The New York Police Department is denouncing the Trump administration’s recent cuts to federal antiterrorism programs.
The Department of Homeland Security has sought to bar several states with Democratic governors from accessing millions of dollars in grants to fund antiterrorism programs because they haven’t fully acquiesced to the president’s anti-immigrant agenda. Eleven states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration on Monday for defying a judge’s order, handed down last week, that found the politicized withholding of funds to be illegal.
New York, in particular, stands to lose out on $187 million for antiterrorism programs, including key funding for the NYPD’s counterterrorism unit, funding to place federal agents in transit hubs and funding for bomb squads, according to a news release from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.
This from a Trump administration that has sought to portray New York City streets and subways as crime-infested hellscapes. (That, to be clear, is not actually the case.) Paring back the city’s counterterrorism funding on nakedly political grounds certainly seems like it’s going to do much to keep the flames of hell at bay.
Joining Hochul and a chorus of state officials, the NYPD bashed the Trump administration for withholding the counterterrorism funds in a statement to the New York Daily News:
‘The NYPD has one of the most sophisticated counterterrorism and intelligence operations in the world, and we’ve uncovered, investigated and thwarted hundreds of plots over the years to keep New York City and the entire country safe,’ the NYPD said in a statement. ‘This loss of funding is a devastating blow to our capabilities and our efforts to protect all Americans from terrorist attacks. This decision is incredibly dangerous and will leave us exposed at a moment when our threat environment needs us more than ever.’
(The Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York, the city’s largest police union — which has aligned itself with Trump and his allies over the years while criticizing politicians who’ve called for increased accountability for officers — didn’t immediately respond to MSNBC’s request for comment.)
The cuts to federal grants continue Trump’s unnerving relationship with terrorism in the United States. The president, of course, aligned himself with the insurrectionists who launched a coup attempt on his behalf in the Capitol on Jan. 6. And when it comes to New York specifically, he’s the guy who boasted about having the tallest building in Manhattan on the afternoon of Sept. 11, 2001, before the dust had settled.
Trump’s approach to the plague of terrorism doesn’t suggest that he approaches the issue with the seriousness it requires — in his hands, it’s merely another tool to be used against his own political enemies. And now that his administration has put New York and other cities at risk by withholding millions in counterterrorism funds, officials are sounding the alarm about the protections Americans stand to lose.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
