Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot Makes A Plea To The Feds Amid Soaring Crime

The violent crime situation in Chicago has reached such proportions that the mayor is now calling on the federal government for aid.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) gave a 40-minute speech on Monday in which she outlined the urgent request to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to send help in the form of agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Specifically, Lightfoot wants a tougher crackdown on firearms that are illegal in Chicago, as well as additional prosecutors in order to bring more crimes to trial at the federal level, reported the Chicago Tribune.

None of these ideas are actually fresh innovations, but rather the same ideas that she’s trotted out many times before. Lightfoot also tried to shift blame to “root causes” such as poverty. Firearm possession is also a favorite target of the mayor, and Chicago has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation.

Lightfoot did break with the liberal orthodoxy prevailing in cities like San Francisco, however, to insist that judges stop releasing individuals being charged with violent crimes back onto the streets but with electronic monitoring. It should be noted that this is also not a new line from her, as both the mayoral administration and the Chicago Police Department have been united in criticizing the local courts as too lenient.

Just like in San Francisco, however, criminal justice “reformers” have blatantly tried to deny that crime is actually trying to get worse, and even criticized her for daring to suggest that those who face charges for things such as murder, sexual assault, and kidnapping should be kept locked up while awaiting trial.