Chicago Braces for Potential Federal Immigration Crackdown Amid Trump Threats

Evanston, a Chicago suburb, has issued a public warning to its residents regarding the potential presence of federal immigration agents in the coming days. This alert comes as former President Donald Trump continues to vocalize threats of an immigration enforcement crackdown and a possible National Guard deployment in Chicago, the nation’s third-largest city.

Local officials in Evanston stated they were informed over the weekend about the high likelihood of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity. Evanston’s Mayor, Daniel Biss, reportedly received information from the governor’s office suggesting an imminent deployment of ICE agents. In response, the city released a statement emphasizing its commitment to its immigrant and refugee communities, urging residents to report any sightings of federal agents and pledging to safeguard families.

Hours after Evanston’s statement, Trump reiterated his intent to send federal enforcement and National Guard troops to ‘straighten’ Chicago. Simultaneously, the Trump-led Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced ‘Operation Midway Blitz’ via social media. This operation, named in honor of an Illinois woman allegedly killed by a Guatemalan national, targets individuals who have ‘flocked’ to Chicago, leveraging the city’s limited cooperation with ICE. The DHS post, which controversially invoked a term historically associated with Nazi military tactics, included a tribute video to the victims of the fatal crash.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson responded to the DHS announcement, stating the city received no prior notice of enhanced immigration action. Johnson voiced strong opposition to any militarized immigration enforcement without due process, citing ICE’s history of detaining U.S. citizens and human rights violations. Reports from last week indicated an advance team of at least 30 agents was undergoing crowd-control training near Chicago, with 230 Customs and Border Protection agents also being dispatched from Los Angeles.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker had previously expressed concerns that ICE agents might target Mexican Independence Day events in mid-September, leading to the postponement of the El Grito Chicago festival. While Trump’s past military deployments in Los Angeles and federalization of Washington D.C.’s police department faced legal challenges and were deemed unprecedented, he has consistently focused on Democratic-led cities, threatening federal intervention over a purported ‘national crime emergency’ despite falling crime rates. Trump has repeatedly suggested deploying the National Guard to Chicago, which, like Washington D.C., has seen crime rates at historic lows, calling the city a ‘hellhole’ and vowing, ‘We’re going in.’

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