President Donald Trump said Wednesday he is sending more than 200 federal agents to Chicago as part of an expanded “Operation Legend” operation, designed to bolster existing law enforcement efforts. The Justice Department operation, launched earlier this month to combat a “sudden surge of violent crime,” has been billed as a “sustained, systematic and coordinated law enforcement initiative.”
Operation Legend is named after 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro, who was shot and killed in his sleep early on June 29 in Kansas City, Missouri, part of a 40 percent increase in homicides there, according to the Justice Department.
Under Operation Legend, Attorney General William Barr promised to send more than 100 agents from the FBI, U.S. Marshals, DEA and ATF to help state and local law enforcement, beginning in Kansas City.
The move was met with mixed reviews there, according to the Associated Press. While some Kansas City leaders welcomed the help, others said they would have preferred community investments and improved relations with police.
Barr promised the initiative would “combine federal and local resources to combat the disturbing uptick in violence by surging federal agents and other federal assets into cities like Kansas City.”
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany hinted at a briefing Tuesday that federal agents working with Operation Legend may be sent to Chicago. Trump’s Wednesday guidance suggested he will be delivering remarks on Operation Legend, combating “violent crime in American cities.”
