Months after taking to Twitter to say he would send in "the Feds" to help reduce Chicago's murder rate, President Trump's administration has sent in agents to combat the ongoing violence.
The Chicago Sun-Times first reported that about 20
additional agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives have been sent to the city.
Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions confirmed
Friday that the federal government is sending help, while decrying the
crime epidemic on the city's streets.
"Crime and killings in Chicago have reached such
epidemic proportions that I am sending in Federal help. 1714 shootings
in Chicago this year!" Trump tweeted.
Sessions also told "Fox & Friends" that his department is assisting.
“We’ll have an impact in reducing shootings in
Chicago,” he said, while saying police there are “demoralized” and city
policies are not working.
“Murders are way, way too high,” he said.
Sessions subsequently released a written statement
saying the administration has created the Chicago Gun Strike Force and
is sending “20 more permanent ATF agents to Chicago, reallocating
federal prosecutors and prioritizing prosecutions to reduce gun
violence” and working with law enforcement partners.
“The Trump Administration will not let the bloodshed go on; we cannot accept these levels of violence,” he said.
Shortly after his inauguration, Trump tweeted "If
Chicago doesn't fix the horrible "carnage" going on, 228 shootings in
2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!"
HOW COULD TRUMP 'SEND IN THE FEDS' TO CHICAGO?
The new set of agents will work with counterparts
from the Chicago Police Department and Illinois State Police on a strike
force to solve shootings and arrest gun traffickers, according to the
Sun-Times.
Included in the strike force are prosecutors from the
U.S. attorney's office and Cook County state's attorney's office, the
Sun-Times reports, who will decided whether suspects in gun crime should
be charged in state of federal court
“The goal is the prosecute as many of these guys as
possible federally where they will serve longer prison terms,” Anthony
Riccio, head of the Chicago Police Department’s organized crime unit,
told the newspaper.
Trump has previously voiced concern about violence in
Chicago. Earlier in January, he posted, “If Mayor can’t do it he must
ask for Federal help!”
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Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel
This is the same dimocrat that has been giving the POTUS trouble since he became president.
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