honorably serving and protecting. We ask police to put their lives on the line to keep us and our loved ones safe. Front-line officers and chiefs around the country have made clear that we need to do more to recruit and retain officers who honorably serve as guardians of their communities. We also need to support agencies in developing flexible employment opportunities so that the profession meets the needs of a 21st century workforce and can continue to attract the best candidates at the state and local level who will meet and exceed the effective, accountable community policing standards mandated for federal law enforcement in the Executive Order. To attract and retain this high-quality workforce, President Biden’s Safer America Plan will fund bonuses for retention; provide student loan repayment, tuition reimbursement, and higher education grant programs to incentivize service-minded candidates, including women and individuals from underrepresented communities, to become officers; support pilot programs to explore more flexibility in scheduling and work arrangements; and expand mental health and wellness care for our police officers. The Plan calls on Congress to appropriate $750 million over five years for these purposes, and require that grant recipients report to the Attorney General and make public any use of funds to pay bonuses.
 
Ensure that new resources for law enforcement reach not only our biggest cities but also our small cities and towns. Smaller agencies often lack the personnel and resources to stay abreast of the latest evidence-based practices in policing, and lack internal capacity to identify and access grant and high-quality training opportunities. The Safer America Plan will set aside a minimum of $300 million per year of the funding described above to exclusively support small law enforcement agencies.
 
Clear Court Backlogs and Solve Murders So We Can Take Shooters and Other Violent Criminals Off the Streets
 
A small number of individuals are responsible for a disproportionate share of homicides and gun violence in our cities. The federal government will help state and local law enforcement in cities across the country take these criminals off our streets – and keep them off our streets. That’s why the President’s Fiscal Year 2023 budget proposal includes funding to ensure that federal law enforcement can show up and support state and local law enforcement. For example, the President’s budget request includes $2.8 billion for the U.S. Attorney’s Offices, an increase of 15% over FY22 enacted. This funding will increase the number of attorneys in these offices by 10%, increasing the federal government’s capacity to ramp up prosecutions of people who commit shootings and other violent crimes. The President’s budget also includes funding to hire 195 Deputy U.S. Marshals to help state and local law enforcement take violent fugitives off our streets, and nearly 100 additional administrative staff to relieve administrative burdens currently placed on Deputy U.S. Marshals so they can be re-deployed to the field full time.
 
In February, the Attorney General directed U.S. Attorneys to increase resources dedicated to district-specific violent crime strategies, such as New York City’s Gun Violence Strategic Partnership. The Safer America Plan will provide the federal government and cities with additional resources to support these strategies.
 
The Plan calls on Congress to appropriate $2.67 billion over five years for the following purposes:
 
Provide communities with funding they need to set up task forces to bring down the homicide and gun violence rate. These task forces will regularly convene federal, state, and local law enforcement to share intelligence, especially on repeat shooters, and coordinate efforts to successfully arrest, detain, and prosecute individuals committing homicides and gun violence. This funding will help police departments in communities to: hire critical personnel, including a task force coordinator, additional forensic analysts, and staff to write and process warrants for individuals suspected of committing violent crimes; pay for overtime and hire additional law enforcement officers, as needed, to execute on the work of the task force; provide life-saving equipment for officers in the field, like bullet-proof vests; and purchase forensic equipment and materials to analyze DNA, fingerprints, and data from bodycams, CCTV, and social media, while respecting privacy interests and civil rights. The Plan will also authorize the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Marshals Service, Drug Enforcement Administration, and U.S. Attorney’s Offices) to hire additional personnel to staff these task forces.
 
Equip communities with additional technology and personnel they need to quickly identify and investigate shooting incidents and image every bullet or casing recovered in the city and enhance the capacity of ATF to make ballistic matches. Additional resources for these cities include National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN) ballistics imaging machines and personnel needed to operate these machines, acoustic gunshot detection technology, gunshot residue forensics technology and analyst staff, and firearm forensics evidence collection technicians. The Plan will also call on Congress to authorize significant enhancement of ATF’s National NIBIN Correlation and Training Center to expand the number of jurisdictions it services.
 
Clear court backlogs and improve pretrial supervision in order to improve public safety. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented backlog in courts’ processing of criminal cases, with courts forced to delay or dismiss cases due to lack of capacity. We need to ensure courts have the resources to fully and fairly assess people accused of crimes and detain those who are too dangerous to be released to the community, consistent with due process requirements; to process cases and ensure accountability for criminal conduct; and to effectively supervise people upon release. The Safer America Plan invests in the technology and data systems modernization necessary to ensure that the justice system runs efficiently and with the most current data, such as case management systems that effectively integrate pre-trial services, judicial, and law enforcement records; virtual access and notification systems to facilitate remote check-ins and hearings as appropriate and beneficial for all involved; or scheduling software to manage the increased volume of cases. The Plan also provides emergency funding to support pretrial and post-conviction supervision staffing and systems, ensuring that persons on release are appropriately monitored and given assistance with the employment, health, and housing services that are shown to prevent recidivism.
 
Crack Down on Other Serious Crimes Affecting Families Today
 
The Safer America Plan includes several legislative fixes needed to address emerging crime trends, target resources at violent crime, and support commonsense criminal justice reform. To crack down on serious crime, the Plan will:
 
Impose tough penalties on all forms of fentanyl. Over 100,000 people have died from drug overdoses in the past 12 months, many of them from the synthetic opioid fentanyl. The federal government regulates fentanyl as a Schedule I drug, meaning it is subject to strict regulations and criminal penalties. But drug suppliers have found a loophole: they can easily alter the chemical structure of fentanyl—creating “fentanyl related substances”—to enhance the drug’s psychoactive properties and try to evade regulation of fentanyl. The Drug Enforcement Administration and Congress temporarily closed this loophole, but it will reopen in January 2023 unless Congress acts. The Safer America Plan includes the Administration’s 2021 proposal to permanently schedule all fentanyl related substances into Schedule I so traffickers of these deadly substances face the penalties they deserve.
 
Crack down on organized retail theft. Late 2021 saw an increase in high-profile incidents of organized retail theft around the country. In these incidents, crime rings recruit people to storm a brick-and-mortar store together and quickly steal high-value products for resale online. To recruit people to perpetrate the thefts and the resale, these organized theft rings typically target minors, individuals under financial duress, and individuals with substance use disorders. To tackle organized retail theft, the plan calls on Congress to pass legislation to require online marketplaces, such as Amazon, to verify third-party sellers’ information, and to impose liability on online marketplaces for the sale of stolen goods on their platforms.


2. Invest in Crime Prevention and A Fairer Criminal Justice System  

Fund Other Services to Address the Causes of Crime and Reduce the Burdens on Police Officers
 
Today, police are too often asked to respond to situations that require a mental health care provider or a social worker, not law enforcement.
 
When it comes to mental health, we know that people experiencing mental health challenges are more likely to be the victims than the perpetrators of a violent crime. Policing is not the answer to these challenges – fully funded mental health and substance use disorder services and supports are the answer. That’s why the Biden Administration has put forward a plan to transform how the nation understands and treats mental health needs. As just one piece of this plan, this July the Biden Administration launched the 988 crisis response line so people experiencing suicidal ideation or another behavioral health crisis can reach out for emergency help from a health professional instead of calling 911. The President’s Fiscal Year 2023 budget also requests an additional $700 million to expand crisis centers and crisis response so people experiencing a behavioral health crisis have a place to call and a place to go.
 
The Safer America Plan further expands the prevention and intervention strategies we know will reduce violent crime and ease the burden on police officers so they can focus on policing. This includes:
 
Helping states, cities, Tribes, and territories advance prevention strategies and invest in mental health, substance use disorder, homelessness and other services to prevent crime and reduce the burden on police. The Plan establishes a new $15 billion over 10 years Accelerating Justice System Reform grant program that jurisdictions can use to advance strategies that will 1) prevent violent crime and/or 2) ease the burden on police officers so they do not have to respond to non-violent situations that may not merit police intervention. Doing so not only enhances public safety, but also delivers evidence-based criminal justice reform that advances racial equity. For example, jurisdictions may choose to use these funds to:

  • Expand drug courts that divert individuals charged with drug possession alone into mandatory treatment and harm reduction services instead of incarceration, as well as other alternative courts such as mental health courts and veterans courts;
     
  • Expand co-responder or alternate responder programs so calls that should be answered by mental health or substance use disorder providers or social workers – alone or in partnership with police – are not solely the responsibility of law enforcement;
     
  • Increase mental health and substance use disorder services, including by training existing professionals to become certified in cognitive behavioral therapy (which helps people improve their response to stress and reduce impulsivity), trauma-informed therapy, and other evidence-based treatments effective at addressing mental health problems, disruptive behaviors, and exposure to or risk of violence;
     
  • Support teenagers and young adults with paid jobs during the summer and school year, out-of-school enrichment programs, and mentoring;
     
  • Support built environmental improvement and design strategies proven to reduce violent crime in high-risk neighborhoods (for example, improved lighting in priority areas, crafting safe passage routes for students to walk to school, and vacant and/or abandoned lot and building remediation);
     
  • Provide housing and other supportive social services to individuals who are homeless, including those displaced due to victimization; and
     
  • Increasing job training, employment, housing, and other stabilizing services and opportunities for people returning home from jail and prison.

In addition, in order to receive these critical grants, jurisdictions must repeal mandatory minimums for non-violent crimes and change other laws that contribute to increased incarceration rates without making our communities safer. The Plan calls on Congress to appropriate $14.7 billion in mandatory funding for this new program, which will add on to the $300 million request in the President’s FY23 discretionary budget to fully fund this effort.
 
Expand community violence interventions with $5 billion over 10 years. The Plan appropriates $5 billion to expand and build the capacity of focused deterrence, violence interruption, and hospital-based programs. Community violence intervention (CVI) programs are effective because they leverage trusted messengers who work directly with individuals most likely to engage in or be victimized by gun violence, intervene in conflicts, and connect people to social, health and wellness, and economic services to reduce the likelihood of violence as an answer to conflict.
 
Reform Our Justice System
 
To support commonsense criminal justice reform, the Safer America Plan will:
 
End the crack-powder disparity and make the fix retroactive. The Safer America Plan calls on Congress to end once and for all the racially discriminatory sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine offenses—as President Biden first advocated in 2007—and make that change fully retroactive. This step would provide immediate sentencing relief to the 10,000 individuals, more than 90 percent of whom are Black, currently serving time in federal prison pursuant to the crack/powder disparity.
 
Help formerly incarcerated individuals successfully reenter society. The Safer America Plan lifts almost all restrictions on eligibility and access to vital federal benefits and programs that people need to get back on their feet after serving their time and leaving incarceration. For example:

  • Federal law currently includes a lifetime ban on eligibility for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits for people with prior drug felonies. States can modify or waive the ban, but restrictions remain across the country. The Safer America Plan calls on Congress to repeal the federal ban, nullifying state laws and regulations restricting eligibility based on conviction history, and to allow people to begin applying for benefits during the last 30 days of their incarceration. This would help Americans returning home make ends meet for their families and increase public safety. According to a 2017 Harvard study, access to SNAP and TANF benefits reduces the risk of reincarceration within one year by 10%.
     
  • Currently, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) payments are suspended during incarceration and terminate when incarceration exceeds 12 months. Although SSI allows people to apply 30 days pre-release, many are not aware of their ability to apply or cannot access the resources to do so, and SSDI allows applications only one month after release. The Safer America Plan would suspend rather than terminate SSI and SSDI during incarceration, automatically restart payments upon release, and allow new applicants to apply for SSI and SSDI benefits 90 days before release.
     
  • The Plan calls on Congress to eliminate the ban on paying for health services during the last 30 days of a person’s incarceration. This would help Medicaid beneficiaries returning home from jail or prison begin the transition to community care before release.

 
In addition, as part of the $15 billion Accelerating Justice System Reform grant program described above, states, cities, Tribes, and territories may use funding to provide the following services for individuals who are formerly or currently incarcerated: mental health and substance use disorder treatment, GED programs, and training and employment opportunities.
 
Promote commonsense reforms in the states. As noted above, the new $15 billion Accelerating Justice System Reform grant program will not only support crime prevention strategies; it will also incentivize state criminal justice reforms such as repealing mandatory minimums for non-violent crimes.


3. Take Additional Commonsense Steps to Keep Dangerous Guns out of Dangerous Hands 

After decades of congressional inaction, President Biden made historic progress with bipartisan support from Congress. In June, the President signed into law the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which will help keep dangerous guns out of dangerous hands. For example, the new law provides states with $750 million to invest in crisis interventions, including extreme risk protection order laws, and it requires enhanced background checks for gun purchasers under the age of 21. Earlier this month, Congress confirmed Steve Dettelbach to serve as Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), empowering this law enforcement agency with the confirmed leader it has lacked since 2015. Earlier this year, President Biden signed into law the NICS Denial Notification Act, which was included in the Violence Against Women (VAWA) reauthorization and requires federal officials to notify state and local law enforcement when individuals who are legally prohibited from purchasing firearms fail a background check through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
 
But, when it comes to commonsense action to reduce gun crime, Congress has more work to do. Congress needs to give ATF the resources it needs to crack down on gun traffickers and gun dealers willfully violating the law. Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice launched five gun-trafficking strike forces to support state and local law enforcement in efforts to stop the trafficking of firearms across state lines. The President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 budget proposes $1.7 billion in discretionary funding – a 13% increase over the FY22 enacted level – for ATF to enforce our commonsense gun laws. This funding will be used to:

  • Hire more than 140 new agents, intel analysts, and other personnel, including personnel to staff the multijurisdictional gun trafficking strike forces the Justice Department launched last year. These strike forces crack down on significant firearms trafficking corridors like the Iron Pipeline – the illegal flow of guns sold in the south, transported up the East Coast, and found at crime scenes in cities from Baltimore to New York City.
     
  • Hire 160 new investigators to help ensure that Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) and manufacturers comply with the law. These investigators will help carry out the Department of Justice’s new policy, announced last year, of zero tolerance, absent extraordinary circumstances, for certain willful violations of the law by federally licensed firearms dealers that put public safety at risk.
     
  • Add 16 new positions to provide NIBIN correlation reviews and training for state and local law enforcement agencies nationwide. The NIBIN database holds millions of digital images of ballistics from crime scenes. A NIBIN search can link seemingly unrelated scenes, thereby making connections and filling in gaps to help law enforcement identify and hold shooters accountable.
     
  • Increase by more than 40% the funding for the National Tracing Center, which more than 8,400 law enforcement agencies across the United States use to trace firearms found at crime scenes. Funding will be used to upgrade technology and hire additional personnel.

 
In addition, the Safer America Plan includes the following measures, which would fully align with the Second Amendment:
 
Keep guns out of dangerous hands. The federal gun background check system is the best tool we have to keep guns out of the hands of people currently prohibited under federal law from purchasing these weapons – including felons and domestic abusers. The Plan will strengthen the background check system by requiring background checks for all gun sales, with limited exceptions. In addition, the Plan will close the terrorist, dating violence restraining order, stalking, and Charleston loopholes in our existing gun background check system, which make it easier for violent criminals to purchase firearms. And, the Plan will establish a national extreme risk protection order program and require safe storage of firearms.
 
Keeping especially dangerous firearms out of our communities. The Plan will ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. In addition, it will ban the manufacture, sale, or possession of unserialized firearms, often referred to as “ghost guns.”

Biden Administration, Gun Violence Prevention, News & Photo Features

Biden Announces More Actions to Reduce Gun Crime, Calls on Congress to Fund Community Policing, Violence Intervention

President Joe Biden came to NYC to announce new initiatives to reduce gun crime and make communities safer. This plan builds on the steps the President has taken since the beginning of his Administration to stop the flow of guns being used in crimes, bolster federal, state, and local law enforcement, invest in community-based programs that prevent, interrupt, and reduce violence, expand opportunity, lower recidivism, and increase funding for community policing. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com via msnbc

People everywhere are complaining about the rise in violent crime, but have basically blocked the most effective way to reduce the epidemic of tragedy: sensible gun control. It is mind-blowing to hear the gun rights fanatics claim that there should be no limits whatsoever – that anyone anywhere should be able to carry a gun without a permit, without registration, without training or licensing. Yet they also claim to support police and “law and order” – when it is the “guns everywhere” that makes law enforcement so difficult, that makes police more likely than not to shoot an unarmed suspect because of an assumption they are armed. The gun rights fanatics claim there should be no restrictions whatsoever, yet voting rights are also part of the Constitution, and they have no qualms whatsoever about putting in major restrictions, onerous registration requirements, making polls and ballots hard to access. So now they are challenging New York State’s gun permit law and San Jose, California’s requirement that gun owners carry liability insurance, much as is required to own an automobile.

But as President Joe Biden noted, in coming to New York City to commiserate over the murder of two  police officers to announce new measures to combat gun violence, no “freedom” is absolute – not speech, press, assembly, religion. He challenges the law that insulates gun manufacturers from liability – the only industry in the country that has such protection – yet if manufacturers could be sued, they would respond immediately with smart gun technology, gun locks and gun storage. And importantly, he is marshaling the Department of Justice to be more aggressive in prosecuting gun trafficking and illegal guns, especially going after repeat offenders. He called upon states and localities to use COVID-19 relief funds to fund violence prevention initiatives, notably declaring that instead of “defunding police” he wants to put funds into crime prevention .

In the past, we have listed many of the commonsense gun control measures that should be implemented:

Second Amendment ‘Rights’ Used to Nullify First Amendment Rights, as SCOTUS Takes Up NYS Gun Law

Wear Orange for National Gun Violence Awareness But Demand Action

Biden Must Put Gun Violence Prevention on To-Do List for First 100 Days

Mitch “Grim Reaper” McConnell Dithers While Gun Deaths Mount Up. Here’s How to End Gun Violence Now

Here is a White House fact sheet of the additional actions that the Biden Administration is taking to reduce gun crime:

Today, the Biden Administration is announcing additional actions to reduce gun crime and make communities safer. This plan builds on the steps the President has taken since the beginning of his Administration to stop the flow of guns being used in crimes, bolster federal, state, and local law enforcement, invest in community-based programs that prevent, interrupt, and reduce violence, expand opportunity, lower recidivism, and increase funding for community policing.
 
The President is committed to serving as a strong partner for communities on the frontlines of the fight against crime. That’s why his American Rescue Plan gives cities and states historic levels of funding that they can use to put more cops on the beat, and invest in community-based violence prevention and intervention programs.
 
President Biden also recognizes the important role that federal law enforcement plays in supporting their local partners – especially in stopping the interstate flow of guns used in crimes, like the gun that was used in the tragic recent fatal shooting of two NYPD officers. The Department of Justice has launched five gun trafficking strike forces, including one in New York City, and it has implemented a nationwide strategy to combat violent crime, which has focused over the past year in taking violent criminals and thousands of crime guns off the streets.
 
Stronger law enforcement is critical in stopping gun crime, but it’s made more effective when we make real investments in making our communities stronger and in addressing the causes of crime before it spills over into violence. That’s why President Biden’s comprehensive approach makes sure cities and states have the funding, training, and know-how they need to invest in proven tactics including community policing, street outreach by credible messengers, hospital-based intervention, and youth programming. And it’s bolstered by additional funding to create economic opportunity with job training, expand after-school activities, and provide stable housing and other stabilizing supports necessary to reduce recidivism and help formerly incarcerated individuals reenter their communities. That’s also why the President continues to urge Congress to act on his $300 million budget request to more than double the size of the Department of Justice’s COPS community policing grant program.
 
Taken together, this strategy steps up and focuses law enforcement efforts on violent offenders, stems the trafficking of illegal guns, and makes real investments in communities to intervene in and prevent gun violence. The President knows a complex and devastating challenge like the surge of gun crime we’ve seen over the last two years requires an ambitious, evidence-based response that uses every tool at our disposal, and that’s exactly what his plan does.
 
The President’s Comprehensive Strategy to Reduce Gun Crime
 
Last June, President Biden announced a five-part, comprehensive strategy to tackle the persistent spike in gun crime cities across the country have experienced since the start of the pandemic. The President’s strategy:

  • Stems the flow of firearms used to commit violence,
  • Supports local law enforcement with federal tools and resources to address violent crime,
  • Invests in evidence-based community violence interventions,
  • Expands summer programming, employment opportunities, and other services and supports for teenagers and young adults, and
  • Helps formerly incarcerated individuals successfully reenter their communities.

 
New Actions to Implement the President’s Comprehensive Strategy
 
Surging Efforts to Enforce Our Gun Laws and Keep Guns out of Dangerous Hands
 
Today, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a set of important new actions to stem the flow of firearms used to commit violence and support local law enforcement partners in efforts to combat gun crime. The Justice Department will:

  • Prioritize combating violent crime by directing every U.S. Attorney’s Office nationwide to increase resources dedicated to district-specific violent crime strategies. The Justice Department will work with state and local law enforcement to address the most significant drivers of violence in each district, including to get repeat gun violence offenders off of our streets.  New York City’s Gun Violence Strategic Partnership – which the President and Attorney General will visit today with Mayor Eric Adams – is one model of the strategies Justice will help expand nationwide.
  • Crack down on the “Iron Pipeline” – the illegal flow of guns sold in the south, transported up the East Coast, and found at crime scenes in cities from Baltimore to New York City – and other firearms trafficking by adding personnel and other resources to strengthen the Justice Department’s multijurisdictional task forces that target interstate firearms trafficking.
  • Launch a National Ghost Gun Enforcement Initiative, which will train a national cadre of prosecutors and disseminate investigation and prosecution tools to help bring cases against those who use ghost guns to commit crimes.   
  • Pursue unlawful gun sellers that put firearms in the wrong hands by taking steps such as prioritizing federal prosecutions of those who criminally sell or transfer firearms that are used in violent crimes, including unlicensed dealers who sell guns to criminals without the required background checks. 

Read more about the Justice Department’s new actions here.
 
Providing States and Cities with the Resources They Need to Reduce Gun Crime
 
Today, the President is reaffirming his call for Congress to reach a bipartisan agreement on FY22 appropriations that include half a billion dollars in new funding for proven strategies we know will reduce gun crime: a $300 million increase to expand accountable community policing through the COPS Hiring Program and $200 million for evidence-based community violence interventions. Facing a spike in gun crime that has persisted since the start of the pandemic, cities across the country cannot wait any longer for Congress to provide the resources the President requested as part of his FY22 Budget to save lives.
 
Building on Progress: One Year of Action to Reduce Gun Violence
 
Below are a few highlights of the Administration’s work to implement the President’s comprehensive gun crime reduction strategy over the past seven months. You can read a full wrap-up of the Administration’s first year of gun violence prevention work here.
 
1. Stemming the flow of firearms used to commit violence. In June 2021, the Justice Department announced a new policy to underscore zero tolerance for certain willful violations of the law by federally licensed firearms dealers that put public safety at risk. In July, the Justice Department launched five new law enforcement strike forces focused on addressing significant firearms trafficking corridors that have diverted guns to New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, the Bay Area, and Washington, D.C. Those strike forces have already opened more than 540 investigations and taken custody of almost 3,100 crime guns. Last year, the Justice Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) issued a proposed rule to help curb the proliferation of “ghost guns,” which are unserialized, privately made firearms that are increasingly being recovered at crime scenes and have been identified by law enforcement officials as a serious threat to public safety.  ATF is analyzing public comments in response to the proposed rule, the next step in the regulatory process.
 
2. Supporting local law enforcement with federal tools and resources to address violent crime. The Biden Administration made historic levels of funding from the American Rescue Plan – $350 billion in state and local funding – available for law enforcement purposes such as hiring more officers, investing in retention strategies, and paying overtime to advancing community policing strategies in communities experiencing an increase in gun violence associated with the pandemic. Funds were also made available for prosecuting gun traffickers, rogue dealers, and other parties contributing to the supply of crime guns, as well as collaborative federal/state/local efforts to identify and address gun trafficking channels. Cities across the country, such as Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Syracuse, New York; and Mobile, Alabama, have responded to this call by committing and deploying ARP funds to community-oriented policing and other law enforcement strategies. In addition, as part of the Justice Department’s Comprehensive Strategy for Reducing Violent Crime, the Justice Department has supported law enforcement in local communities in addressing gun violence. In particular, the Justice Department has provided enforcement support from the ATF, Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), and United States Marshals Service (USMS). 
 
3. Investing in evidence-based community violence interventions. As part of his Build Back Better agenda, President Biden proposed $5 billion in funding for the Department of Justice and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to invest in community violence interventions – evidence-based programs that are shown to help reduce violent crime. While working to secure this funding, the Biden Administration is using existing resources to expand community violence interventions. For example, the Biden Administration made certain American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding – $350 billion in state and local funding, and $122 billion in K-12 funding – available as unprecedented resources for CVI. Senior White House advisors also issued a memo to state and local officials outlining how these elected leaders not only can – but should – use ARP funds for CVI. Cities across the country, such as Seattle, Washington; Buffalo, New York; and Atlanta, Georgia – have responded to this call by committing and deploying ARP funds for CVI. In addition, five federal agencies made changes to 26 different programs to direct vital support to community violence intervention programs as quickly as possible. In July, senior White House staff established The White House Community Violence Intervention Collaborative, a 16-jurisdiction cohort of mayors, law enforcement, CVI experts, and philanthropic leaders committed to using American Rescue Plan funding or other public funding to increase investment in their community violence intervention infrastructure. The Collaborative is spending 18 months strengthening and scaling the jurisdictions’ community violence intervention infrastructure to reduce gun crime and promote public safety. National experts and federal agencies are providing training and technical assistance to help communities assess their existing public safety ecosystem, identify gaps, and build the capacity to expand programming that saves lives. 
 
4. Expanding summer programming, employment opportunities, and other services and supports for teenagers and young adults. The Biden Administration has made historic levels of funding from the American Rescue Plan  – $350 billion in state and local funding and $122 billion in school funding  – available for purposes such as hiring nurses, counselors, and social workers; providing court personnel and operations costs to return to pre-pandemic operation levels; providing and expanding employment services, including summer jobs for young people and programs that provide training and work experience for formerly incarcerated persons and other individuals who live in communities most impacted by high levels of violence; providing and expanding summer education and enrichment programs, including summer camp; and scaling up wraparound services, such as housing, medical and mental health care, trauma-informed care, substance use disorder treatment, food assistance, and job placement services, for victims of crime, young people, formerly incarcerated persons, and individuals and households facing economic insecurity due to the pandemic. Cities and counties across the country, including St. Louis, Missouri; Tucson, Arizona; and Los Angeles County, California, have responded to this call by committing and deploying ARP funds for these purposes.
 
5. Helping formerly incarcerated individuals successfully reenter their communities. On June 21 the Department of Labor awarded $85.5 million to help formerly incarcerated adults and young people in 28 communities transition out of the criminal justice system and connect with quality jobs. This included $60 million for Pathway Home projects serving adults, including beginning while participants are still incarcerated and continuing post-release, as well as $25.5 million in Young Adult Reentry Partnership grants to organizations serving young adults 18-24 who were previously involved with the justice system or who left high school before graduation. The President’s FY22 budget proposal calls for an increase in these grants, to $150 million, for reentry employment opportunities. The Treasury and Labor Departments has provided training and technical assistance to employers to help leverage multiple federal resources, including the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) and the federal bonding program to encourage employment of formerly incarcerated persons. In FY21, the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP) provided more than $110 million in grant awards to support adults and youth returning to their communities after confinement. The President’s FY22 budget proposal calls for a $25 million increase for Second Chance Act programs, to further invest in diversion and substance abuse treatment programs, enhance reentry and rehabilitation efforts, and connect people with mental health services.
 
In addition, the President’s House-passed Build Back Better Act includes $1.5 billion for grants to help formerly incarcerated individuals secure good jobs and successfully reenter their communities. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will create hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs that formerly incarcerated individuals will be able to access. Lastly, in his Executive Order on Advancing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility President Biden directed the Office of Personnel Management to evaluate barriers to federal employment for formerly incarcerated persons and actions to reduce these barriers, including educating and partnering with agencies to leverage hiring authorities to bring formerly incarcerated individuals into federal government.
 

Civil Rights, Donald Trump, Immigration-Migration-Refugees, Justice system, Law & Order

Trump Delivers Law & Order Speech to Long Island Police Officers: ‘Please Don’t be Too Nice’

Donald Trump comes to Long Island to give a law-and-order speech, celebrate the 2nd amendment, and support a more militarized, unrestrained police force © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Is there anything more abominably Orwellian than Donald Trump coming to Long Island, pretending to be the “Law & Order” guy, while cheerleading police to engage in extra-judicial violence against “suspects” (which according to American jurisprudence, are “innocent until proven guilty”), at a time when systemic racism is responsible for disproportionate sentences for minorities and underprivileged (no “affluenza” defense for them!), and extraordinary numbers of unarmed blacks being murdered by police for such “capital” offenses as a broken headlight?

This from the man who thinks he is above the law, that the Rule of Law does not apply to him or his family, who would obstruct justice by firing his FBI Director and threatening to fire his Attorney General (ironically, the guy who is enforcing Trump’s Law & Order agenda, overturning consent decrees by local police forces and returning to disproportionately harsh prosecutions and sentencing for nonviolent drug offenses), the guy whose immigration force are going after teenagers and mothers of American citizens for the crime of being undocumented, rather than the “bad hombres” he  claimed?

This from the man who freely obstructs justice, abuses his power, and asserts his unlimited power to pardon his family members, aides and even himself? The guy who really believes he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it?

The guy who would deprive constitutional rights, who advocates torture, looks to militarize the police and overturn rules that restrain the way they deal with suspects.  

Trump pronounced a ban on transgender individuals in the military in a series of tweets, without consulting with his generals (as he claimed) or informing the Defense Department, in the same week he designated “American Heroes Week.” The guy who used his privilege to dodge the draft during the Vietnam War, who demeans those who volunteer to serve in the military. He did that to deflect attention from the cascading catastrophe in his administration – the failure to repeal Obamacare (and deprive millions of health care), the kerfluffle (covfeffe?) over his humiliation of the Conservatives’ favorite, Jeff Sessions, and the outrageous remarks by his new communications director and Trump  “Mini Me” Anthony Scaramucci.

It was the American Heroes theme that brought him to Long Island, where he similarly tried to change the subject and reignite the love from his base by reigniting hatred against Hispanic immigrants. Hence the focus on MS 13 gang violence and his baseless conflation of immigration, refugees and criminal activity, with swipes at Obama and Hillary Clinton thrown in for good measure.

Here is a highlighted, annotated transcript of Donald Trump’s remarks July 28 to Long Island law enforcement officials on MS-13  gang violence during “America Heroes” week :

2:09 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, thank you very much.  This is certainly being home for me.  I spent a lot of time right here.  I was in Queens, so I’d come here, and this was like the luxury location for me.  And I love it.  I love the people here.  Even coming in from the airport, I sat with Nikki Haley, who’s here someplace.  Where’s our Nikki?  Ambassador Nikki Haley, who is so incredible.  (Applause.)  And she’s seen crowds in her life, and she said, boy, those are really big crowds.  Crowds of people all lining the streets, all the way over to here.  And it’s really a special place.  And so when I heard about this, I said, I want to do that one.

But I really wanted to do it not because of location, but because, as you know, I am the big, big believer and admirer of the people in law enforcement, okay?  From day one.  (Applause.)  From day one.  We love our police.  We love our sheriffs.  And we love our ICE officers.  And they have been working hard.  (Applause.)  Thank you.  They have been working hard.

Together, we’re going to restore safety to our streets and peace to our communities, and we’re going to destroy the vile criminal cartel, MS-13, and many other gangs.  But MS-13 is particularly violent.  They don’t like shooting people because it’s too quick, it’s too fast.  I was reading — one of these animals was caught — in explaining, they like to knife them and cut them, and let them die slowly because that way it’s more painful, and they enjoy watching that much more.  These are animals.

We’re joined today by police and sheriffs from Suffolk, Nassau, Dutchess and Ulster counties; state police from New York and New Jersey — many of you I know, great friends; Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers; and law enforcement personnel from a number of federal agencies.  So we’re loaded up with great people — that’s what I call it.

And I want to just tell you all together, right now, the reason I came — this is the most important sentence to me:  On behalf of the American people, I want to say, thank you.  Thank you very much.  (Applause.)  Thank you.

And I don’t think you know how much the public respects and admires you.  You’re saving American lives every day, and we have your backs — believe me — we have your backs 100 percent.  Not like the old days.  Not like the old days.  (Applause.)

You know, when you wanted to take over and you used military equipment — and they were saying you couldn’t do it — you know what I said?  That was my first day:  You can do it.  (Laughter.)  In fact, that stuff is disappearing so fast we have none left.  (Laughter.)  You guys know — you really knew how to get that.  But that’s my honor.  And I tell you what — it’s being put to good use.

I especially want to thank ICE Director Tom Homan, who has done an incredible job in just a short period of time.  Tom, get up here.  I know you just — (applause) — Tom is determined to rid our nation of cartels and criminals who are preying on our citizens.  And I can only say to Tom:  Keep up the great work.  He’s a tough guy.  He’s a tough cookie.  Somebody said the other day, they saw him on television, and somebody — they were interviewed after that; they said, he looks very nasty, he looks very mean.  I said, that’s what I’m looking for.  (Laughter.)  That’s exactly what I was looking for. 

And for that, I want to congratulate John Kelly, who has done an incredible job of Secretary of Homeland Security.  Incredible.  (Applause.)  One of our real stars.  Truly, one of our stars.  John Kelly is one of our great stars.  You know, the border is down 78 percent.  Under past administrations, the border didn’t go down — it went up.  But if it went down 1 percent, it was like this was a great thing.  Down 78 percent.  And, in fact, the southern border of Mexico, we did them a big favor — believe me.  They get very little traffic in there anymore, because they know they’re not going to get through the border to the United States.

So that whole group has been incredible, led by General Kelly.

Let me also express our gratitude to the members of the New York Delegation here today:  Congressman Chris Collins.  Where’s Chris?  Oh, Chris, right from the beginning he said, “Trump is going to win.  Trump is going to win.”  So I like him.  (Laughter.)  I didn’t like him that much before; now I love him.  (Laughter and applause.)  Dan Donovan — thanks, Dan.  (Applause.)  Thank you, Dan.  And Lee Zeldin, who I supported right from the beginning, when they said he didn’t have a chance of beating a pretty popular incumbent.  (Applause.)

And I saw him in a debate.  I said, I think this guy is going to win.  But he fought a pretty popular guy, and I said, I think he’s going to win and went heavy for him, and he won.  And he won pretty easily, didn’t you?  Pretty good.  I’m proud of you.  Great job.

And, of course, a legend, somebody that we all know very well, sort of my neighbor — because I consider him a neighbor — but he’s really a great and highly respected man in Washington, Congressman Peter King.  (Applause.)  Very respected guy.  He is a respected man that people like to ask opinions of.  I do.

Congressman King and his colleagues know the terrible pain and violence MS-13 has inflicted upon this community — and this country.  And if you remember just a little more than two years ago, when I came down the escalator with Melania, and I made the speech — people coming into this country.  Everyone said, what does he know?  What’s he talking about?

And there was bedlam.  Remember bedlam?  And then about two months later, they said, you know, he’s right.  So I’m honored to have brought it to everybody’s attention.  But the suffering and the pain that we were going through — and now you can look at the numbers — it’s a whole different world.

And it will get better and better and better because we’ve been able to start nipping it in the bud.  We’ve nipped it in the bud — let’s call it start nipping in the bud.

And MS-13, the cartel, has spread gruesome bloodshed throughout the United States.  We’ve gotten a lot of them out of here.  Big, big percentage.  But the rest are coming — they’ll be out of here quickly, right?  Quickly.  Good.  (Applause.)

So I asked Tom on the plane — he was never on Air Force One — I said, how do you like it?  He said, I like it.  (Laughter.)  But I said, hey, Tom, let me ask you a question — how tough are these guys, MS-13?  He said, they’re nothing compared to my guys.  Nothing.  And that’s what you need.  Sometimes that’s what you need, right?

For many years, they exploited America’s weak borders and lax immigration enforcement to bring drugs and violence to cities and towns all across America.  They’re there right now because of weak political leadership, weak leadership, weak policing, and in many cases because the police weren’t allowed to do their job.  I’ve met police that are great police that aren’t allowed to do their job because they have a pathetic mayor or a mayor doesn’t know what’s going on.  (Applause.)

Were you applauding for someone in particular?  (Laughter.)  It’s sad.  It’s sad.  You look at what’s happening, it’s sad.

But hopefully — certainly in the country, those days are over.  You may have a little bit longer to wait.

But from now on, we’re going to enforce our laws, protect our borders, and support our police like our police have never been supported before.  We’re going to support you like you’ve never been supported before.  (Applause.)

Few communities have suffered worse at the hands of these MS-13 thugs than the people of Long Island.  Hard to believe.  I grew up on Long Island.  I didn’t know about this.  I didn’t know about this.  And then all of a sudden, this is like a new phenomenon.  Our hearts and our nation grieve for the victims and their families.

Since January ‘16 — think of this — MS-13 gang members have brutally murdered 17 beautiful, young lives in this area on Long Island alone.  Think of it.  They butcher those little girls.  They kidnap, they extort, they rape and they rob.  They prey on children.  They shouldn’t be here.  They stomp on their victims.  They beat them with clubs.  They slash them with machetes, and they stab them with knives.  They have transformed peaceful parks and beautiful, quiet neighborhoods into bloodstained killing fields.  They’re animals.

We cannot tolerate as a society the spilling of innocent, young, wonderful, vibrant people — sons and daughters, even husbands and wives.  We cannot accept this violence one day more.  Can’t do it, and we’re not going to do it.  Because of you, we’re not going to be able to do it.  You’re not going to allow it to happen, and we’re backing you up 100 percent.  Remember that — 100 percent.  (Applause.) 

[WAS HE TALKING ABOUT THE 33 PEOPLE A DAY KILLED BY GUN VIOLENCE? NO.]

It is the policy of this administration to dismantle, decimate and eradicate MS-13 at every other — and I have to say, MS-13, that’s a name; rough groups — that’s fine.  We got a lot of others.  And they were all let in here over a relatively short period of time.  Not during my period of time, believe me.  But we’re getting them out.  They’re going to jails, and then they’re going back to their country.  Or they’re going back to their country, period.

One by one, we’re liberating our American towns.  Can you believe that I’m saying that?  I’m talking about liberating our towns.  This is like I’d see in a movie:  They’re liberating the town, like in the old Wild West, right?  We’re liberating our towns.  I never thought I’d be standing up here talking about liberating the towns on Long Island where I grew up, but that’s what you’re doing.

And I can tell you, I saw some photos where Tom’s guys — rough guys.  They’re rough.  I don’t want to be — say it because they’ll say that’s not politically correct.  You’re not allowed to have rough people doing this kind of work.  We have to get — just like they don’t want to have rich people at the head of Treasury, okay?  (Laughter.)  Like, I want a rich guy at the head of Treasury, right?  Right?  (Applause.) 

I want a rich guy at the head of Commerce.  Because we’ve been screwed so badly on trade deals, I want people that made a lot of money now to make a lot of money for our country. 

And, by the way, as I was walking up, they just gave me the numbers.  Our numbers just came out this morning.  GDP is up double from what it was in the first quarter.  (Applause.)  2.6 percent.  We’re doing well.  We’re doing really well.  And we took off all those restrictions.  And some we’re statutorily stuck with a for a little while, but eventually that statute comes up, and we’re going to be able to cut a lot more.  But we’ve sort of liberated the world of creating jobs like you’re liberating us and the people that live in areas.

But I have to say, one by one, we are indeed freeing up these great American towns and cities that are under siege from gang violence.  

Look at Los Angeles.  Look at what’s going on in Los Angeles.  Look at Chicago.  What is going on?  Is anybody here from Chicago?  We have to send some of you to Chicago, I think.  (Laughter.)  What’s going on?  

I mean, you see what’s happening there?  There’s no — do we agree?  Is there something maybe — (applause) — is there something — I have to tell you one Chicago story. 

So Chicago is having this unbelievable violence; people being killed — four, five, six in a weekend.  And I’m saying, what is going on?

And when I was running, we had motorcycle brigades take us to the planes and stuff.  And one of the guys, really good — you could see a really respected officer, police officer.  He was at the head.  He was the boss.  And you could see he was the boss.  He actually talked like the boss.  “Come on, get lined up.”  Because I’d always take pictures with the police because I did that.  My guys said, don’t do it.  Don’t do it.  (Applause.)

Other candidates didn’t do it that I was beating by 40 points, can you believe it?  But I did it.  Maybe that’s why I was winning by 40 points.  But other candidates wouldn’t do it, but I always took the pictures with the police.

But we’re in Chicago, and we had massive motorcycle bridges, and you know those people have to volunteer.  I don’t know if you know that, but from what I understand, they have to volunteer.  And I had the biggest brigades.  I had brigades sometimes with almost 300 motorcycles.  Even I was impressed.  I’d look ahead and it was nothing but motorcycles because they’d volunteer from all over various states. 

But this one guy was impressive.  He was a rough cookie and really respected guy.  I could see he was respected.  And he said, “All right, come on, get over here.  Get over here.  He’s got to get to work.  Get over here.”  And I said, “So let me tell — you’re from Chicago?”  “Yes, sir.”  I said, “What the hell is going on?”  And he said, “It’s a problem; it can be straightened out.”  I said, “How long would it take you to straighten out this problem?”  He said, “If you gave me the authority, a couple of days.”  (Laughter.)  I really mean it.  I said, “You really think so?”  He said, “A couple of days.  We know all the bad ones.  We know them all.”  And he said, the officers — you guys, you know all the bad ones in your area.  You know them by their names.  He said, “We know them all.  A couple of days.”

I said, “You got to be kidding.”  Now, this is a year and a half ago.  I said, “Give me your card.”  And he gave me a card.  And I sent it to the mayor.  I said, “You ought to try using this guy.”  (Laughter.)

Guess what happened?  Never heard.  And last week they had another record.  It’s horrible.

But we’re just getting started.  We will restore law and order on Long Island.  We’ll bring back justice to the United States.  I’m very happy to have gotten a great, great Justice of the United States Supreme Court, not only nominated, but approved.  And, by the way, your Second Amendment is safe.  (Applause.)  Your Second Amendment is safe.  I feel very good about that.  It wasn’t looking so good for the Second Amendment, was it, huh?  If Trump doesn’t win, your Second Amendment is gone.  Your Second Amendment would be gone.

But I have a simple message today for every gang member and criminal alien that are threatening so violently our people:  We will find you, we will arrest you, we will jail you, and we will deport you.  (Applause.)

And, you know, we had some problems with certain countries.  Still do with a couple, but we’ll take care of them — don’t worry about it.  Anytime we have a trade deficit, it’s very easy — which is almost everywhere.  We have trade deficits with almost every country because we had a lot of really bad negotiators making deals with other countries.  So it’s almost everywhere, so that takes care of itself.

But we had certain countries in South America where they wouldn’t take the people back.  And I said, that’s okay, no more trade.  All of a sudden they started taking their people back.  It’s amazing, isn’t it?  They used to send to the former Secretary of State of the country, “Please call.  Would you please work it so that we can take” — and they used to just tell her, “No, we won’t take back.”  They take back with us, every single time.  We’re having very little problem.  Are we having any problem right now with that?  Huh?  You better believe it.  Give me the names of the few problems.  We’ll take care of it, I’m telling you.  (Laughter and applause.)  It’s unbelievable. 

One of the old people — one of the people that represented the other administration — I said, why didn’t you use that, the power of economics?  “Sir, we think one thing has nothing to do with another.”  I said, oh, really?  So we’ll have big deficits and they won’t take back these criminals that came from there and should be back there?  Well, believe me, to me, everything matters.  But they’re all taking them back.

ICE officers recently conducted the largest crackdown on criminal gangs in the history of our country.  In just six weeks, ICE and our law enforcement partners arrested nearly 1,400 suspects and seized more than 200 illegal firearms and some beauties, and nearly 600 pounds of narcotics.

The men and women of ICE are turning the tide in the battle against MS-13.  But we need more resources from Congress — and we’re getting them.  Congress is actually opening up and really doing a job.  They should have approved healthcare last night, but you can’t have everything.  Boy, oh, boy.  They’ve been working on that one for seven years.  Can you believe that?  The swamp.  But we’ll get it done.  We’re going to get it done.

You know, I said from the beginning:  Let Obamacare implode, and then do it.  I turned out to be right.  Let Obamacare implode.  (Applause.) 

Right now, we have less than 6,000 Enforcement and Removal Officers in ICE.  This is not enough to protect a nation of more than 320 million people.  It’s essential that Congress fund another 10,000 ICE officers — and we’re asking for that — so that we can eliminate MS-13 and root out the criminal cartels from our country. 

Now, we’re getting them out anyway, but we’d like to get them out a lot faster.  And when you see these towns and when you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon — you just see them thrown in, rough — I said, please don’t be too nice.  (Laughter.)  Like when you guys put somebody in the car and you’re protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over?  Like, don’t hit their head and they’ve just killed somebody — don’t hit their head.  I said, you can take the hand away, okay?  (Laughter and applause.)

It’s essential that Congress fund hundreds more federal immigration judges and prosecutors — and we need them quickly, quickly — if we’re going to dismantle these deadly networks.  And I have to tell you, you know, the laws are so horrendously stacked against us, because for years and years they’ve been made to protect the criminal.  Totally made to protect the criminal, not the officers.  If you do something wrong, you’re in more jeopardy than they are.  These laws are stacked against you.  We’re changing those laws.  But in the meantime, we need judges for the simplest thing — things that you should be able to do without a judge.  But we have to have those judges quickly.  In the meantime, we’re trying to change the laws.

We’re also working with Chairman Bob Goodlatte on a series of enforcement measures — and he’s a terrific guy — to keep our country safe from crime and terrorism — and in particular, radical Islamic terrorism.  (Applause.)  A term never uttered by the past administration.  Never uttered.  Did anybody ever hear that term?  I don’t think so.  But you heard it from me.

That includes cracking down on sanctuary cities that defy federal law, shield visa overstays, and that release dangerous criminals back into the United States’ communities.  That’s what’s happening.  They’re releasing them.  So many deaths where they release somebody back into the community, and they know it’s going to end that way.  That’s the sad — they know it’s going to end that way.  We’re ending those procedures.  (Applause.)  Thank you.

We have to secure — I spoke to parents, incredible parents.  I got to know so many parents of children that were so horribly killed — burned to death, beaten to death, just the worst kind of death you can ever — stuffed in barrels.  And the person that did it was released, and you’d look at the file, and there were letter after letter after letter of people begging not to let this animal back into society; that this would happen, it would happen quickly.  It wasn’t even like it would happen over a long period of time.  They were saying it would happen quickly.  It’s total violence.  He’s a totally violent person.  You cannot let this person out.  

[DOES IT SOUND PLAUSIBLE THAT ACCUSED MURDERERS WERE SIMPLY LET GO? WHAT IS HE TALKING ABOUT. COULD IT BE THAT THE SUSPECT WAS FOUND NOT TO BE THE PERPETRATOR?] 

They let the person out, and sometimes it would happen like on the first day.  And then you have to talk to the parents and hold the parents and hug them.  And they’re crying so — I mean crying.  Their lives are destroyed.  And nobody thinks about those people.  They don’t think about those people.  They’re devastated.

But we’re ending so much of that.  We’re ending hopefully all of that.  The laws are tough.  The laws are stacked against us, but we’re ending that.  (Applause.)

So we’re going to secure our borders against illegal entry, and we will build the wall.  That I can tell you.  (Applause.)

In fact, last night — you don’t read about this too much, but it was approved — $1.6 billion for the phase one of the wall, which is not only design but the start of construction over a period of about two years, but the start of construction for a great border wall.  And we’re going to build it.  The Wall is a vital, and vital as a tool, for ending the humanitarian disaster brought — and really brought on by drug smugglers and new words that we haven’t heard too much of — human traffickers.

This is a term that’s been going on from the beginning of time, and they say it’s worse now than it ever was.  You go back a thousand years where you think of human trafficking, you go back 500 years, 200 years, 100 years.  Human trafficking they say — think of it, but they do — human trafficking is worse now maybe than it’s ever been in the history of this world.

We need a wall.  We also need it, though, for the drugs, because the drugs aren’t going through walls very easily — especially the walls that I build.  I’m a very good builder.  You people know that better than most because you live in the area.  That’s why I’m here.  (Applause.)  We’ll build a good wall.

Now, we’re going to build a real wall.  We’re going to build a wall that works, and it’s going to have a huge impact on the inflow of drugs coming across.  The wall is almost — that could be one of the main reasons you have to have it.  It’s an additional tool to stop the inflow of drugs into our country.

The previous administration enacted an open-door policy to illegal migrants from Central America.  “Welcome in.  Come in, please, please.” 

[NONSENSE.]

As a result, MS-13 surged into the country and scoured, and just absolutely destroyed, so much in front of it.  New arrivals came in and they were all made recruits of each other, and they fought with each other, and then they fought outside of each other.  And it got worse and worse, and we’ve turned that back.

In the three years before I took office, more than 150,000 unaccompanied alien minors arrived at the border and were released all throughout our country into United States’ communities — at a tremendous monetary cost to local taxpayers and also a great cost to life and safety.

[DOESN’T MEAN THEY BECAME GANG MEMBERS]

Nearly 4,000 from this wave were released into Suffolk County — congratulations — including seven who are now indicted for murder.  You know about that.

In Washington, D.C. region, at least 42 alien minors from the border surge have been recently implicated in MS-13-related violence, including 19 charged in killings or attempted killings.

You say, what happened to the old days where people came into this country, they worked and they worked and they worked, and they had families, and they paid taxes, and they did all sorts of things, and their families got stronger, and they were closely knit?  We don’t see that.

Failure to enforce our immigration laws had predictable results:  drugs, gangs and violence.  But that’s all changing now. 

Under the Trump administration, America is once more a nation of laws and once again a nation that stands up for our law enforcement officers.  (Applause.)

We will defend our country, protect our communities, and put the safety of the American people first.  And I’m doing that with law enforcement, and we’re doing that with trade, and we’re doing that with so much else.  It’s called America First.  It’s called an expression I’m sure you’ve never heard of:  Make America Great Again.  Has anybody heard that expression?  (Applause.)

That is my promise to each of you.  That is the oath I took as President, and that is my sacred pledge to the American people.

Thank you everyone here today.  You are really special, special Americans.  And thank you in particular to the great police, sheriffs, and ICE officers.  You do a spectacular job.  The country loves you.  The country respects you.  You don’t hear it, but believe me, they respect you as much as they respect anything.  There is the respect about our country.  You are spectacular people.  (Applause.)

AUDIENCE:  USA!  USA!  USA!

THE PRESIDENT:  Because of the danger of your job, which people also understand fully, I leave you with the following:  Thank you and may God bless you.  May God bless the United States of America.  Thank you very much.  (Applause.)

END                2:43     P.M. EDT