Trump sending federal agents to more US cities to fight violent crime
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that his administration is sending a “surge” of federal agents to Chicago as part of a plan to drive down what he called “violent crime.”
“Today I am announcing a surge of federal law enforcement into American communities plagued by violent crime,” Mr Trump said in remarks from the East Room of the White House.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals Service and Department of Homeland Security will send hundreds of agents to the city, according to the administration.
Federal agents will also be deployed to Albuquerque,
New Mexico.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a Democrat, has urged the federal government not to send agents into the city. “In the end, we very much want to partner with an executive branch that respects our city, inclusive of all our resident,” Mr Lightfoot wrote in a letter to Mr Trump earlier this week. “Partnership includes respect that you have not shown our residents as of late in mocking the level of violence that challenges Chicagoans.”
Mr Trump has called for “law and order” as demonstrations raged in some cities against Police brutality and racism.