ICE in Chicago

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Jeff Carter issued a statement Sunday saying that ICE and partner federal agencies “began conducting enhanced targeted operations today in Chicago to enforce U.S. immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous (criminals) out of our communities.”

ICE announced it had arrested 1,000 people nationwide Sunday, but a spokesperson declined to say how many were from the Chicago area. Last year, the Biden administration averaged about 310 immigration arrests per day.

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The operations were carried out with two top Trump administration officials in Chicago. The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Chicago field office posted a picture on X of Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove and “border czar” Tom Homan meeting with federal agents Sunday morning.

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["Dr." Phil] McGraw boasted about the arrests that took place Sunday, at one point asking the camera to pan to a wall that contained pictures of those apprehended during the operation.

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In the Hermosa neighborhood, [one person] said her parents ran to hide in their attic when they saw ICE agents outside their home Sunday morning.

“They took our neighbor’s dad,” she said. “My parents were crying. We are terrified.”

Her family, she said, has been in the country for over two decades, and the fear of them getting deported is debilitating. Both her mother and father, who she said have no criminal record, did not come out until the agents left their block.

Across the city and suburbs, residents reported sightings of the prowling federal agents, exchanging texts and posting alerts and photos on social media.

  Chicago Tribune

You know who else was there? Dr. Phil!

In keeping with city law, the Chicago Police Department did not participate in Sunday’s operations, according to a post on X by Mayor Brandon Johnson, who acknowledged the reports of ICE activity. In the post, Johnson also implored Chicago residents to “know their constitutional rights.”

Also on Sunday, Gov. JB Pritzker appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” and reiterated that local law enforcement “will not coordinate with federal officials on the arrest of people” when they do not have a judicial warrant.

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Pritzker again said that he agreed violent criminals who are undocumented should be deported.

“Now, what they’re also doing, though, and it’s quite disturbing, is they’re going after people who are law-abiding, who are holding down jobs, who have families here, who may have been here for a decade or two decades, and they’re often our neighbors and our friends,” he said.

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The governor also dismissed concerns raised from reports earlier this week that Justice Department officials would seek to prosecute state and local officials who do not cooperate with immigration enforcement activities. The memo, written by Bove, also instructs the Justice Department’s civil division to work with a new Sanctuary Cities Enforcement Working Group to identify and potentially challenge state and local laws and policies that “threaten to impede” the Trump administration’s immigration efforts.

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[F]our local advocacy groups filed a federal lawsuit Saturday seeking to curtail immigration raids in Chicago.

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Maria Perez, a volunteer with the nonprofit Southwest Collective, runs a food pantry for migrants on the South Side.

She said she got a call from a woman on Friday who asked for the address of the pantry and threatened “that if there were a lot of migrants at the pantry, you better hope ICE doesn’t show up.”

This is what Nazi tactics lead to. Some people are willing to do the state's dirty work for it.

Julie Contreras with United Giving Hope, a longtime immigration rights advocacy organization, said she was trying to gather more details after being in touch with families that were affected by arrests in Waukegan on Sunday.

“Today across our cities Donald Trump placed terror into the hearts of U.S. citizen children,” said Contreras. “In my church today I had to sit down and hug and love and tell a 4-year-old little girl that no one was going to come and harm her and deport her and destroy her family.”

And hope you were right.

UPDATE 11:49 am: