Washington, Oct 1: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned that the United States is facing an “invasion from within,” likening rising crime and unrest in major American cities to the threat posed by a foreign enemy.
Addressing top military officials at the Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, Trump said such threats are “more difficult to counter” because “they don’t wear uniforms.”
“We’re under invasion from within. No different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways because they don’t wear uniforms,” Trump said, according to CNN.
The President suggested that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth consider using crime-hit urban areas as training grounds for US forces. “In our inner cities, which we’re going to be talking about because it’s a big part of war now. I told Pete we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military, National Guard. Because we’re going into Chicago very soon,” he added.
Trump named San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles as “unsafe” cities his administration plans to “straighten out one-by-one.”
He stressed that tackling urban crime is not only a law enforcement priority but also a matter of national security. “It’s a war too. It’s a war from within,” Trump said.
Earlier, Trump had praised the decline in crime in Washington, DC, attributing the improvement to what he called his administration’s “good governance.” He also confirmed that plans are underway to deploy the National Guard in Chicago as part of his anti-crime and immigration crackdown.