President Donald Trump announced plans Wednesday to flood American cities — namely Chicago — with a “surge of federal law enforcement” to address ongoing violence as an extension of the Justice Department’s Operation Legend.
But what is Operation Legend? Where did it come from? And how will cities be affected?
Here’s a breakdown of we know so far about Trump’s Operation Legend.
— What is Operation Legend?
Operation Legend is a recent federal law enforcement initiative created “to fight the sudden surge of violent crime” in U.S. cities, according to the Department of Justice. Under Operation Legend, federal agents are “surged” into select cities to work with state and local law enforcement.
Attorney General William Barr launched Operation Legend in Kansas City, Missouri, on July 8, 2020. The operation is named after 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro, who was fatally shot while sleeping in a Kansas City apartment late last month.
— Where is Operation Legend currently taking place?
On July 22, President Donald Trump announced the expansion of Operation Legend to Chicago and Albuquerque, New Mexico.
No other cities have been officially announced at the moment. But on Wednesday Trump said “other cities need help, they need it badly, they should call, they should want it,” after mentioning New York and Philadelphia.
— Why did Trump expand Operation Legend to Chicago?
Trump singled out Chicago as the place in the most critical need of more resources to help drive down violence. Trump, at one point, said there’s been a “radical movement” calling for U.S. cities to abolish and defund police departments, although Mayor Lori Lightfoot has made no such plan.
The move comes a day after a mass shooting outside a South Side funeral home that injured 15 people. Police have said an ongoing gang conflict may have led to the incident. The city has experienced one its most violent years in recent memory so far in 2020, with 414 homicides through last week, compared with 275 at the same time last year official CPD statistics show. That represents a 51% increase.
— Who exactly is being sent to Chicago? What will they be doing?
According to a July 22 news release, the Department of Justice plans to send more than 100 federal investigators from the FBI, DEA and ATF to Chicago “in the coming weeks” to collaborate with local law enforcement. They would work cases involving gangs, gun crime and drug trafficking.
The DOJ also plans to involve some 100 members of the U.S. Marshals Service and at least 100 agents from the Department of Homeland Security.
On Wednesday, Barr said that Operation Legend “is a different kind of operation, obviously, than the tactical teams we use to defend against riots and mob violence.” Chicago leaders have raised concern the incoming surge could look like the group that has been seen operating against protesters in Portland, Oregon, but officials on Wednesday said that is not going to be the case.
The Bureau of Justice Assistance will earmark $3.5 million to reimburse the Chicago Police Department and city of Chicago for the work of local law enforcement on Operation Legend. The federal government has also made $9.375 million available to the Chicago Police Department to fund the hiring of 75 officers.
The FBI has also recently offered monetary rewards for information on individuals responsible for recent homicides in Operation Legend cities, including that of 14-year-old Vernado Jones, Jr. who was shot in Chicago on July 4.
— How do those numbers compare to Operation Legend federal surges in Kansas City and Albuquerque?
The DOJ plans to send more than 25 federal investigators from the FBI, DEA and ATF as well as up to 10 HSI agents to Albuquerque to work closely with “preexisting task forces” directed at combating violent crimes.
The DOJ has made more than $10.97 million available for Albuquerque to hire more deputies and cops and more than $1.4 million available to reimburse the Albuquerque Police Department and city of Albuquerque for the work of local law enforcement on Operation Legend.
In Kansas City, an additional 225 federal agents from the FBI, DEA, Marshals service and ATF joined 400 agents already in the metro area with a focus on unsolved shooting cases.
— How has Operation Legend been going in Kansas City?
The first federal arrest made under Operation Legend was announced on July 20 in Kansas City. Monty W. Ray, 20, was charged with “being an unlawful drug user in possession of firearms,” according to the Western District of Missouri U.S. attorney’s office.
The arrest fueled some local debate as it was not related to a shooting — the stated emphasis of Operation Legend’s Kansas City federal surge.
The Kansas City Star reported that Barr’s claim on Wednesday that 200 arrests had been made within the first two weeks of Operation Legend in Kansas City is “not even close to being true.” According to a senior Justice Department official, the 200 figure would have to include arrests dating back to 2019 between both state and FBI operations.
— Has the federal government done something like Operation Legend before?
During Wednesday’s remarks, Barr said that “the federal government didn’t play much of a role” in violent crime until 1992, the beginning of the era of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, the largest crime bill in U.S. history.
The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act is known for its “tough on crime” language and has become recently controversial due to the fact that former Vice President Joe Biden helped write it.
In response to rising crime rates midway through the Trump administration, Barr announced an operation in late 2019 called “Relentless Pursuit” meant to “surge federal law enforcement resources into seven of America’s most violent cities,” including Albuquerque, Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City, Memphis and Milwaukee. Chicago was not on the initial Relentless Pursuit list.
Relentless Pursuit was abandoned due to COVID-19. But Barr claimed that the “attack on the police forces” following the police killing of George Floyd, which Barr referred to as “that terrible event in Minneapolis,” directly resulted in an increase in violent crime significant enough to warrant the institution of Operation Legend.
