By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com
Marking the 47th president’s first 100 days in office, Mayor Brandon M. Scott (D) recently joined other Democratic mayors to discuss how the president’s agenda has impacted cities like Baltimore and how mayors are persevering.
Commenting on the president’s actions, Scott said on April 28 that “residents here in Baltimore and across the country are feeling the pain and anxiety.” of decisions made by the president.
The president signed around 140 executive orders in his first 100 days, compared to 162 by former President Biden over four years. Through those orders, the 47th president rolled back federal equity, diversity and inclusion efforts, ramped up deportations of undocumented immigrants and began shutting down the Department of Education and other agencies.
“Our number one priority is our residents,” said Scott. “We’re going to keep fighting on their behalf and working to build better, healthier cities where all of our residents feel safe. It means that we don’t cave to the pressure to eliminate DEI programs or ban Black history from being taught at our schools.”
The virtual call also included Cleveland Mayor Justin M. Bibb, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego and Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell.
“Democratic mayors are stepping up,” said Bibb. “We are delivering and we’re making real change, despite the uncertainty coming out of Washington, D.C.”
Scott pointed out that the uncertainty of the administration’s next move makes local budgeting difficult.
“We can’t govern with uncertainty,” said Scott. “We’re all trying to pass budgets, but they might come with cuts we don’t know about in the next week or two.”
While Democratic mayors focused on the administration’s negative impacts on the local level, White House officials are praising what has happened to the American people in the past few months as a “success.”
“President Trump has already delivered on hundreds of promises he made to the American people,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on April 28.
Leavitt highlighted the administration’s actions regarding immigration and said “the president has also restarted construction of his signature advanced border wall.”
“More than 85 miles of new border barrier are already in various stages of construction and planning. Border Patrol–in collaboration with the Department of Defense and the great state of Texas–has deployed 75 additional miles of temporary barriers,” said Leavitt.
According to Homeland Security, daily border encounters are down by 93 percent and encounters with gotaways are down by 95 percent.
The president held a rally in Michigan on April 29 to mark his first 100 days in office.
“It’s been a tough 100 days, but we’re going to keep finding ways to deliver and find solutions at the local level,” said Mayor Gallego. “We just wish we’d have at least certainty, so often, the people we’re working with in the federal government on projects are there one day and then fired the next. One thing we can count on is for mayors to step up, and I’m lucky to have great partners across the country.”