Trump expanding Justice Department’s Operation Legend to Chicago, Albuquerque
President Donald Trump will expand a federal law enforcement operation currently under way in Kansas City to Chicago and Albuquerque on Wednesday, multiple sources told McClatchy, despite resistance from local government officials questioning his motives and authority.
The president warned in recent days that he would use federal agents to assist cities facing spiking crime rates and to protect federal buildings, and suggested on Monday that he would expand the operation into major urban centers that are exclusively led by Democrats.
“We’re not going to let New York and Chicago and Philadelphia and Detroit and Baltimore and all of these — Oakland is a mess. We’re not going to let this happen in our country. All run by liberal Democrats,” Trump told reporters.
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.
Both Chicago and Albuquerque are run by Democratic mayors, in states with Democratic governors.
Chicago’s mayor, Lori Lightfoot, pushed back against the possibility of a federal law enforcement operation in her city before it was announced. “Under no circumstances will I allow Donald Trump’s troops to come to Chicago and terrorize our residents,” she wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.
Similarly, in a statement on Tuesday amid rumors the operation would expand, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said there was “no place” for Trump-ordered forces in his city.
“If this was more than a stunt, these politicians would support constitutional crime fighting efforts that work for our community, not turning Albuquerque into a federal police state,” Keller said.
Both Lightfoot and Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas were signatories of a letter this week condemning the tactics used by Department of Homeland Security personnel against protesters Portland.
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.
However, the first arrest in Operation Legend caused concern among local activists because it had no connection to the case that prompted the federal initiative.
On Friday, an agent with the U.S. Marshals Service and an Independence police officer arrested a man found with firearms in a car that allegedly ran over an officer’s foot earlier this summer. Monty W. Ray, 20, of Kansas City, was charged Monday in federal court with being an unlawful drug user in possession of firearms, according to a criminal complaint.
The operation that began in Missouri is named after LeGend Taliferro, a four-year-old boy who was fatally shot while sleeping in a Kansas City apartment. Members of his family will be at the White House for the event this afternoon where Trump plans to expand the operation, multiple sources said.
A White House official confirmed that the president would “provide an update” on the growing operation at the Wednesday afternoon event.
“When President Trump learned four-year-old LeGend Taliferro was among the 100 homicide victims in Kansas City this year, he immediately took decisive action,” said Judd Deere, White House deputy press secretary. “President Trump remains committed to expanding Operation Legend and utilizing any federal resources necessary to end the recent surge of senseless violence occurring in cities across the country.”
Several U.S. cities have experienced spikes in violent crime this summer, aggravated by high unemployment rates due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The president is “very discouraged by the violence that he’s seen in Chicago,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters on Tuesday at a press briefing. “He’s offered his help, and we encourage the mayor to take it and to be forthright about the situation in her state, much like the governor of Missouri was in working with us on Operation Legend to protect the people of Missouri.”
Garrison said last week that agents from the FBI, DEA, Marshals Service and ATF joined with 400 agents already working and living in the metro area. The federal agents will assist local law enforcement with new and unsolved shooting cases with the goal of increasing the clearance rates of unsolved crimes, including LeGend’s killing.
No exact timeline has been disclosed for the operation, Garrison said, because of operational security.
“Our goal is to identify the most prolific violent offenders and to take them out of circulation so they can’t harm anyone else,” Garrison said last week.
Kansas City is on pace for its deadliest year on record.
The most recent killing was on July 20 when a woman pushing a baby in a stroller was shot and killed. The city now stands at 110 homicides. By this time in 2019, 80 people were killed, according to data kept by The Star.
Across the metro, 160 people have been killed. Most of the deaths have been shootings.
The Kansas City Star’s Cortlynn Stark reported from Kansas City.
This story was originally published July 22, 2020 at 11:41 AM with the headline "Trump expanding Justice Department’s Operation Legend to Chicago, Albuquerque."
