Trump’s Operation Legend To Send 200 Federal Agents To Chicago To Fight Violent Crime

President Trump on Wednesday released details about the violent crime project Operation Legend, revealing he would send 200 federal agents to Chicago as the city reports one of the highest crime rates in the country.

Under the $61 million program, federal agents will work with local law enforcement to protect the communities from violent crime, which Trump said had increased by 50% in Chicago over last year.

Operation Legend, which rolled out in Kansas City, Missouri, will also be deployed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the coming days. In Kansas City, a total of 200 arrests have been made under the program, which was named after a 4-year-old boy named Legend who was shot while he was asleep.

Trump said Operation Legend is part of an effort to “help drive down violent crime,” where federal agents will “find them, arrest them, and prosecute them.”

The federal agents will be made up of a team of FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Drug Task Force, and Department of Homeland Security agents, among others, that will integrate themselves with local law enforcement to reduce gang crime, murders, narcotics in the city of Chicago, among other U.S. cities.

A 1-800-CALL-FBI hotline number has been set under the program to allow the American public to assist in solving crimes that federal agents are working on.

The news of the program comes as protests have erupted in cities such as Portland, in which a clear distinction was made as to the federal agents’ role in these types of situations. Federal agents deployed in Portland are there to protect federal property while in Chicago, they are there to protect the public.

“Our goal is to help save lives,” Trump said.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot initially said she opposed Trump's plan to send federal agents. However, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, Lightfoot, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul have mapped a strategy to ensure the federal government keeps promises not to send ununiformed federal officers into Chicago streets but instead send them to beef up resources at the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and explosives.

Trump also cited the need for the public to hold local-elected leadership accountable as they work to make cities safe for all Americans.