Official White House Photo by Tia Dufour
President Donald J. Trump announced the expansion of Operation Legend beyond Kansas City on July 22, 2020 in the East Room of the White House.
When the Trump Administration announced that federal agents would come to Milwaukee, numerous city and county officials came forward to oppose that decision.
The surge of federal agents into Milwaukee is part of the federal Operation Legend, which supposedly addresses violent crime in several major U.S. cities: Kansas City, Chicago, Albuquerque. It is now being expanded to Cleveland, Detroit and Milwaukee. The agents coming to Cream City are meant to cooperate with state and local law enforcement in order to reduce violent crime, in particular gun violence. “In Milwaukee, homicides are up 85% this year, and non-fatal shootings are up 64%,” the Department of Justice explains.
Unlike Kansas City, which saw an influx of some 200 federal agents, Milwaukee will only receive 10 federal investigators in the immediate future. At least 15 more will be assigned to the city over the coming year. Additionally, the Bureau of Justice Assistance will grant $12.1 million dollars to the project and to hire 29 new police officers in Milwaukee County. The operation will be under the leadership of Matthew Krueger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
Strong Opposition from Local Authorities
In reaction to the announcement of the expansion of Operation Legend to Milwaukee, numerous public figures condemned the initiation.
Gov. Tony Evers came out against Operation Legend in a letter addressed to President Donald Trump. “I am writing to convey my strong opposition to any such intervention,” the governor wrote. “This is not a moment to double down and unnecessarily increase police presence, especially without invitation. [...] This type of unilateral intervention has not been requested by either the City of Milwaukee or the State and is not welcome in Wisconsin.”
The governor was not alone. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Rep. Gwen Moore and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley united forces with Gov. Evers to demand answers: “Neither the President nor Attorney General Barr consulted us, as elected leaders for Wisconsin and Milwaukee, about this increased federal presence,” they state. “We want to make it very clear that we do not support anything similar to what we have seen in Portland, Oregon, here in Wisconsin.”
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Adding to the chorus of voices, Milwaukee County Board Chairwoman Marcelia Nicholson, Milwaukee Common Council President Cavalier Johnson and Milwaukee Public School Board President Larry Miller also released a scathing statement, saying that “We need federal aid, not federal agents.”
“Neither Milwaukee County, the City of Milwaukee, nor the Milwaukee Public Schools have requested that President Trump send federal agents Milwaukee,” they say. “The President’s claim that he is sending federal law enforcement officers to several American cities to help fight violent crime is a transparent attempt to inflame tensions between local law enforcement and citizens exercising their constitutional rights to free speech and to assemble.”
“Instead of secret police, what we urgently need from the federal government is significant direct and flexible aid so that we can provide essential public services to our residents. We need federal aid, not federal agents,” the county and city officials continue.
The term “secret police” here refers to the recent events in Portland, Oregon, where teams of tactical agents from the Department of Homeland Security have aggressively opposed civil rights protests. The 114 federal officers in Portland, dubbed “Operation Diligent Valor,” sparked alarm about unmarked agents kidnapping protesters off the streets as videos and testimonies revealing what was compared to a federal secret police targeting Black Lives Matter protesters in Oregon. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown denounced Operation Diligent Valor for acting “as an occupying force” and bringing violence.
Dispelling Confusion
“Operation Legend is not aimed at local protest activity or civil disturbances. Operation Legend differs entirely from the operation in Portland,” Matthew Krueger said to appease tensions during a press conference on Wednesday, July 29. “In Milwaukee, no personnel from the Department of Homeland Security will participate in Operation Legend.”
The agents coming to Wisconsin will be part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the U.S. Marshals. “You will not see federal agents amassing on the streets of Milwaukee,” Krueger repeated.
Some of the worry has been quelled by Krueger’s announcements. “Having the opportunity to speak with Attorney Krueger and the Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, I’m confident that Operation Legend won’t target protesters, won’t engage Milwaukeeans on the street, and will have a narrow, investigatory mission,” Cavalier Johnson stated, adding that the District Attorney has said that he would prosecute officials who operate in the fashion that we’ve seen in Portland. “If the roll out had not been bungled by rhetoric from the president of the United States and his chief of staff, then this may not have been an issue in the first place.”
It is unclear whether the scope of Operation Legend was scaled back as a reaction to the intense opposition from state, county and city leaders, but as it stands, Milwaukee is currently the city with the smallest number of federal agents deployed as part of the operation.
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