At 3:30 a.m., ten officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement gathered in a suburban Chicago parking lot for a briefing about a suspect they intended to apprehend. The team reviewed the individual’s description, ensured their radios were synced, and noted the nearest hospital’s location in case of emergencies.

“Let’s plan on not being there,” said one of the officers, before they climbed into their vehicles and headed out.

Meanwhile, other teams were dispersed throughout the city and suburbs as part of “Operation Midway Blitz.” This operation is pushing forward President Donald Trump’s agenda for widespread deportations in an area with strong laws resisting cooperation with immigration authorities.

Launched by ICE on September 8th, the operation has stirred concern among activists and immigrant communities worried about potential large-scale arrests and forceful methods seen in other cities chosen by the Republican administration. Although there’s been an increase in immigration agents, a military presence has not yet been dispatched to Chicago.

The Associated Press went on a ride-along with ICE in a Chicago suburb — much of the recent focus — to see how that operation is unfolding.

A predawn wait, then two arrests

A voice came over the radio: “He got into the car. I’m not sure if that’s the target.”

A person resembling the suspect’s description exited a home, entered a vehicle, and drove away. Officers, uncertain of his identity, followed the car. As the vehicle neared the highway, a radio message stated: “He matches the physical description, but we can’t clearly see his face.”

“Do it,” said Marcos Charles, the acting head of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations.

Multiple agents quickly surrounded the car and halted it. Upon speaking with the man, it became clear he wasn’t their target, but he was residing in the U.S. illegally, prompting his detention.

Shortly after sunrise, their actual target emerged from the house and entered a vehicle. ICE officers converged, causing him to exit the car where he was subsequently arrested. ICE reported that both individuals detained were undocumented and had criminal histories.

Charles called it a “successful operation.”

“There was no safety issues on the part of our officers, nor the individuals that we arrested. And it went smoothly,” he said.

‘ICE does not belong here’

Activists and critics of ICE say that’s increasingly not the norm in immigration operations.

They point to videos showing ICE agents smashing windows to apprehend suspects, a chaotic showdown outside a popular Italian restaurant in San Diego, and arrests like that of a Tufts University student in March by masked agents outside her apartment in Somerville, Massachusetts, as neighbors watched.

Charles said ICE is using an “appropriate” amount of force and that agents are responding to suspects who increasingly are not following commands.

There has been “an uptick in people that are not compliant,” he said, blaming inflammatory rhetoric from activists who, he said, are encouraging people to resist.

Alderman Andre Vasquez, who chairs the Chicago City Council’s committee on immigrant and refugee rights, strenuously objected to that description, faulting ICE for any escalation.

“We’re not here to cause chaos. The president is,” Vasquez. He accused immigration enforcement agents of trying to provoke activists into overreacting in order to justify calling in a greater use of force such as National Guard troops. “ICE does not belong here.”

Shooting death of immigrant by ICE officer heightens tensions

Chicago was already on edge when a shooting Sept. 12 heightened tensions even more.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said an ICE officer fatally shot Silverio Villegas González, a Mexican immigrant who tried to evade arrest in a Chicago suburb by driving his car at officers and dragging one of them. The department said the officer felt his life was threatened and had opened fire, killing the man.

Charles said he could not comment because there is an open investigation. But he said he met with the officer in the hospital, saw his injuries and felt that the force used was appropriate.

The officer was not wearing a body camera, Charles said.

Gov. JB Pritzker, D-Ill., has demanded “a full, factual accounting” of the shooting. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum condemned the death and said Mexico is demanding a thorough investigation.

“These tactics have led to the loss of life of one of our community members,” said Democratic state Rep. Norma Hernandez.

In another use of force incident under “Midway Blitz” that has drawn criticism, a U.S. citizen was detained by immigration agents alongside his father and hit by a stun gun three times Tuesday in suburban Des Plaines, the man’s lawyer said.

Local advocates have also condemned ICE agents for wearing masks, failing to identify themselves, and not using body cameras — actions that starkly contrast with Chicago Police Department policy.

‘It was time to hit Chicago’

Charles said there is no timeline for the ICE-led operation in the Chicago area to end. As of Thursday, immigration enforcement officials have arrested nearly 550 people. Charles said 50% to 60% of those are targeted arrests, meaning they are people whom immigration enforcers are specifically trying to find.

He pushed back on criticism that ICE randomly targets people, saying agents weren’t “going out to Home Depot parking lots” to make indiscriminate arrests.

Charles said ICE has brought in more than 200 officers from around the country for the operation.

He said that for too long, cities such as Chicago that limited cooperation with ICE had allowed immigrants, especially those with criminal records, to remain in the country illegally. It was time to act, he said.

“It was time to hit Chicago.”

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Associated Press writer Christine Fernando in Chicago contributed to this report.