WASHINGTON, D.C. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that Cleveland is among the cities that will see a surge of federal law enforcement agents in the coming weeks that he said aim to restore safety and peace in U.S. cities.

Trump announced during an event at The White House the expansion of a program, Operation LeGend, to support high crime communities to the greatest extent possible.

The administration intends to send agents to several cities, including personnel from the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Department of Homeland Security. Neither the president nor the other participants specifically mentioned Cleveland during the event, though The White House did in an email and in a summary of events on its website.

A source familiar with planning for the initiative in Cleveland said it dovetails with Operation Relentless Pursuit, which U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman announced in December during a news conference flanked with local and federal law enforcement.

The source differentiated the surge from the agents recently sent to Portland, which raised the alarm of civil rights advocates who said the agents did not identify themselves on their uniforms and detained people without cause before later releasing them without charges.

In Cleveland, were talking about traditional crime fighting, the source said, adding that its not guys in body armor dealing with protesters.

Cleveland officials contacted Wednesday said they were not aware of the anticipated surge.

Trump said the Justice Department-led new program was named in honor of LeGend Taliferro, a 4-year-old boy from Kansas City who was killed in his bed when a gunman opened fire in his apartment complex. Officials launched the initiative there.

The Justice Department will first send more agents to Chicago and Albuquerque. Federal officials plan to send more agents to Cleveland, along with Detroit and Milwaukee, within the next three weeks, according to The White Houses website.

The White House said the program would provide more than $61 million in Justice Department money to help local police departments hire more officers and will permanently reassign roughly 200 agents and deputy marshals to the cities it covers.

This is a different kind of operation, obviously, than the tactical teams we use to defend against riots and mob violence. , U.S. Attorney General William Barr said during the event. And were going to continue to confront mob violence, but the operations were discussing today are very different. They are classic crime fighting.

The presidents announcement comes amidst his campaign for re-election with polls showing him trailing Democratic candidate Joe Biden. Federal law enforcement under Trump has frequently and often misleadingly touted higher crime rates in many major cities in the U.S. that are led by Democratic mayors, in an effort to portray them as lawless war zones.

Cleveland, which has seen higher-than-average homicide rates in recent years, has interestingly not been the target of Trumps public ire like Chicago and other cities, though the Justice Department has devoted resources to combating violent and drug crime in the region. It also remains involved in a court-enforced effort to reform the Cleveland police department.

This rampage of violence shocks the conscience of our nation, and we will not stand by and watch it happen. Cant do that, Trump said Wednesday. The citizens of Chicago are citizens of America, and they have the same right as every other American to live in safety, dignity, and peace. No mother should ever have to cradle her dead child in her arms simply because politicians refuse to do what is necessary to secure their neighborhood and to secure their city.

The source familiar with Clevelands plans said the new surge will temporarily fill the number of positions called for under Operation Relentless Pursuit, the initiative Herdman and others previously announced. The latter includes the addition of more people from several agencies including the FBI, DEA, ATF and the marshals to address violent crimes in seven cities, including Cleveland. It also involves having more local police officers serve on federal task forces and offering grants for participating cities to hire additional cops.

While the goal of Operation Relentless Pursuit is to permanently place more federal law enforcement in certain areas, that was not fully completed because of the coronavirus pandemic, the source explained. Thats where Operation LeGend comes in, and the surge of additional agents will address the gaps in the short term for the positions the Justice Department has not filled, the source explained.

Still, without a formal announcement about Cleveland, some local officials appeared taken aback.

Mayor Frank Jacksons administration said in a statement that it has not been made aware of any additional federal law enforcement resources coming to the city.

The Cleveland Division of Police has in the past and will continue to partner with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to combat violent crime in our neighborhoods, the statement continues. In (December), the Division of Police announced the Relentless Pursuit initiative, which is designed to combat violent crimes in our neighborhoods with our federal, state and local partners.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael OMalley also said he wasnt aware of Clevelands involvement in the new federal initiative.

Cleveland Police Patrolmens Association President Jeff Follmer, who represents the rank-and-file officers, said that we werent expecting this.

We have to process the idea of federal agents being sent to Cleveland, he added.

U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge, a Warrensville Heights Democrat, blasted the plan.

The deployment of militarized agents to Cleveland and cities across the country is unconstitutional and reminds us of the actions of dictators and despots of old, Fudge said in a statement. It disregards the right of our cities and states to govern and protect their residents.The President is not trying to protect Americans.Instead, he is attempting to intimidate and silence those who disagree with his policies. These unlawful actions must stop!

Reporters Adam Ferrise and Robert Higgs contributed to this story.

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President Donald Trump, Justice Department say Cleveland will see surge of federal agents to combat crime - cleveland.com