Emanuel Questions If Trump 'Cares Enough' About Ending Chicago's Violence After Speech​​

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In his first-ever address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, President Donald Trump once again illustrated the coutry's "cycle of violence" by pointing to Chicago's murder rate and rash of shootings.

"The [U.S.] murder rate in 2015 experienced its largest single-year increase in nearly half a century," he said. "In Chicago, more than 4,000 people were shot last year alone — and the murder rate so far this year has been even higher. This is not acceptable in our society.

"Every American child should be able to grow up in a safe community, to attend a great school and to have access to a high-paying job," he added.

RELATED: Watch Replay of President Trump's Address to Congress

And once again, Mayor Rahm Emanuel responded to the president by challenging him to actually help the city reduce crime and gun violence instead of simply criticizing how civic leaders are handling it:

"We are clear-eyed about the public safety challenges we’re facing: while many of our neighborhoods have not seen a single murder this year, gun violence is plaguing neighborhoods on our South and West Sides. We’re just as clear about our commitment to end this violence and allow everyone who calls Chicago home to enjoy the benefits and opportunities our great city has to offer.

"We have repeatedly made specific requests of the administration for greater law enforcement integration and resources; a higher priority placed on federal gun prosecutions; and funds restored toward mentoring and after-school and summer jobs programs that have proven to be positive alternatives for our young people.

"Because this is so important, I’ll always be ready with this list whenever the President asks. The better question, I’d suggest, is whether the President cares enough about violence in our city to do more than talk or tweet about it."

Over the weekend, Chicago reached its 100th murder victim this year, and so far, 2017 is outpacing 2016 in killings. As of Sunday, Feb. 26, at least 400 people had been wounded a shooting in the city.

RELATED: Chicago's 2017 Murders: Weekend Marks 100 Victims In Just Over 50 Days

The continued violence in Chicago and the continued national attention it receives has been a source of frustration Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, who let that irritation boil over at a recent press conference. On Friday, Feb. 24, Chicago's top cop gave an empassioned defense of his department, and like Emanuel, he objected to Trump's constant bashing that lacked any federal follow through:

"Listen, we haven't been sitting around for months and years just waiting on someone to help us. We work every day as hard as we can to reduce the gun violence in this city. … [E]veryone is not just sitting on their hands waiting for somebody to come help us.

"Now what I want to say is this: We have said what we need from the federal government, and we embrace that. We will take more federal agents, more funding for mentorship programs, educational opportunities, housing programs. … We need all of those things. This violence problem isn't a one-point fix. It's a multi-layered onion that we have to just keep peeling back until we get to the root of it.

"But at some point you have to stop talking, and you have to to do action. And that's what we're doing. So we're not waiting. We will embrace the help when we get it. The crime in Chicago won't wait for anhyone else to come and help us, so we're doing what we can now to try and resolve this issue."

Emanuel wasn't the only Illinois elected official to take Trump to task over how he proposed keeping citizens safe. In her response to the address, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) accused the president of having a "deeply flawed understanding of the causes of gun violence in Chicago and across the country."

As part of his solution to curb violence in the country, Trump urged people to "work with — not against — the men and women of law enforcement" during his speech.

RELATED: 7 Things To Know About President Trump's Speech To Congress

"We must build bridges of cooperation and trust — not drive the wedge of disunity and division," he said. "Police and sheriffs are members of our community. They are friends and neighbors, they are mothers and fathers, sons and daughters — and they leave behind loved ones every day who worry whether or not they'll come home safe and sound.

"We must support the incredible men and women of law enforcement," he added.

Trump also said more support needed to be given to crime victims, but in his address, he only focused on "victims of immigration crime," individuals that he claimed "have been ignored by our media and silenced by special interests." The president said he ordered the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to create Victims Of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE), an office designed to help people he called "American victims."

President Donald Trump (photo via The White House)

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