Dem Rep. Walkinshaw on Guard Shooting: We're Focusing on Mass Deportations to Detriment of Public Safety

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA) stated that if the National Guard is going to be in American cities, the administration needs to have a plan to ensure they’re safe “And one of my concerns that I intend to raise as a new member of the Homeland Security Committee is the way in which the Trump administration has taken its eye off the ball in a lot of critical public safety areas and shifted resources to their mass deportation efforts.”

Host Erica Hill asked, “You were just appointed to the House Committee on Homeland Security, I believe it was six days ago. How does this change things for you, in terms of keeping servicemembers safe?

Walkinshaw answered, “Well, look, obviously, as I said, most of us, certainly, on the Democratic side in Congress, don’t think we should have National Guardsmen and women in our cities. But if that’s going to happen and when that’s going to happen, I think it’s incumbent upon the administration to lay out a clear plan to ensure their protection. And one of my concerns that I intend to raise as a new member of the Homeland Security Committee is the way in which the Trump administration has taken its eye off the ball in a lot of critical public safety areas and shifted resources to their mass deportation efforts. So, they are shifting resources away from illegal gun trafficking, from transnational crime, from anti-terrorism, both domestic and foreign. And they need to get their eyes back on the ball and focus on keeping all of us here in the United States of America safe.”

Hill then asked Walkinshaw for his opinion on the Trump administration pushing to keep National Guard troops in D.C. and pushing to send more and Walkinshaw’s message to those soldiers.

Walkinshaw answered that he doesn’t think the Guard should be in D.C. and the federal government “could do much more to crack down on illegal gun trafficking. They could do much more to prevent human trafficking and child sex trafficking. They’re taking their eyes off of that ball. I think that’s a better use of the federal resources than National Guardsmen and women in American cities, including the District of Columbia.”

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