Trump Sending Federal Agents To Chicago, Albuquerque

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump has announced a plan to send hundreds of federal law enforcement officers to Chicago as a way to combat violent crime in the nation's third most populous city. "Operation Legend," which began earlier this month when 200 officers were sent by the president to Kansas City, continues with the president's Wednesday afternoon announcement. Thirty-five federal agents will also be sent to Albuquerque, New Mexico as part of the same effort, the president said.

Trump said the United States Department of Justice will "immediately" send the surge of American forces to Chicago. Officers with the FBI, ATF, DEA, U.S. Marshals Service and Department of Homeland Security will be among them as a way to "drive down violent crime" in the city.

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The president said "perhaps no city" has suffered from violent crime more than Chicago, citing statistics that show more than 400 fatal shooting reported in the city so far in 2020 and specifically mentioned a report of 15 people who were shot outside a funeral home a day earlier.

"This bloodshed must end. This bloodshed will end," he said. "This rampage of violence shocks the conscience of our nation, and we will not stand by and watch it."

The president blasted politicians in some cities and what he called their "extreme movement to break up our police departments," pledging to provide up to $61 million in grants for cities to hire more police officers.

"We will never defund the police, we will hire more great police," he said. "We want to make law enforcement stronger, not weaker."