Feds start making immigration arrests across Chicago area, with top Trump officials in tow
Top Trump administration officials joined law enforcement agents Sunday as they started making targeted immigration arrests across the Chicago area, capping off a week of fear and confusion.
A spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement said a range of federal agencies were beginning to conduct "enhanced targeted operations" in Chicago on Sunday "to enforce U.S. immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities."
Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st) said federal officials were conducting operations in Logan Square.
The arrests were targeted across the Chicago area and didn’t impact churches or workplaces, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bone and border czar Tom Homan spoke to officials from ICE and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, according to photos posted on the X account for the DEA’s Chicago office.
The DEA, along with our @TheJusticeDept partners, is assisting @DHSgov and other federal law enforcement partners with their immigration enforcement efforts. pic.twitter.com/go7vxf8xtc
— DEAChicago (@DEACHICAGODiv) January 26, 2025
"The DEA, along with our Department of Justice partners, is assisting DHS and other federal law enforcement partners with their immigration enforcement efforts," DEA spokesman Luis Agostini said.
Another photo shared on the social media platform showed a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol official working alongside officials from DEA and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The ICE spokesperson said the FBI and the U.S. Marshals services were also aiding the operations.
No further details of the operations, including locations or number of arrests, were made public Sunday.
A U.S. Department of Justice spokesperson told the Associated Press that Bove, President Donald Trump's top appointee in the agency, is in Chicago to observe the operations.
New: A DoJ official tells NBC News that Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove “is on the ground in Chicago this morning to personally observe DHS immigration enforcement operations and support the efforts of FBI, DEA, ATF, USMS, and federal prosecutors who are assisting DHS in…
— Ken Dilanian (@KenDilanianNBC) January 26, 2025
During an appearance on CNN Sunday morning, Gov. JB Prtizker said there's a difference between targeting undocumented "violent criminals" and law-abiding people when he was asked about the possibility of immigration raids in Illinois.
"They're going after people who are law-abiding, who are holding down jobs, who have families here, who may have been here for a decade or two decades, and they're often our neighbors and our friends," Pritzker said.
"These are not people who are causing problems in our country, and what we need is a path to citizenship for them. We need to secure our border. We need to get rid of the violent criminals, but we also need to protect people, at least the residents of Illinois and all across the nation, who are just doing what we hope that immigrants will do.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.