Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling Tuesday morning are set to provide an update on immigration enforcement in Chicago.
The update comes the top Trump administration officials, including “border czar” Tom Homan and the acting deputy general, visited Chicago on Sunday to witness the start of increased crackdowns and arrests. Heightened operations are expected to continue Tuesday and through the week in Chicago and Illinois as federal agencies tout arrests around the country.
The update also comes hours after Johnson, along with the mayors of Boston, Denver and New York, were sent letters asking to testify before a Congressional committee on the city’s “sanctuary city” policies.
The update is set to take place at 10 a.m. It will be streamed on the NBC Chicago streaming channel, and can be viewed in the video player above.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, said it made 1,179 arrests nationwide Monday. While some of the operations may not have been unusual, ICE averaged 311 daily arrests in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 under the Biden Administration.
Here’s a look at what we know as the situation continues to unfold.
What is happening in Chicago?
Since Trump took office, similar immigration enforcement operations have been publicized around the country, which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says are ongoing. Social media posts from other DEA and Homeland Security offices noted additional weekend operations in at least Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Nebraska and Texas.
A source familiar with the operations told NBC News there were roughly 10 teams with about 10 federal agents each across Chicago Monday.
Trump had promised mass deportations of “millions and millions” of people during his presidency. The Trump administration has not publicly said how many immigration detention beds it needs to achieve its goals, or what the cost will be. An estimated 11.7 million undocumented people are living in the U.S., according to the Centers for Migration Studies.
Immigrant rights groups have tried to prepare for the aggressive crackdown with campaigns for immigrants to know their rights in case of an arrest. Chicago officials have done the same, publishing similar information at public bus and train stations.
On Friday, Chicago Public Schools officials mistakenly believed ICE agents had come to a city elementary school and put out statements to that effect before learning the agents were from the Secret Service.
On Saturday, several Chicago-based immigrant rights groups filed a lawsuit against ICE, seeking an injunction prohibiting certain types of immigration raids in Chicago.
“Immigrant communities who have called Chicago their home for decades are scared,” said Antonio Gutierrez from Organized Communities Against Deportation, one of the plaintiffs. “We refuse to live in fear and will fight any attempts to roll back the work we’ve done to keep families together.”
Who is ICE targeting?
The agency has offered few specifics, saying “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with federal partners, including the FBI, ATF, DEA, CBP and the U.S. Marshals Service, began conducting enhanced targeted operations [Sunday] in Chicago to enforce U.S. immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities.”
Previous reports had indicated the operations would primarily target migrants with criminal backgrounds, though there were concerns migrants without a criminal history could be arrested as well.
Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, told NBC News on Sunday among the undocumented arrested in Chicago, six were convicted of serious offenses, along with several gang members and two convicted of murder and aggravated sexual battery. He noted, however, that collateral arrests, or detentions of people without criminal convictions who were present during the raids, was possible.
That was the case in Newark, New Jersey, last week as ICE agents showed up at a business for what the mayor said was a warrantless raid, where they detained three “undocumented residents” as well as some U.S. citizens. Officials said one person was questioned even after showing military identification.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a frequent Trump critic, questioned the aggressive approach of the operations and the chilling effect for others, particularly for law-abiding immigrants who have been in the country for years.
“They’re going after people who are law-abiding, who have families here, who have jobs and may have been here for decades. Why are you going after them? These are not people who are causing problems in our country,” Pritzker said.
Who is making the arrests?
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said he observed immigration agents from the DHS along with agents from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. He didn’t offer details on the operation, which came days after DHS expanded immigration authority to agencies in the Department of Justice, including the DEA and ATF.
“We will support everyone at the federal, state, and local levels who joins this critical mission to take back our communities,” Bove said in a statement. “We will use all available tools to address obstruction and other unlawful impediments to our efforts to protect the homeland. Most importantly, we will not rest until the work is done.”
The DEA’s Chicago office posted pictures on X showing Bove and Homan with agents from ATF and Customs and Border Protection.
Chicago has some of the strongest sanctuary protections, which bar cooperation between city police and immigration agents and the Illinois Trust Act limits Illinois law enforcement’s ability to work with federal immigration authorities.
The Trump administration said Friday that it was expanding the use of “expedited removal” authority so it can be used across the country starting right away.
“The effect of this change will be to enhance national security and public safety — while reducing government costs — by facilitating prompt immigration determinations,” the administration said in a notice in the Federal Register outlining the new rules.
“Expedited removal” gives enforcement agencies broad authority to deport people without requiring them to appear before an immigration judge. There are limited exceptions, including if they express fear of returning home and pass an initial screening interview for asylum.
Groups that fall under the Department of Homeland Security include:
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Transportation Security Agency (TSA) U.S. Secret Service (USSS) U.S. Secret Service (USSS)What does a ‘sanctuary city’ mean?
According to a letter from Rep. James Comer, the chairman of the Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Johnson is one of four mayors being asked to testify about policies that limit local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration enforcement actions.
In addition to asking for Johnson to testify before the committee on Tuesday, Feb. 11, the committee also requested “documents and information related to the sanctuary policies of Chicago.”
Those documents include communications between city employees, contractors and state of Illinois employees pertaining to immigration policies.
The city of Chicago passed its “Welcoming City Ordinance” in 2012, guaranteeing access to city services regardless of immigration status and preventing undocumented residents from being prosecuted solely because of their immigration status. Finally, it also prohibits police from arresting individuals based on immigration status, and limits the circumstances in which immigration status information can be shared between local police and federal law enforcement.
Comer criticized Chicago for what he called “an abject failure to comply with federal” immigration law, with those policies taking center stage amid a surge in immigration enforcement actions in multiple states across the U.S.
This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to hold update on immigration enforcement, ICE in Chicago )
Also on site :
- '90s Country Star, 54, Stuns Concert Goers with 'Epic Medley' of Classic Rock Tunes: 'Amazing'
- Minnesota shooting suspect’s company claims he was ‘involved with security situations’ around the world
- Kate Middleton's Trooping the Colour Outfit Channels Princess Diana Look