Donald Trump said Wednesday he will begin to send federal agents into more U.S. cities, despite the controversy over the federal police presence in Portland, Oregon.
Joined by Attorney General Bill Barr, Homeland Security Director Chad Wolfe, FBI Director Christopher Wray and the families of some victims of gun violence, Trump announced his plan to expand “Operation Legend”, which already exists in Kansas City, M.O., to Chicago and to Albuquerque, N.M., with more cities to come later, including, possibly, New York.
Trump said he’s taking action to fulfill his duty to “protect the American people” by ordering what he called “a surge in federal law enforcement into American communities plagued by violent crime,” though some local leaders have called the move blatantly political.
“In recent weeks, there has been a radical movement to defund, dismantle and dissolve our police departments,” he said. “Extreme politicians have joined this anti-police crusade and relentlessly vilified our law enforcement heroes. For decades, politicians running many of our major cities have put the interests of criminals above the rights of law-abiding citizens. These same politicians have embraced the far left movement to break up our police departments, causing violent crimes in their cities to spiral, and I mean spiral, seriously out of control.”
Quoting crime statistics from cities across the country, including what he said was a 277% increase in violent crimes in New York City over the last year, he focused on Chicago, saying at least 414 people have been murdered there this year, and more than 1,900 have been shot.
The planned surge is an expansion of “Operation Legend”, named for LeGend Talifero, a four-year old who was shot to death while asleep in his bed in Kansas City after gunfire erupted in the building. Officers from various federal agencies were sent to the city to help combat the increase in shootings. Trump said he will immediately expand the program to Chicago.
“The FBI, ATF, DEA, US Marshals Service and Homeland Security will together be sending hundreds of skilled law enforcement to Chicago to help drive down violent crime,” he said
This surge comes despite Chicago’s mayor, Lori Lightfoot, threatening to sue if federal agents are sent to the city without her permission. She later walked that back, saying she’s been assured the agents will work “collaboratively” with Chicago police.
Trump said he plans to expand the program beyond Chicago, to Albuquerque, N.M. and beyond.
“Other cities need help. They need it badly,” he said. “They should call, they should want it. They’re too proud or too political to do that.”
More than personnel, the program will also provide $61 billion in grants for cities to hire more police officers, and other funding for cities that become part of the program.
“We will never defund the police,” he said. “We will hire more great police. We want to make law enforcement stronger, not weaker.”
Trump went on to claim that cities seeing spikes in crime “have also declared themselves sanctuaries for criminal illegal aliens,” claiming police in Chicago are forced to release undocumented immigrants charged with violent crimes onto the streets. There is no evidence to support that, and several studies have previously concluded that sanctuary city policies do not have higher crime rates, and other studies have concluded that undocumented immigrants are less likely to be involved in violent crimes.
Attorney General Bill Barr explained that the purpose of Operation Legend is to “step up the activity of our task forces, anti-crime task forces, in our cities by committing more federal agents, and supporting more state and local task force officers.”
“They are the standard, anti-crime fighting activities we have been carrying out around the country for decades,” he said. “These are street agents. They are investigators who will be working to solve murders and to take down the violent gangs and will be working shoulder to shoulder with our state and local colleagues.”
Barr said this is a different operation from the one in Portland, where agents with no identification have been seen taking protestors off the streets and throwing them into unmarked vans, or firing tear gas and rubber bullets into crowds of demonstrators.
“This is a different operation than the tactical teams used to defend against riots and mob violence,” he said. “And we’re gonna continue to confront mob violence.”
Right now, there are 200 additional federal agents in Kansas City. Barr said a comparable number will be sent to Chicago, and an additional 35 agents will be sent to Albuquerque.
Trump said he is proud to stand with the “heroes” of law enforcement, but made no mention of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor or others killed by police, the cause for the demonstrations.
There was also no mention of whether or when additional agents might be sent to New York, though Attorney General Letitia James has already said she will file a lawsuit to prevent a step-up in federal law enforcement in the state.