Report: Trump to Send Federal Agents to Chicago, Albuquerque

President Donald Trump will send federal law enforcement agents to Chicago and Albuquerque as violent crime continue to plague the Democrat-controlled cities, according to a Wednesday report.

McClatchy reports:

The expansion of Operation LeGend, a Justice Department operation that includes agents from the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, comes without the express invitation of local mayors, some of whom are threatening to fight the surge of federal forces in the courts.

[…]

The federal law enforcement agents sent to Kansas City and other cities under Operation LeGend are from the Department of Justice. Tim Garrison, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri, assured Kansas Citians earlier this week they would not be engaging in the same activities as the DHS agents in Portland.

McClatchy‘s report comes after Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) said Tuesday evening that she will not allow “Donald Trump’s troops to come to Chicago and terrorize our residents.”

Under no circumstances will I allow Donald Trump’s troops to come to Chicago and terrorize our residents.

— Mayor Lori Lightfoot (@chicagosmayor) July 21, 2020

Earlier Tuesday, Lightfoot said that she expects the Trump administration to send federal agents to help the city combat crime, but would operate in a different capacity than law enforcement officers in the riot-plagued Portland.

“What I understand at this point, and I caveat that, is that the Trump administration is not going to foolishly deploy unnamed agents to the streets of Chicago,” the mayor told reporters at a press conference. “We have information that allows us to say, at least at this point, that we don’t see a Portland-style deployment coming to Chicago.”

“Unlike what happened in Portland, what we will receive is resources that are going to plug in to the existing federal agencies that we work with on a regular basis to help manage and suppress violent crime,” she added. “I’ve been very clear that we welcome actual partnership, but we do not welcome dictatorship.”

This week, Lightfoot joined Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler (D) and other mayors in demanding the federal government remove its law enforcement agents from their cities.