Chicago immigration crackdown begins days after ‘Border Czar’ claims officials were ‘reconsidering’ | American immigration

US federal authorities have begun immigration raids in Chicago, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) statement confirmed Sunday, just days after incoming “Border Czar” Tom Homan said officials were “considering” after details leaked to the press .

In a statementICE said its agents, along with the FBI, ATF, DEA, CBP and the US Marshals Service, had begun conducting “enhanced targeted operations” in Chicago “to enforce US immigration laws and preserve public safety and national security by detaining potentially dangerous criminal criminals foreigners out of our society”.

It comes as The Washington Post reported These ice officials have been instructed by Trump administration officials to increase daily arrests from a few hundred to 1,200 to 1,500.

The outlet said Trump was disappointed with the deportation campaign so far, citing four people with knowledge of the briefings, and ICE field offices were to make 75 arrests a day and leaders would be held accountable for missing quota targets.

Chicago, which Trump administration officials have warned would be ground zero for immigration enforcement, has been on edge over the launch of deportation raids. Many of the regions’ estimated 400,000 undocumented people are believed to have stayed home to avoid possible interactions with federal law enforcement.

On Friday, federal officials approached a school on Chicago’s southwest side, but initial reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials were involved turned out to be incorrect.

The Secret Service later said its agents were investigating a threat, and their investigation was related to a threat against a “protector” associated with Tiktok.

Donald Trump signed a flurry of executive orders last week designed to reverse Biden-era immigration policies and declared an emergency at the US border.

The Justice Department has ordered federal prosecutors to investigate state or local officials perceived to be interfering with immigration policies. Under an executive directive, law enforcement is allowed to arrest people in places like schools and churches where immigration enforcement actions were previously blocked.

“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. But deportation flights for some of those already arrested have met with resistance.

Colombia President Gustavo Petro initially said Sunday that his country will not accept deportation flights from the United States until the Trump administration provides a process to treat Colombian migrants with “dignity and respect.”

Trump said he had been informed that two repatriation flights to Colombia had not been allowed to land in the country, touching off a customs dispute between the two leaders.

The US president said he could double an emergency 25% tariff on Columbia to 50%; Ban Travels to US for Colombian Government Officials; and place enhanced Customs and Border Protection inspections of all Colombian nationals and cargo entering the United States on national security grounds.

“These measures are just the beginning,” Trump added. “We will not allow the Colombian government to violate its legal obligations regarding the acceptance and return of the criminals they forced to the United States!”

In response, Petro ordered an increase in import tariffs on goods from the United States in retaliation for Donald Trump’s announcement of tariffs on Colombia and sanctions against Colombian government officials.

Peter, In a post on twitter/xsaid he ordered the “Secretary of Foreign Trade to raise the import tariff from the United States by 25%”.

While the administration’s efforts to deport migrants are focused on offenders and people who make arrests.

Before Trump was inaugurated last week, unnamed officials said immigration officials would target more than 300 people, focusing on those with histories of violent crimes in the Chicago area.

The Wall Street Journal, which first reported news of the operation, said ICE would send between 100 and 200 officers to carry out the operation. But an official with the new administration told Reuters that Chicago would not be a particular focus.

Local and state Democratic leaders, including Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, have vowed to protect immigrant Chicagoans from any planned attacks.

“Ripping these families apart, not acceptable to Americans,” Pritzker said after Trump took office. He said non-citizens convicted of violent crimes should be deported but separated from law-abiding migrants.

“We will stand up for them in the state of Illinois and do everything we can to protect them,” Pritzer said. “They are good for our state. They are good for our economy. They pay taxes. These are law-abiding people who often stabilize societies. “