Mayors resisting President Donald Trump's efforts to deploy National Guard resources are putting their own residents at risk by refusing federal help amid rising crime and immigration pressures, Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, told Newsmax Wednesday.
Speaking on Newsmax's "Newsline," Van Duyne said mayors in major metropolitan areas have openly rejected assistance that she argued could stabilize neighborhoods struggling with lawlessness and strained police departments.
"They are not only fighting the Trump administration on getting additional help that they obviously need, their citizens want, but they are also sending the message that our police are bad, that our law enforcement is bad," Van Duyne said.
Her comments follow the administration's plan to place more than 500 National Guard troops in the nation's capital as part of a wider public safety push. Texas Guard units were previously deployed to Chicago at the request of federal officials before returning to the state.
Van Duyne criticized what she called radical city leadership for discouraging cooperation with federal agencies.
"They are sending the message to attack and film ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agents who are just doing their job and protecting our laws, protecting our country, and protecting our citizens," she said.
The congresswoman also backed Trump's call for a temporary pause on immigration from what he described as Third World countries, arguing that communities are already strained from what she called an influx of illegal alien arrivals during the Biden administration.
"There's ramifications to letting in 20 million people illegally that haven't been vetted in our country," Van Duyne said.
"When we see crime rising and we see potential terrorist attacks, none of those things should be happening."
Van Duyne said she plans to work with the administration on immigration measures aimed at vetting migrants, deporting criminal offenders, and restoring enforcement standards she said were disregarded in recent years.
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