The dozens of agents and investigators to be dispatched in the coming weeks are from the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the U.S. Marshals Service.
They will work on gun cases and other criminal cases previously identified as within federal jurisdiction in coordination with local and federal prosecutors. Justice officials previously announced that hundreds of federal officials were dispatched to Chicago, Kansas City, and Albuquerque as part of an initiative called Operation Legend.
The Justice Department said it will also provide millions of dollars in funds to cities to aid crime action and to hire additional local officials.
Some critics have combined the anti-crime initiative with the separate week-long standoff between federal officials and nightly protesters outside federal court in Portland, Oregon. The largely peaceful protests have turned into violent daily confrontations with the federal equivalent of SWAT teams protecting the courthouse.
Oregon announced Thursday that some federal officials from the Customs and Border Protection agency are being replaced by the state police.
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