Raymond Lopez, the Democratic alderman for Chicago’s 15th Ward on its crime-plagued south side, told the New York Post on Sunday that "probably half" of his colleagues want the National Guard to help bring order back to Chicago and reduce crime, but are too afraid to say it.
“This is a very real war that we are fighting here, and we need every tool box to win it,” Lopez said.
He said he didn't mind that President Donald Trump, a Republican, would be the one to help the city.
“If that means working with a Republican president to keep Chicagoans safe, then that is what we should be doing. We shouldn’t be playing politics with people’s lives,” he added.
Lopez's ward has seen horrific crimes over his 10-year tenure and wants to see it end.
“We have human traffickers connected with Tren de Aragua here selling women for $150 on Facebook Marketplace. I had high school students gunned down by a Venezuelan migrant on their way home from school a couple of weeks ago,” Lopez described.
“We now even have gang versus gang warfare that’s taken an international turn because of some of the migrants that are here,” he added.
If Trump decides to federalize Chicago in a similar way to his takeover of D.C., crime could drop dramatically; D.C. has seen a 45% drop in crime and shootings fall to almost zero since August.
A similar effort was undertaken in 2016, with similar results, but was abandoned after a month because of how it would look politically.
Now, there are dozens of shootings every week in the city, and many of them are right on Lopez's South Side.
“I live this everyday,” he said. “I see in real terms, in real time, the criminality that exists in our communities and its impact on my residents and on law abiding people of Chicago who just want to get by, want to be able to go to work, drop our kids off, to sit on the front porch, not becoming the victim of violent crime.”
“I haven’t lost touch with that fact, and sadly, I think many in the Democratic elite have,” he added.
“I’d say probably half the city council is in favor of it,” Lopez said, adding, “I don’t know if anyone is willing to stand up against the billionaire governor because of fear that he would dump money into their opponent’s campaigns,” he said. “But I think there is definitely quiet support between my colleagues and other individuals.”
As for the people of his ward, he thinks they “overwhelmingly” support the idea.
“They see through the gaslighting that’s going on by many of my colleagues and peers, who are just content on pushing forward the anti-Trump narrative so they can appear to be doing something for the people of Chicago,” Lopez said.
