PRESIDENT Donald Trump will deploy federal agents to Chicago to crack down on violent crime as part of his expanded “Operation Legend” initiative.
Trump claimed on Wednesday that the “bloodshed” in crime-ridden cities like Chicago “left him no choice” but to deploy federal agents to help.
“Today I’m announcing a surge of federal law enforcement to American communities plagued by violent crime,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
“We’ll work every single day to restore public safety and protect our nation’s children and bring violent perpetrators to justice.”
“This bloodshed must end, this bloodshed will end,” Trump added.
The president also said that he’ll soon send federal law enforcement to other cities that are “too proud” or “too political” to ask for the help they want.
The recent movement to defund local police forces has led to a “shocking explosion of shootings, killings murders, and heinous crimes of violence”, Trump said.
He railed against the “extreme politicians” who have “relentlessly vilified” cops and who supported the Defund Police movement, which he described as an “anti-police crusade.”
Operation Legend involves sending federal law enforcement agents to help local police combat what the Department of Justice has described as a “surge” of violent crime.
Albequerque, New Mexico and Kansas City, Kansas will also be part of the initial rollout of the program’s expansion, US Attorney General William Barr said on Wednesday.
The program’s expansion is not related to the paramilitary-style response of Homeland Security agents to control civil unrest in Oregon, Barr added.
The “Operation Legend” program involves officials from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
The president has enforced a “law and order” policing approach in response to national protests spurred by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
He has repeatedly threatened to “straighten things out” in Democratic-led cities like Portland, which has seen 55 days of nightly protests and sometimes violent clashes between police and Black Lives Matter protesters.
“They are like war zones,” Trump said.
“And if the cities are not going to straighten out, or local politicians … they’re all Democrats.”
“It’s not a very tough job to do, if they knew what they were doing,” he added
