Donald Trump cracks down on crimes in US cities

President Donald Trump is to send a surge of federal security forces to US cities in a crackdown on crime.

Chicago and two other democratic-run cities are being targeted in the republican president’s move, amid a spike in violence.

But federal deployments in Portland, Oregon, have proved controversial.

Local officials say they have raised tensions amid ongoing protests.

Law and order has become a key plank of Mr Trump’s re-election bid in November.

Since the death of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota, there have been protests in scores of US cities.

Meanwhile, gun violence has spiked in metropolitan areas including New York City, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Chicago and Milwaukee.