On Wednesday, former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew McCarthy explained it’s Trump’s constitutional duty to enforce federal law following weeks of violent protests. “‘[H]e shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.’ . . . The Constitution says the president shall perform this obligation. We’re not talking about an option or something he may do or not do as he sees fit. It is a solemn duty. It is what being the chief executive is all about,” McCarthy wrote for Fox News.

Watch President Trump announce the surge of federal law enforcement into American communities:

We hear plenty of bloviating from the leftist-media complex, as well as Democratic candidates, dutifully masquerading the rioting in Portland as “mostly peaceful protest.” FALSE. And there is no shortage of faux outrage over President Trump’s purported trampling on state sovereignty by dispatching federal agents to address the mayhem, according to Fox News.

But we don’t hear much about the Constitution … including from politicians, such as Senator Rand Paul, R., Ky., who are wont to pose as constitutionalists. The provision quoted at the top of McCarthy’s op-ed is from Article II, Section 3. It imposes on the president of the United States the duty to execute federal law, confirming it is President Trump’s constitutional duty.

McCarthy added: “The president has two principal, closely related responsibilities: to provide for national security and to see that the laws are enforced. The latter duty very much includes the protection of federal property and the execution of laws Congress has constitutionally enacted to address violent crime.”

As a matter of law and history, the commander-in-chief has such authority; there are, however, certain circumstances in which the Constitution calls for waiting until the state government has asked for federal military assistance. Enforcing federal law is an independent obligation of the chief executive. Consequently, the president and the Justice Department never have to wait for a state to ask for federal intervention.

Federal law enforcement agencies may and routinely do take investigative and enforcement action within the territorial jurisdiction of the states.

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And consider for a moment the concept of a “sanctuary city.” That is a municipality that obstructs the federal government’s enforcement of the immigration laws. The concept would make no sense if the feds needed the state’s permission – the state would simply refrain from asking the immigration authorities to conduct arrests and deportations.

Cities purport to become “sanctuaries” only because the local authorities realize that the federal government has an independent obligation to enforce federal law; they can’t prevent the feds from coming in, so they try to impede federal action.

Federal officers in Portland are not a military force. They are deputized law enforcement agents of the Department of Homeland Security and other federal police agencies.

Nonetheless, the leftist media and Democrats who would have us turn a blind eye to violent crime under the guise of honoring free expression, the Trump administration has the constitutional duty to uphold federal law.

In Portland, federal agents are faithfully executing our nation’s laws.

Read McCarthy’s entire op-ed HERE.

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