BENSENVILLE, Ill. — U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. were in the Chicago area Wednesday to announce joint seizure operations of illicit vaping sales — a move that comes as the White House has been threatening to send the military[1] into the city.
The operation, by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Food and Drug Administration, was executed across six states Wednesday morning and targeted five distributors and nine retailers with civil enforcement action.
Bondi and Kennedy were both present at the site of the largest seizure in Bensenville, Ill., where 600,000 units of illegal product was seized.
The Department of Justice targeted the distributors and retailers to halt their alleged distributions of certain vaping products, including illegally-flavored vapes, THC-infused vapes, and products containing 7-OH, an illegal compound with opioid-like effects derived from kratom plants.
The ATF, in conjunction with the U.S. Marshals Service, carried out the raids in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey and North Carolina.
In April, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the FDA’s ban[2] on the selling of flavored vapes not approved by the FDA. The FDA has said flavored vapes pose a health risk because they could encourage young people to use tobacco.
In August, Bondi directed the ATF to move forward with a planned operation after Kennedy identified illicit vaping products shipped into the U.S. from China as a priority for the health department.
The presence of two Cabinet secretaries at such an operation is unusual, and it took place two days after the Department of Homeland Security announced Immigration and Customs Enforcement was launching “Operation Midway Blitz[3]” in the city, targeting undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes.
The Trump administration has repeatedly threatened in recent weeks to send in the National Guard to combat high crime in the city.
“Chicago is the worst and most dangerous city in the World, by far. Pritzker needs help badly, he just doesn’t know it yet. I will solve the crime problem fast,” President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social[4] last week.
On Saturday, he posted what appeared to be an AI-created image of himself in front of the Chicago skyline with helicopters, flames and the phrase “Chipocalypse Now.”
“‘I love the smell of deportations in the morning…’ Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” the post[5] said.
He’s also delivered mixed messaging, saying in a radio interview last week when asked whether he was going to deploy the National Guard in the city, “I don’t want to mention when, but it’s going to be happening there.”
At other points, he’s said he’d send them in if asked to do so by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, both Democrats, say the move is neither wanted or needed.
“The president’s absurd characterizations do not match what is happening on the ground here. He has no idea what he’s talking about,” Pritzker told reporters last week. “There is no emergency that warrants deployment of troops,” he said.
Both Pritzker and Johnson have criticized the administration[6] for slashing public safety funding,[7] including canceling hundreds of millions of dollars[8] in grants.
Statistics show crime has been down[9] in various cities, including Chicago. The most recent statistics[10], show homicides have dropped 31% from last year, while shootings were down 37.4%.
References
- ^ send the military (www.nbcnews.com)
- ^ upheld the FDA’s ban (www.nbcnews.com)
- ^ Operation Midway Blitz (www.nbcnews.com)
- ^ wrote on Truth Social (truthsocial.com)
- ^ the post (truthsocial.com)
- ^ criticized the administration (www.nbcnews.com)
- ^ slashing public safety funding, (www.reuters.com)
- ^ hundreds of millions of dollars (counciloncj.org)
- ^ Statistics show crime has been down (www.nbcnews.com)
- ^ most recent statistics (www.nbcchicago.com)