Pam Bondi and RFK Jr. travel to the Chicago suburbs for a crackdown on illicit vape sales

The joint ATF and FDA operation comes as the president has been threatening to send troops into Chicago to crack down on crime.

BENSENVILLE, Ill. — 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 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, Illinois, where 600,000 units of illegal product were seized.

The Department of Justice targeted the distributors and retailers to halt their alleged sale 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.

Attorney General Pam Bondi and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. outside Midwest Distribution after federal agents raided it.Scott Olson / Getty ImagesThe ATF, in conjunction with the U.S. Marshals Service, carried out the raids in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey and North Carolina.