President Donald Trump’s administration announced the launch of its long-promised deportation campaign in Chicago on Monday, just hours after Trump bemoaned the city’s violent crime.
In a post on the social media platform X, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said “Operation Midway Blitz” would target immigrants without legal status who have sought refuge in Illinois and Chicago.
Gov. JB Pritzker, Mayor Brandon Johnson and other Illinois officials have been bracing for a surge in immigration enforcement and vowing to stand against Trump. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has been granted permission to use a naval base in the northern suburbs as a command post for the operation, with hundreds of federal agents expected to arrive.
Blistering reaction from Illinois Democrats
In a social media post on X, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker dismissed the administration’s actions Monday as a scare tactic that has nothing to do with any effort to tackle crime.
“Once again, this isn’t about fighting crime. That requires support and coordination — yet we’ve experienced nothing like that over the past several weeks,” Pritzker said. “Instead of taking steps to work with us on public safety, the Trump Administration’s focused on scaring Illinoisians.”
Pritzker’s spokesperson Matt Hill, stressed that the White House had yet to notify the governor’s office about the ICE operation.
“Like the public and press, we are learning of their operations through their social media as they attempt to produce a reality television show. As Trump has said himself, this is not about seriously fighting crime or reforming immigration – it’s about Trump’s plan to go to war with America’s third-largest city,” Hill said.
“Unlike Trump’s reality show, we don’t like keeping people in the dark,” Hill continued. “Since we have learned of the Trump Administration’s plans to deploy federal agents and active-duty military to Illinois, Gov. Pritzker has shared information with the public, and the Governor’s Office has remained in regular contact with leaders and partners at the City of Chicago, Cook County, the Illinois congressional delegation, state legislature, and mayors and representatives from the collar counties.”
DHS is launching Operation Midway Blitz in honor of Katie Abraham who was killed in a drunk driving hit-and-run car wreck caused by criminal illegal alien Julio Cucul-Bol in Illinois.
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) September 8, 2025
This ICE operation will target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois… pic.twitter.com/OjbgtTE1Au
Like the governor’s office, City Hall was in the dark about DHS’s campaign.
“We have received no notice of any enhanced immigration action by the Trump administration,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement released Monday.
“We are concerned about potential militarized immigration enforcement without due process because of ICE’s track record of detaining and deporting American citizens and violating the human rights of hundreds of detainees,” Johnson said. “ICE sent a 4-year-old boy with stage 4 kidney cancer to Honduras, even though the child was an American citizen. There are more than 500 documented incidents of human rights abuses at detention facilities since Trump took office, including deaths of detainees and alleged cases of sexual abuse of minors by federal immigration agents.”
Sen. Dick Durbin harshly criticized “Operation Midway Blitz” as a “campaign to arrest hardworking immigrants with no criminal convictions.
“These actions don’t make us safer. They are a waste of money, stoke fear, and represent another failed attempt at a distraction, the Illinois Democrat said in a prepared statement. “While the President exhibits disdain for immigrants, Chicago embraces them as family who help make our economy thrive and our city strong.”
Evanston braces for ICE agents
In Evanston, officials were warning residents of impending immigration enforcement as soon as Monday.
Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss told the Sun-Times that state officials had tipped off local governments about impending raids this week.
While the city passed sanctuary city protections years ago, it’s still working on finding avenues to ensure agents identify themselves. Evanston also turned off its license plate reader cameras after a state audit found suburban police departments had been sharing data from the cameras with federal immigration authorities, according to Biss.
“We all just need to step up and keep each other safe,” Biss said. “The city is going to do everything we can, and we ask everyone to keep their eyes open to share credible information and not misinformation, because that can be dangerous as well.”
Biss said the city had only been alerted to one false alarm as of 11:30 a.m., but urged people to remain vigilant and share verified information so as not to spread unnecessary fear. The city encouraged residents to report ICE sightings to 855-435-7693 or icirr.org.
“We take this potentiality seriously and urge community members to be aware and report sightings of federal agents,” a statement from the city of Evanston said. “It is important to know your rights in any interaction with federal agents. … During this time of uncertainty and fear, it is critical to maintain a strong sense of community, as well as provide accurate information.”
A handful of demonstrators gathered Monday afternoon outside of an ICE processing facility in west suburban Broadview, where protesters had tried to obstruct agents as they came and went on Friday.
Karen Byrne was among four demonstrators standing outside Monday as a stream of people showed up for immigration appointments. Shortly before 3 p.m., a sedan transported two young women into the facility.
Byrne, 60, said she lives nearby and has been showing up to the processing center to monitor what’s happening as tensions have grown. On Sunday, she said she saw a young boy who looked about 11 being escorted from an unmarked white van into the facility, along with other people who were apparently being processed.
“If it can happen to people they’re going after,” Byrne said. “It’ll happen to everyone.”
Trump lashes out again at Chicago
Trump took aim at Chicago again earlier Monday, highlighting the number of shootings and killings over the weekend after walking back his threat to target the city with his newly renamed Department of War.
Six people were killed and 12 more wounded across Chicago in shootings between Friday evening and Monday morning, according to a Chicago Sun-Times analysis.
“I want to help the people of Chicago, not hurt them,” Trump posted Monday on Truth Social, his social media platform. “Only the Criminals will be hurt! We can move fast and stop this madness. The City and State have not been able to do the job.”
DHS said the blitz was being led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and will honor Katie Abraham, a 20-year-old woman who was killed in a hit-and-run crash earlier this year in downstate Urbana, roughly 140 miles southwest of Chicago.
Julio Cucul-Bol, an immigrant without legal status from Guatemala, has been charged with reckless homicide, drunken driving and leaving the scene of a crash.
“The ICE operation will target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois because they knew Governor Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets,” DHS said in the announcement.
In his post, Trump also called out Pritzker, a possible Democratic candidate for president in 2028, who has opposed Trump’s threats to increase immigration enforcement in Chicago and possibly to send in federalized National Guard troops from other states, as Trump has done in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
Trump wrote that Pritzker has said he doesn’t want federal assistance, though the governor and other Illinois officials have said they would welcome more federal agents if they were sent to target guns and crime.
“People of Illinois should band together and DEMAND PROTECTION,” Trump wrote. “IT IS ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE!!! ACT NOW, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!!!”
Trump’s latest broadside came after he stoked fears over the weekend that he was declaring war on Chicago with another social media post, this one with a reference to the was film “Apocalypse Now.”
“Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of War,” Trump said in the post Saturday that included an image of the president in a military uniform, helicopters flying over the city’s skyline and the words “Chipocalypse Now.”
On Sunday, though, Trump stepped back from what Pritzker, Johnson and others saw as a threat of military intervention.
“We’re going to clean them up so they don’t kill five people every weekend,” Trump said. “That’s not war, that’s common sense.”
Trump has focused on Chicago in recent weeks as his administration has prepared to ramp up immigration enforcement and potentially send National Guard troops. On Sunday, Ald. Jeylú Gutiérrez (14th) said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested three people in her Southwest Side ward, which includes parts of Archer Heights, Gage Park and Chicago Lawn.
Over the past two weeks, Trump has seized on weekend violence statistics, but the amount of violent crime has fallen significantly in recent years. A WBEZ analysis earlier this month found that this summer Chicago saw the fewest killings in June, July and August since 1965.
