The Trump administration is surging federal law-enforcement agents into Kansas City, Missouri, to fight a wave of violent crime, the White House said Wednesday.
Attorney General William Barr is launching the operation within the next 10 days with FBI agents, U.S. marshals, Drug Enforcement Administration agents and officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to help suppress what the White House called a “tragic” rise in violence.
The action will be called “Operation LeGend,” named for 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro, who was shot and killed by a stray bullet as he slept in his Kansas City home late last month.
Mr. Barr said the operation is aimed at a city “experiencing its worst homicide rate in its history.”
“LeGend’s death is a horrifying reminder that violent crime left unchecked is a threat to us all and cannot be allowed to continue,” he said.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said as of Tuesday, Kansas City had reached 100 homicides, a 40% increase from last year. She said the operation is in “direct response” to requests from the mayor and governor of Missouri for help.
“Specifically, Operation LeGend is going to focus on a federal effort to increase law enforcement presence in the city,” she said. “We at the federal government want to make sure that that [child’s death] never happens and use our resources to the fullest extent of the law to ensure that individuals and young children like LeGend are able to live their lives, and live so peacefully.”
Mr. Trump is making law-and-order a campaign theme in the wake of nationwide protests over racial injustice that have sometimes turned violent. Coinciding with calls on the left to “defund” police departments, violent crime in several major cities across the U.S. has been rising.
The president also offered to send in federal forces to address a police-free “autonomous zone” in Seattle, but local officials didn’t ask for help and regained control of the neighborhood last week.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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