Operation Summer Heat: What to Know About the FBI Campaign Targeting Violent Crime

President Donald Trump and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel announced the results of the FBI’s Operation Summer Heat from the Oval Office on Oct. 15.

According to the president, federal law enforcement was “in many cities that people didn’t know about,” and the results were substantial. 

Here’s what we know about the operation. 

Project Overview 

The operation targeted violent criminals, gang members, fugitives, property crimes, child exploitation, and drug trafficking. With a mission to “crush violent crime” with the use of federal resources supporting state and local agencies, the government operated in many major cities across the country. 

“We kept it a little quiet, and it had a big impact,” Trump said from the White House, saying the program arrested thousands of the “most dangerous and violent people in the world.” 

The program ran from June to September of this year, and according to the president, the FBI and its partners have been working alongside local law enforcement in a number of cities, without getting the same kind of media coverage as places like Washington, DC. 

Trump also praised the work of federal partners in the nation’s capital, saying, “You can have a child walk right through the middle of Washington, DC, and nothing’s going to happen.” 

City Results 

The FBI reported on the statistics from individual cities—including Boston, Denver, and Houston—outlining what was accomplished in the period June to September with the help of the FBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ). 

In Boston, the FBI made 404 arrests and was ranked third among the FBI’s field offices in total arrests during the operation. 

The Boston office includes all of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.

“This record-setting operation removed gang members, drug traffickers, child predators, and bank robbers from our streets,” said Ted E. Docks, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston Division. 

Included were the seizure of 129 deadly drugs, 38 weapons, and the identification or location of 27 children. 

Houston reported the arrest of 64 individuals as part of Operation Summer Heat. Additionally, more than $600,000 of illicit proceeds were seized, along with more than 85 kilograms of cocaine, 17 kilograms of methamphetamine, and 28 kilograms of fentanyl.

Included in those figures were the arrests of 18 members and associates of the Anti-Tren gang, a splinter rival of the Tren de Aragua (TdA) terrorist organization. Law enforcement also recovered 339 machine gun conversion devices that could have turned semi-automatic guns into fully automatic weapons.

FBI Houston Special Agent in Charge Douglas Williams said that “Operation Summer Heat decisively targeted criminals who devastated lives and disrupted communities.”

“We dismantled gangs who turned neighborhoods into war zones, drug dealers who flooded our streets with fentanyl, and foreign terrorists who endangered innocent American lives,” he said.

In Denver, nearly 100 FBI agents issued arrest warrants for dangerous criminals who were distributing drugs and possessing firearms on the Wind River Indian Reservation. Additionally, the FBI worked with the Denver Police Department to find a man wanted for a double homicide. 

During September, the FBI worked with the Pueblo Police Department to arrest 20 violent criminals and remove 42 firearms, and confiscated just under 3 pounds of cocaine, almost 4 pounds of methamphetamine, and nearly 19 pounds of fentanyl.

National Results

Trump and Patel spoke to the national results of the program, saying that the DOJ and local partners arrested over 8,700 violent criminals during the course of Operation Summer Heat in major cities nationwide. 

Some places, like New Orleans and Nashville, saw a 250 percent increase in arrests of what the president referred to as the most violent offenders. Included in those figures were 725 arrests for violent crimes against children.

The task force arrested some 11,000 murderers, roughly half of whom were wanted for more than one homicide. Federal and local officials also seized 2,200 firearms and found 5,400 lost or missing children. Arrests for violent crimes against children were up 10 percent, and gang arrests over the summer were up 210 percent.

Nationally, crime declined 20 percent, compared to the same time frame last year, and the president called this summer the “safest and most peaceful summer in two decades.”

Patel also outlined the law enforcement efforts to remove harmful drugs from the streets, saying that 421 kilograms of fentanyl were seized. The FBI director highlighted the importance of that, saying it was enough of the illegal drug to kill 55 million Americans. 

Additionally, 45,000 kilograms of cocaine were seized, and 2,100 indictments were made by the Department of Justice from June to September alone. 

For the Future 

While the president was clear that he considered the federal effort to decrease crime a success, he also said they “haven’t really even gotten going yet.” 

He cited roadblocks by the governors of some states, saying that places such as Chicago would likely have also seen progress from federal law enforcement partners in tamping down crime if the Department of Justice were allowed full access. 

“There’s still much more work to be done, which is why the FBI continues to work alongside the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of War to defend law and order and combat violent crime, arrest illegal aliens, and make American cities the safest in the world,” Trump said. 

The president said there are some “great cities” that “can be fixed,” and he will be “strongly recommending” that officials “start taking a look at San Francisco.” 

He also said there is a plan to go into a number of other cities, that “we’re not talking about purposely,” saying that it is needful for the safety of Americans that federal law enforcement assist in a crackdown. 

“Every American deserves to live in a community where they’re not afraid of being mugged, murdered, robbed, raped, assaulted, or shot,” Trump said. “And that’s exactly what our administration is working to deliver.”