The Department of Justice announced Sunday that it has begun multiple immigration enforcement operations in Chicago. The Trump administration quickly indicated it was fulfilling a campaign promise to ramp up arrests and deportations.
Officials said a number of law enforcement agencies would conduct such operations in the coming days. The Justice Department announced that Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove traveled to Chicago to oversee efforts to address what he called a “national emergency.”
The Trump administration has enlisted various law enforcement agencies within the Justice Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the U.S. Marshals Service to assist in operations in Chicago and elsewhere. .
Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement Sunday night that it made 956 arrests Sunday, but said it was unclear how many were in Chicago. Local officials in Chicago said they were not involved in the business. In some areas, residents said people are concerned but also confused about how the reported migration operation will unfold.
Bove said in a written statement that he saw agents from the Department of Justice and Homeland Security deployed in lockstep to “address the national emergency arising from four years of failed immigration policies.” . The Justice Department was working to “secure our borders, stop this invasion, and make America safe again,” he added.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement that federal agencies have begun “intensified targeted operations” in Chicago.
Bove urged local officials to support the effort and warned there may be consequences for those who don’t.
“We support everyone at the federal, state and local level as we join in this important mission to take back our communities,” he said. “We will use all tools available to us to address roadblocks and other unlawful impediments to our efforts to protect our homeland.”
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said on CNN’s “United States” that his state will work with federal authorities on undocumented immigrants convicted of crimes or deported on P tax orders. Ta. However, he emphasized that state law enforcement agencies will not participate in targeted raids or point-of-view people in the state who may not have documentation.
Pritzker also said there is no new legal basis for the memo, which was issued last week to indicate officials can be investigated and prosecuted in jurisdictions that refuse to support deportation crackdowns. . “They’re just putting it out because they want to intimidate everyone,” he said.
Mr. Pritzker’s office was not given advance notice of the arrest, officials in the governor’s office said. A Chicago Police Department spokesperson on Sunday reiterated that, in accordance with local government law, the department does not document immigration status or share information with federal immigration authorities.
Chicago officials confirmed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Drug Enforcement Administration field offices and the Drug Enforcement Administration assisted in the operation.
In the Logan Square neighborhood on the city’s northwest side, residents appeared to be on edge as news reports emerged about federal business. said Georgia Hampton, a 31-year-old podcast producer, sitting at New Wave Coffee on Sunday. “I feel like everyone is waiting to have some information to spread out,” Hampton said. “Everyone is holding their breath.”
In Little Village on the Southwest Side, Juan Sanchez, a 35-year-old electrician who was born in Chicago, said the street seemed particularly quiet. Even residents with legal status seem nervous, he said.
“I would say there is fear even for those of us who are citizens or have green cards,” he said. “I’m scared for myself. I’m not going to be deported because I was born here, but I’m scared that I might be scooped up in a mass arrest.”
Immigration enforcement is a daily feature of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees agencies including ICE. But the Trump administration has vowed to take more aggressive action and dedicate more Justice Department personnel to those efforts.
Several immigrant advocacy groups in Illinois filed a lawsuit against ICE last week, seeking to bar the agency from conducting certain immigration operations in Chicago. The lawsuit alleged that the Trump administration is curtailing free speech through the threat of deportation and targeting Chicago because of its “sanctuary city” status.
Bove, who was part of Mr. Trump’s defense team in the Manhattan criminal case, is currently overseeing the department’s day-to-day operations while the Senate works toward a confirmation vote on Mr. Trump’s legal nominee, Pam Bondi. I supervise a lot. General. A vote on her nomination is expected this week.
Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, said Sunday that the Chicago operation, which focuses on public safety threats with criminal records, resulted in several arrests. They said they included members of the Venezuelan gang Torren de Aragua and individuals with sexual offenses, some of whom had been convicted of other crimes.
He confirmed that during the course of the operation, ice officers made “secure arrests” and picked up migrants who were the target of the operation. Such arrests have been criticized by immigrant rights groups and were not common practice during the Biden administration.
Homan said other operations are occurring across the country and will continue. He said other agencies are supporting Ice in these efforts, which will help increase the number of arrests authorities can make.
“We are fully committed to this and more resources means more arrests,” he said.
robert chiarito and minho kim Contributed report.
