In a speech before law enforcement officials in Long Island, New York on Friday, President Donald Trump celebrated his administration’s crackdown on immigration and encouraged police officers to be « rough » with those they detain—a statement that was widely seen as an explicit call for police brutality.

« Don’t be too nice, » Trump said after referencing « thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon. »

« President Trump is openly and explicitly calling for, to wild applause just moments ago, cops to commit more police brutality, » wrote Daily Beast reporter Asawin Suebsaeng. « America is once again a nation of laws, says Trump, who just told cops to beat the shit out of people they arrest. »

Others shared Suebsaeng’s reaction and denounced the president’s comments as « utterly revolting. »

https://twitter.com/ShaunKing/status/891007542851248130

https://twitter.com/calvinstowell/status/891004233797042176

The speech was intended to focus on the gang MS-13, which critics argue the Trump administration is using as a pretext to expand its mass detention and deportation agenda.

New York Civil Liberties Union executive director Donna Lieberman said in a statement ahead of the Long Island speech that Trump’s repeated invocation of MS-13 in the context of a broader conversation about the U.S. immigration system is « a cynical ploy to capitalize on recent headlines, cast aspersions on entire communities, and push his anti-immigrant agenda. »

« Trump’s vile rhetoric and cruel deportation machine mean that vulnerable immigrants must fear both gangs and the government at once, » Lieberman concluded.

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