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A local Chicago resident blasted Democrat leaders in the city as President Donald Trump considers federal intervention to clean up rampant crime that has plagued the windy city.
Sam Sanchez, owner of the local restaurant and late-night club Moe’s Cantina, Third Coast Hospitality Group, and a member of the Illinois Restaurant Association, told Fox he has “been a Democrat for so many years,” and that “this is not what Chicago used to be.”
“The city is not safe,” Sanchez told Fox News Digital in an interview. “For the mayor and the governor to go on TV and use us as statistics, as numbers, I mean, we’re human beings, we’re talking about real time.”
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“What’s happening right now, real time, the mom who lost a five-year-old child doesn’t care how many murders were done ten years ago, what we care about right now,” Sanchez added.
Last weekend, Chicago saw its unfortunate routine crime cycle, leaving six dead and nearly 30 injured as a result of violence, including a 5-year-old child who was shot in the head.
President Trump indicated he was considering the same type of federal intervention he recently deployed in Washington, D.C., to the city of Chicago at a press conference last Friday, saying the city could be “our next one after [D.C.], and it won’t even be tough.”
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Democratic Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker slammed the president at a presser outside Trump Tower on Tuesday, telling reporters that “what President Trump is doing is unprecedented and unwarranted. It is illegal. It is unconstitutional. It is un-American.”
Sanchez blamed the consistent crime on weak prosecution, telling Fox that the Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity‑Today (SAFE-T) Act signed into law by Pritzker in 2021 has kept dangerous criminals on the streets.
The law allows judges to decide pretrial release based on risk rather than a criminally charged individual’s ability to pay cash bail. It also places limitations on the use of police force and bans chokeholds by officers.
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The SAFE-T Act also enables incarcerated criminals to reduce their sentence by participating in various programs, drug treatment, or for exhibiting good behavior.
“The request for detention to keep [criminals incarcerated], they keep ignoring it, they’re released, so, we’re headed in the wrong direction, and we’ve been heading in the wrong direction for years,” Sanchez told Fox. “It does have to be curved.”
“If they cannot amend the SAFE-T Act, then it should be removed from the books,” Sanchez added.
The White House released a lengthy fact sheet detailing Chicago crimes committed as well as testimony from residents on Monday as President Trump weighs whether to intervene in the city, despite criticism from Democrats and Illinois leaders.
“We’re tired of the crime,” Sanchez explained. “We want law and order.”
“If President Trump could help us prosecute these violent repeat offenders, any gun crime should be prosecuted by the federal government.”
Preston Mizell is a writer with Fox News Digital covering breaking news. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on X @MizellPreston
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