And so it begins
The incoming Trump administration is planning a large-scale immigration raid in Chicago next week, according to four people familiar with the planning, the first move in President-elect Donald Trump’s promised mass deportation campaign.
The raid is expected to begin on Tuesday morning, a day after Trump is inaugurated, and will last all week, the people said. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will send between 100 and 200 officers to carry out the operation. Trump ran for president on a bold promise: to carry out the largest mass deportation in U.S. history. The incoming Trump team intends to target immigrants in the country illegally with criminal backgrounds—many of whose offenses, like driving violations, made them too minor for the Biden administration to pursue. But, the people cautioned, if anyone else in the country illegally is present during an arrest, they will be taken too. The transition team had been contemplating cities to target in a day-one operation as a way of making an example of so-called sanctuary cities, which adopt policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities. They settled on Chicago both because of the large number of immigrants who could be possible targets, and because of the Trump team’s high-profile feud with the city’s Mayor. Tom Homan, the administration’s incoming border czar, appeared to preview the operation during a visit to Chicago last month.
“We’re going to start right here in Chicago, Illinois,” Homan said at a holiday party on Chicago’s North Side. “And if the Chicago mayor doesn’t want to help, he can step aside. But if he impedes us, if he knowingly harbors or conceals an illegal alien, I will prosecute him.” The Trump transition team and ICE didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Other large immigrant centers, such as New York, Los Angeles, Denver and Miami, are also in the incoming administration’s sights, and more targeted raids could come.
The incoming Trump administration is planning a large-scale immigration raid in Chicago next week, according to four people familiar with the planning, the first move in President-elect Donald Trump’s promised mass deportation campaign.
The raid is expected to begin on Tuesday morning, a day after Trump is inaugurated, and will last all week, the people said. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will send between 100 and 200 officers to carry out the operation. Trump ran for president on a bold promise: to carry out the largest mass deportation in U.S. history. The incoming Trump team intends to target immigrants in the country illegally with criminal backgrounds—many of whose offenses, like driving violations, made them too minor for the Biden administration to pursue. But, the people cautioned, if anyone else in the country illegally is present during an arrest, they will be taken too. The transition team had been contemplating cities to target in a day-one operation as a way of making an example of so-called sanctuary cities, which adopt policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities. They settled on Chicago both because of the large number of immigrants who could be possible targets, and because of the Trump team’s high-profile feud with the city’s Mayor. Tom Homan, the administration’s incoming border czar, appeared to preview the operation during a visit to Chicago last month.
“We’re going to start right here in Chicago, Illinois,” Homan said at a holiday party on Chicago’s North Side. “And if the Chicago mayor doesn’t want to help, he can step aside. But if he impedes us, if he knowingly harbors or conceals an illegal alien, I will prosecute him.” The Trump transition team and ICE didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Other large immigrant centers, such as New York, Los Angeles, Denver and Miami, are also in the incoming administration’s sights, and more targeted raids could come.