Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Department of Justice, applauded President Donald Trump's decision to send the National Guard into Washington, D.C., telling Newsmax on Monday that fixing the crime crisis in the District is "overdue."
Dillon joined "The Chris Salcedo Show" hours after Trump and members of his administration announced corrective measures to "take back" the capital, as Trump said.
"I'm not just a federal employee, but I'm also a resident of the District. And so on both counts, I'm really thrilled that the president is taking action to protect all of the citizens who live here, all the workers who live here," Dhillon said. "This is a crisis that's overdue. And I'm grateful to the president for prioritizing safety here in the nation's capital."
As for how the DOJ and Trump administration can bring other blue cities into line on crime and safety policies, Dhillon said, "purse strings are definitely one way to go." But being more aggressive in enforcing federal civil rights law is a necessity, too, she said.
"The DOJ has opened up investigations into what's happening in some of these sanctuary cities. And looking at the coordination, you see at times law enforcement officials and political officials in some of these cities actually warning people who are here illegally," Dhillon said. "I saw that when I was living in California, in the next-door city of Oakland, where the mayor took to the airwaves, to radio, to warn illegal aliens that there was an ICE raid coming.
"This is shocking and outrageous behavior by public officials that undermines our public trust and undermines our borders and our national safety," she added.
Oakland was mentioned by Trump on Monday as one of five additional blue cities that could be subject to federal control of the police department.
"But, you know, we send billions and billions of dollars to each of these states, particularly the blue states, the big population blue states, and we don't really enforce our federal civil rights laws when we do that," Dhillon added.
"If we were to start premising and predicating federal funding, which is something that, you know, is something that could definitely be done on some certain minimum standards of safety and respect for our borders, I think that might be a great thing. But that's, of course, a policy matter that the White House is considering," Dhillon said.
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Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.