GOP Senator Says He Opposes Any Trump Crackdown in His State: ‘It’ll Be a Problem for Me’

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) was blunt when asked about the possibility that President Donald Trump might send federal troops into Charlotte, North Carolina in the wake of a brutal murder on one of the city’s light rail trains, saying that it would be a “problem” for him.

The Trump administration has controversially deployed federal agents in several U.S. cities, including Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and Chicago, claiming it was necessary to fight crime. Local and state officials have publicly denounced the federal crackdown, but thus far the elected representatives from these areas speaking out in opposition have been mostly Democrats like D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.

Charlotte has been in the headlines after Iryna Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee, was stabbed to death on a train, the shocking and seemingly random crime captured by the train’s security cameras. The man arrested for her murder, 34-year-old Decarlos Brown Jr., had a long criminal history, including violent crimes like robbery with a deadly weapon, and a diagnosis of schizophrenia, according to police.

Trump has cited Zarutska’s murder as an example of “Democrat-run cities that set loose savage, bloodthirsty criminals to prey on innocent people,” and called for a “vicious” law and order response. Other Republican politicians and conservative media outlets have also pointed to this incident to argue in support of the president’s agenda, including further federal deployments in U.S. cities.

Tillis, who has represented North Carolina in the U.S. Senate for a decade after serving in the state legislature, was asked about the possibility the Trump administration might crack down on Charlotte by NOTUS reporter Helen Huiskes, and was unequivocally opposed to the idea.

“We do have challenges, but there are far more major metropolitan areas that we could focus our attention before you go to Charlotte,” said Tillis. “I hope that people don’t amplify this into something.”

“I haven’t seen any evidence,” Tillis added, that the Trump administration was “going to focus on Charlotte” next, but “if they do, it’ll be a problem for me.”

Violent crime is down 25% in Charlotte as of the city’s statistics through July, NOTUS reported, but the prior year reported one of the city’s highest ever numbers of homicides, and the city ranks about 12th out of a list of 30 major U.S. cities for overall violent crime rate, according to a recent Newsweek analysis of FBI crime data.