The Division of Homeland Safety stated it was shifting ahead with ramped-up immigration enforcement in Chicago this week in an effort dubbed Operation Halfway Blitz, as Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson says the town “acquired no discover of any enhanced immigration motion” forward of the announcement.
“This ICE operation will goal the legal unlawful aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois as a result of they knew Governor Pritzker and his sanctuary insurance policies would shield them and permit them to roam free on American Streets,” the division stated in a press release Monday.
Spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin stated the operation “will goal the worst of the worst legal unlawful aliens in Chicago.”
The division didn’t specify how lengthy the operation is predicted to final, however a spokesperson with ICE stated, in a press release: “ICE has all the time operated in Chicago, concentrating on enforcement across the harmful legal aliens which are drawn to this sanctuary metropolis. … We’ll proceed our legislation enforcement and public security mission, undeterred, as we surge ICE assets within the metropolis in coordination with our federal companions from throughout Division of Homeland Safety and Division of Justice.”
The division stated the mission can be carried out “in honor of Katie Abraham,” who was killed in a drunk driving hit-and-run crash that occurred in Urbana, about 130 miles south of Chicago, earlier this yr. Her good friend, 20-year-old Chloe Polzin, additionally died within the crash. The driving force was 29-year-old Julio Cucul Bol, a citizen of Guatemala who authorities caught in Texas days after the crash, and believed to have been attempting to flee to Mexico. He’s now in custody in Illinois.
The sufferer’s father, Joe Abraham, spoke with CBS Information Chicago, saying he hopes no different household has to undergo what his household has.
“Hopefully, no different youngsters should undergo this Russian roulette that the state is taking part in,” he stated. “(Cucul Bol) did not have a drivers license, he should not have been on the roads, he had been pulled over earlier than. … Say what you need about Donald Trump. He not less than acknowledged me, regarded me within the eye, stated, ‘We’ll clear issues up.'”
In a post on X, Gov. JB Pritzker accused the Trump administration of failing to speak or coordinate their immigration enforcement effort with state and native leaders.
“As soon as once more, this is not about preventing crime. That requires assist and coordination — but we have skilled nothing like that over the previous a number of weeks. As a substitute of taking steps to work with us on public security, the Trump administration’s centered on scaring Illinoisians,” he wrote.
Johnson said he and different metropolis officers “stay against any potential militarized immigration enforcement with out due course of due to ICE’s monitor file of detaining and deporting Americans and violating the human rights of a whole lot of detainees.”
“There are greater than 500 documented incidents of human rights abuses at detention services since Trump took workplace, together with deaths of detainees and alleged circumstances of sexual abuse of minors by federal immigration brokers,” Johnson added. “Due to these incidents and extra, we stay against militarized immigration enforcement that runs afoul of the Structure in our metropolis.”
The mayor urged anybody involved concerning the immigration crackdown in Chicago to visit a “know your rights” resource hub on the city’s website, at Chicago.gov/KYR.
The announcement of the immigration operation in Chicago comes after President Trump, in a put up on Fact Social on Saturday, invoked imagery from the film “Apocalypse Now” and wrote, “‘I really like the scent of deportations within the morning …’ Chicago about to search out out why it is referred to as the Division of WAR.”
Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the highest Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, accused the Trump administration of ramping up its marketing campaign “to arrest hardworking immigrants with no legal convictions.”
“These actions do not make us safer. They’re a waste of cash, stoke worry, and signify one other failed try at a distraction,” Durbin stated in a press release.
A new CBS News poll exhibits that 58% of People oppose the president sending the Nationwide Guard to different cities past Washington, D.C., whereas 42% assist it. These responses are closely skewed by get together, with a majority of Republicans in favor of the deployment of the Nationwide Guard and nearly all of Democrats opposed.
