Trump administration begins immigration arrests in Chicago

The Justice Department announced Sunday that it had begun a multi-agency Chicago immigration operation as the Trump administration sought to show it is quickly fulfilling a campaign promise to speed up arrests and deportations.

Officials said a host of law enforcement agencies would conduct such operations in the coming days. The Justice Department announced that its acting deputy attorney general, Emil Bove, had traveled to Chicago to oversee efforts to address what he called a “national emergency.”

The Trump administration has hired various law enforcement agencies within the Department of Justice — the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the US Marshals — to assist operations in Chicago and elsewhere.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement late Sunday that it had made 956 arrests Sunday, though it was unclear how many of those were in Chicago. Local officials in Chicago said they had not been involved in the operations. In some neighborhoods, residents said people were worried but also confused about how the reported immigration operations were going to play out.

Mr. Bove said in a written statement that he had seen agents from the Justice and Homeland Security departments deploy in lock step “to address a national emergency that arose from four years of failed immigration policy.” The Justice Department, he added, was working to “secure the border, stop this invasion and make America safe again.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement that federal agencies have launched “enhanced targeted operations” in Chicago “to enforce U.S. immigration laws and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities.”

Mr. Bove urged local officials to help in the effort and warned that there could be consequences for those who do not.

“We will support everyone at the federal, state and local levels who join this critical mission to take back our community,” he said. “We will use all available tools to address obstruction and other illegal obstacles to our efforts to protect the homeland.”

Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois said on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday that his state would cooperate with federal authorities to deport undocumented immigrants convicted of crimes or with pending deportation orders. But he stressed that state law enforcement would not engage in targeted raids or profile individuals in the state who may lack documents.

Mr. Pritzker also said there was no new legal basis for the memo, which Mr. Bove issued orders last week indicating that the department can investigate and prosecute officials in any jurisdiction who refuse to assist with deportation. “They’re just putting it out there because they want to threaten everybody,” he said.

Mr. Pritzker’s office was not given advance notice of the arrests, officials in the governor’s office said. A spokesman for the Chicago Police Department reiterated Sunday that, in accordance with municipal regulations, the department does not document immigration status or share information with federal immigration authorities.

The field offices of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration assisted in the operation, Chicago officials confirmed.

In the Logan Square neighborhood, on the city’s northwest side, residents seemed on edge as news reports emerged about the federal operations, said Georgia Hampton, a 31-year-old podcast producer, as she sat inside New Wave Coffee on Sunday. “It feels like everyone is waiting for some information to spread,” Ms. Hampton. “Everyone hold your breath.”

In Little Village, on the Southwest Side, Juan Sanchez, a 35-year-old electrician who was born in Chicago, said the streets seemed especially quiet. Even residents with legal status, he said, seemed tense.

“I can tell you that even for those of us who are citizens or have a green card, there is fear,” he said. “I’m afraid myself – not that I’ll be deported because I was born here, but I’m afraid that I might be wasted in a mass arrest.”

Immigration enforcement is a day-to-day function of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees agencies including ICE. But the Trump administration has pledged to devote more Justice Department personnel to those efforts as it takes more aggressive action.

Several immigration advocacy groups in Illinois filed a lawsuit against ICE last week to try to ban the agency from conducting certain immigration operations in Chicago. The lawsuit claimed the Trump administration curtailed free speech through its deportation threats and targeted Chicago because of its “sanctuary city” status.

Mr. Bove, who was part of Mr. Trump’s defense team in his Manhattan criminal trial now oversees much of the department’s day-to-day activity as the Senate works toward a confirmation vote on Pam Bondi, Mr. Trump’s candidate for attorney. general. A vote on her nomination is expected this week.

Tom Homan, Mr. Trump’s border czar said Sunday that the operation in Chicago, which focused on threats to public safety with criminal backgrounds, had resulted in some arrests, though he did not specify how many. They included members of the Venezuelan gang Tren De Aragua and people with sexual offenses, some of whom he said had been convicted of other crimes.

He confirmed that during the operation, ICE officers made “security arrests,” rounding up migrants who were around the target of the operation. Such arrests have been criticized by immigrant rights groups and were not common practice during the Biden administration.

Mr. Homan said other operations were taking place across the country and would continue. He said other agencies were supporting ICE in those efforts and would help increase the number of arrests authorities could make.

“We’re in full swing on this one, and more resources means more arrests,” he said, “which means more criminals off the street.”

Robert Chiarito and Minho Kim contributed with reporting.