President Trump to Send Federal Law Enforcement to Chicago and Albuquerque

Published by Matt Fishman on

President Trump announced today that he will send federal law enforcement agents to Chicago and Albuquerque.

100 federal law enforcement agents will be sent to Chicago and 35 federal agents will be sent to Albuquerque to “supplement state and local law enforcement agencies”. Both cities are currently experiencing a significant increase in violent crime, and the federal agents are supposed to help combat the “violent gangs, gun crime, and drug trafficking organizations”.

Chicago’s Mayor Lori Lightfoot has written a letter to President Trump countering that Chicago does “not need… federal agents deployed to Chicago”, adding that it is “a bad idea and I urge you not to do it”.

Federal agents have similarly already been deployed to Kansas City and Portland, where they continue to make arrests for firearms and riots.

Such use of federal agents in individual states is argued to be legally allowed under Article IV of the U.S. Constitution, which states: “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence”.