Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio Wednesday on Newsmax called on the federal government to release more detailed information about the drones that have been flying over his city and to have a protocol about what will be done to handle the situation.
"When I was mayor of New York City, we were the No. 1 terror target in the nation," the New York Democrat said on Newsmax's "American Agenda." "We all remember 9/11 like it was yesterday, so we have to be real about the fact that there's still plenty of forces out there — state actors and non-state actors who are trying to disrupt us."
That means the federal government should say what each of the drones are, he said.
"We've heard reports some of them might have been scheduled flights," de Blasio said. "Great. Tell us what it was. 'This one was a scheduled flight. That one was a delivery company. This one is a special operation of the government, and we're not going to go into details, but we're going to tell you the government's doing that.'"
The government must also have a protocol about what to do about the drones, he said, adding, that doesn't mean civilians should shoot them down.
"The laws don't give a clear path for addressing a drone that might be nefarious, [but if] it's just a wild, wild West, that's not good either," said de Blasio.
Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump canceled a trip to his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey over the drone sightings, and de Blasio said he hopes he wasn't suggesting there could be a threat for him.
"I think it is helpful for people to hear what the government will do if there is a threat," said de Blasio. "One of the things we did in New York City a lot is we described what we were doing to stop terror attacks … If we found a lead, all the tools we would bring to bear to make sure that that lead never turned into an actual attack. I think we have the equivalent of that here."
He added that he's "worried to death" that a U.S. adversary is trying to figure out "if we have a soft spot," so the government must "make it very clear you're not going to get away with that," he said.
De Blasio also discussed the ongoing immigrant situation in New York City, after having introduced many of the sanctuary city laws that are in place.
But even with those laws, the former mayor said that anyone who commits a serious or violent crime should be deported.
"I also believe in due process," said de Blasio. "But if there is due process and you're guilty, you need to be out of here."
As for deporting all undocumented immigrants, though, de Blasio said it would be "more honest" to say they are not going to be forced to leave.
"Our entire economy, whether we like it or not, is built upon, let's call it 12 million people who are here undocumented but are a crucial part of our workforce, including our farms, you know, our service industry," he said. "The vast majority of them, of course, do not commit crimes."
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