Trump announces 'surge' of federal agents to Chicago

WASHINGTON -- US 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," 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," Lightfoot wrote in a letter to 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."

Trump has called for "law and order" as demonstrations raged in some cities against police brutality and racism.

His administration has also recently sent Department of Homeland Security personnel to Portland, Oregon in the wake of continued protests there triggered by the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American, in Minneapolis police custody late May.

State leaders have called for the removal of federal officers from Portland.