ST. LOUIS — Eight weeks ago, the federal cavalry rode into the Gateway City. On Thursday, the Justice Department announced the results. “Agents from ATF, Marshals Service, DEA, FBI, Homeland Security, and also of course, St. Louis Metro Police Department, surged in the city with a united purpose,” Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said, “to target violent crime, guns, drugs, and all sorts of other violent behavior occurring in the city of St. Louis.”
The scoreboard, per DOJ: 435 criminal arrests, 412 warrants cleared, 32 search warrants executed, 166 firearms seized, 81 kilograms of drugs taken off the streets, six machine gun conversion devices, and more than $1.25 million in currency tied to suspected illegal gun and drug deals. “So most of these individuals already had outstanding warrants for arrests. Many of them have multiple,” McCotter said. “I heard of a guy who had seven outstanding warrants who was just picked up.”
His message to every big-city politician who shrugs at crime: “We don’t have to accept violent crime. It’s not something you have to shrug your shoulders at. This is not a fact of life in a city or anywhere else. If you have the political willpower… then you can make a meaningful difference.” And he credited the leadership: “President Trump, Attorney General Todd Blanche are leading by example.”
St. Louis is one front in a national war on violent crime. The White House highlighted Thursday that law enforcement arrested 1,296 Tren de Aragua gang members between Jan. 20, 2025, and Oct. 8, 2026, and charged nearly 350 members and associates with federal crimes — the largest federal campaign against transnational crime in U.S. history. That is what Make America Safe Again looks like. Watch Rapid Response 47’s video.
