Chicago is preparing for deportation arrangements targeting hundreds of next week

Federal immigration officers will target more than 300 people with stories of irregular, violent crimes after President-elected Donald Trump joins Monday, an official said, marking his administration’s first attempt to fulfill his promise of major deportations.

The operation will be concentrated in the Chicago area, according to the official who spoke on condition of anonymity because plans have not been published. Arrests are expected all week.

American immigration and customs and enforcement arrests a fraction of its target In such operations, Although Trump is expected to throw a wider network than President Joe Biden, whose focus on picking up people off the border was largely limited to those with serious criminal stories and national security threats. Trump helpers have said they will arrest others, such as spouses or roommates who are not targets but happen to be illegal in the country.

The ICE and Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday. The plan was reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal who said the operation is expected to begin Tuesday.

Trump’s incoming border Czar, Tom Homan, told Fox News that Chicago will be one of many places in the country where federal authorities are planning to make arrests.

“We take the handcuffs off the ice and let them go to arrest criminal aliens, that’s what will happen,” Homan said Friday. “What we tell ICE, you will enforce the law of immigration without excuse. You’re going to concentrate on the worst first, threats of public security, but no one is off the table. If they are illegal in the country they got a problem. “

Trump told NBC News on Saturday that mass portations remain a highest priority. He did not give an exact date or city where they start, but he said they would start soon.

“It starts very early, very quickly,” he said, adding, “I can’t say what cities because things are developing. And I don’t think we’ll say what city. You will see it from first hand. “

“We have to get the criminals out of our country. And I think you would agree with it. I don’t know how someone couldn’t agree. “

Next week’s operations are subject to potential weather delays, the official said. Forecasters have warned that the Chicago area is facing bitter cold temperatures beginning Sunday, which can extend throughout the week.

Immigrants and groups that go in for them have been preparing Since Trump made Massage portations a signature mortgage of his campaign. Trump has often been critical of Chicago, which has some of the country’s strongest protection for people in the country without legal status.

The nation’s third largest city became a so -called Sanctuary City in the 1980s, limiting how police can cooperate with federal immigration agents. It has strengthened these policies Several times ago, including after Trump first joined eight years ago.

Illinoi’s head of government JB Pritzker and first term Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has said they will not return from these obligations. Johnson called Trump’s deportation plans in November “small and soft.”

Homan blasted the top democratic leaders in the state during a visit to the Chicago area last month, indicating that the enforcement would start in Chicago.

“The reality is that I think there has been a level of fear since election day,” said Brandon Lee, a spokesman for Illinois Coalition for immigrant and refugee rights, on Saturday. “We always worked as if Trump would target Chicago and Illinois early in his administration.”

Lawyers have been working on informing immigrants about their rights and creating telephone trees to notify them of where officers make arrests and advise them that officers often work in early mornings. Officers typically work without warrants who give them the right to with power to enter a home.

“We’re just trying to be as clear as we can,” Lee said. “We will never know all the details (about ice operations). But for members of society, knowing their rights is strength. “

At a news conference on Saturday, Democratic American Reps called on. Jesus Garcia and Delia Ramirez immigrants in Chicago to remain calm and exercise their rights, especially to remain silent and refuse to give officers into their homes without warrants.

“We are tested again,” Garcia said. “We have experience defending our community.”