The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched its latest immigration crackdown on Monday, targeting Chicago.
“DHS is initiating Operation Midway Blitz in memory of Katie Abraham who lost her life in a hit-and-run accident involving an intoxicated criminal illegal alien, Julio Cucul-Bol, in Illinois,” DHS expressed on the social media platform X.
“This ICE operation is set to target criminal illegal aliens who have gravitated to Chicago and Illinois, drawn by Governor Pritzker’s sanctuary policies, which they knew would shield them and enable them to operate freely on American streets,” DHS continued, referencing Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D).
The move was blasted by Illinois’s largely left-leaning congressional delegation.
“While President Trump continues to unjustly obsess over deploying the military to Chicago, his Administration is increasingly focusing on apprehending hardworking immigrants without criminal records,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) remarked in a statement.
“These actions don’t make us safer. They are a waste of money, stoke fear, and represent another failed attempt at a distraction.”
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have already been positioned in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and initiated operations in Boston over the weekend as an aspect of President Trump’s extensive anti-illegal immigration agenda, which has sparked protests nationwide this summer.
The latest effort marks an anticipated ramp-up of the initiatives.
Pritzker over the weekend circulated a “Know Your Rights” leaflet in several languages, advising that ICE officers can be asked to produce a warrant. He also urged people witnessing arrests to film them and distribute the footage to media outlets.
“Authoritarians thrive on your silence — be loud — for America,” he said in a video shared Saturday on X.
Accompanying its announcement, DHS shared a list of 11 men it said were released into the city after it failed to coordinate with ICE officers.
Trump also hinted at the initiative, sharing an AI-generated photo of himself expressing his fondness for “the smell of deportations in the morning” and noting Chicago was “about to discover why it’s called the Department of WAR.” He made these statements on social media shortly after commanding the Defense Department to reinstate its Department of War designation.
The move was announced just hours after the Supreme Court allowed ICE agents in Los Angeles to make immigration stops based on someone speaking Spanish or on their profession.
Critics said the practice amounted to racial profiling.
A CATO Institute review of ICE data after they were blocked from using such measures found arrests plummeted 66 percent when agents were unable to use ethnicity, language or profession as the basis for an arrest.
This story was updated at 2:37 p.m. EDT
