Donald Trump Declares War on Gangs, Defends Law Enforcement

President Donald Trump points to the crowd after speaking to law enforcement officials on
Evan Vucci/Associated Press

President Donald Trump delivered a tough message to MS-13 and other gangs during a speech to law enforcement officials in Brentwood, New York, Friday.

Trump referred to the gang members as “animals” who spread fear and death throughout America’s cities and towns.

“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,” he promised.

Trump also vowed to defend law enforcement and stop criminal illegal aliens from crossing the border.

“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,” he said.

Trump criticized some city mayors who were trying to prevent deportations or setting up their communities as “sanctuary cities.”

“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 who doesn’t know what’s going on,” Trump said, as the police officers in the room applauded and cheered.

He also touted his decision to reverse former President Barack Obama’s effort to stop military equipment from going to law enforcement officials across America.

“I’ll tell you what: it’s being put to good use,” he said.

The president blamed past political weakness for the failure to enforce the border and the country’s immigration laws.

“Failure to enforce our immigration laws had predictable results,” he said: “drugs, gangs, and violence — but that’s all changing now under the Trump administration,” he added.

Trump also repeated his promise to build a wall to stop drugs from coming across the border.

“We’ll build a good wall. We’re going to build a real wall,” Trump said. “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.”

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