The Justice Department announced Sunday that it has begun a multi-agency immigration enforcement operation in Chicago, as the Trump administration sought to show it was quickly fulfilling its campaign promise to ramp up arrests and deportations.
Officials said a group of law enforcement agencies would carry out such operations in the coming days. The Justice Department announced that acting Deputy Attorney General Emile Bove traveled to Chicago to oversee efforts to address what he called a “national emergency.”
The Trump administration has enlisted several law enforcement agencies within the Justice Department — the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the U.S. Marshals — to assist operations in Chicago and elsewhere.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement Sunday evening that it arrested 956 people on Sunday, though it was not clear how many were in Chicago. Local officials in Chicago said they were not involved in the operations. In some neighborhoods, residents said people are concerned, but also confused about how the reported migration is going.
Mr. Poff said in a written statement that he watched agents from the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security deploy simultaneously “to address the national emergency arising from four years of failed immigration policy.” He added that the Department of Justice is working to “secure the border, stop this invasion, and make America safe again.”
Federal agencies have begun “enhanced targeted operations” in Chicago “to enforce U.S. immigration law and maintain public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement.
Mr. Bove urged local officials to assist in these efforts, and warned that there could be consequences for those who do not.
“We will support everyone at the federal, state and local levels who join this critical mission to restore our communities,” he said. “We will use all available tools to address obstruction and other unlawful obstacles to our efforts to protect the homeland.”
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that his state will cooperate with federal authorities in deporting illegal immigrants with felony convictions or outstanding deportation orders. But he stressed that state law enforcement would not participate in targeted raids or profile people in the state who may be undocumented.
Mr. Pritzker also said there was no new legal basis for a memo issued by Mr. Poff last week suggesting that the department may investigate and prosecute officials in any jurisdiction that refuses to help with the deportation drive. “They are spreading this because they want to threaten everyone,” he said.
Officials in the governor’s office said Mr. Pritzker’s office had not received advance notice of the arrests. A Chicago Police Department spokesperson confirmed Sunday that the department, in accordance with municipal law, does not document immigration status or share information with federal immigration authorities.
Officials in Chicago confirmed that FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration field offices assisted in the operation.
In the Logan Square neighborhood, on the city’s Northwest Side, residents appeared nervous as news reports emerged about federal operations, Georgia Hampton, a 31-year-old podcast producer, said while sitting inside New Wave Coffee on Sunday. “It seems like everyone is waiting to have some information to release,” Ms. Hampton said. “Everyone is holding their breath.”
In Little Village, on the Southwest Side, Juan Sanchez, a 35-year-old Chicago-born electrician, said the streets seemed particularly quiet. Even residents with legal status seemed nervous, he said.
“I can tell you that even for those who are citizens or have a green card, there is fear,” he said. “I myself am afraid – not that I will be deported, because I was born here, but that I will be arrested in a mass detention.”
Immigration enforcement is a daily feature of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But the Trump administration has pledged to devote more Justice Department staff to these efforts as it takes more aggressive action.
Several immigration advocacy groups in Illinois filed a lawsuit against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last week, trying to block the agency from conducting certain immigration operations in Chicago. The lawsuit asserted that the Trump administration was restricting freedom of expression through its threats of deportation and targeting Chicago because of its status as a “sanctuary” city.
Mr. Poff, who was part of Mr. Trump’s defense team in his criminal case in Manhattan, now oversees much of the department’s day-to-day activities as the Senate works to vote on the confirmation of Pam Bondi, Mr. Trump’s nominee for attorney. general. A vote on her nomination is expected this week.
Tom Homan, Trump’s border official, said Sunday that the operation in Chicago, which focused on public safety threats with a criminal background, led to some arrests, though he did not specify how many. They included members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang and individuals involved in sex crimes, some of whom he said had been convicted of other crimes.
He confirmed that during the operation, ICE officers made “collateral arrests,” arresting immigrants who were around the target of the operation. Such detentions have been criticized by immigrant rights groups and were not common practice during the Biden administration.
Mr Homan said other operations were taking place across the country and would continue. Other agencies are supporting ICE in these efforts and will help increase the number of arrests authorities can make, he said.
“As we move forward with this, more resources means more arrests, which means more criminals off the streets,” he said.
Robert Chiarito and Minho Kim Contributed to reports.
