Trump Administration Launches Immigration Enforcement Crackdown in Chicago

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Sunday announced that it began conducting "enhanced targeted operations" in the city of Chicago, a so-called sanctuary city, in order to "enforce U.S. immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities," according to a statement the agency posted to the platform X.

The operation, which aligns with U.S. President Donald Trump's pledge to ramp up immigration arrests and deportations, is being carried out in conjunction with other federal agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and others.

The news of the operation comes as The Washington Post reported Sunday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials were directed over the weekend by Trump officials to ramp up the number of people they arrest, from a few hundred per day to over a thousand "because the president has been disappointed with the result of his mass deportation campaign so far."

Trump had vowed on the campaign trail to implement a crackdown on immigration. During his first week in office, he issued a slew of executive orders aimed at immigration, including a measure targeting birthright citizenship, reinstating his "Remain in Mexico" policy, and moving to restrict federal funds for sanctuary jurisdictions.

Immigration enforcement targeted at Chicago and other sanctuary cities—a term that broadly applies to jurisdictions that have adopted policies to limit information sharing or cooperation with federal immigration enforcement actions—had been expected. 

Trump's deputy acting attorney general sent a memo to Justice Department staff this week indicating that state and local officials could potentially be criminally prosecuted for failing to cooperate with Trump's ramped up immigration enforcement, and the Trump administration also revoked policies barring immigration enforcement actions in "sensitive" locations, such as schools.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson earlier this week reiterated his commitment to upholding the city's sanctuary policies.

Trump's immigration measures have already been met with legal challenges, including a lawsuit filed over the weekend by Chicago immigrant advocacy groups against ICE and two federal officials seeking an injunction prohibiting certain types of immigration raids in the city, according to the Chicago Tribune.

According to Thursday reporting from the outlet Bolts, organizers in Chicago had been bracing for raids carried out by ICE, but were hopeful that local protections put in place by the city and "know-your-rights" trainings aimed at immigrants who may be under threat of arrest would be able to limit the scale of the deportations.

Leone Jose Bicchieri, founder of Working Families Solidarity, a group that promotes labor rights education and inter-racial solidarity in Chicago, told Bolts: "We don't plan on backing down."

"I think the right thing to do for the state and the city is to not back down to the feds," he said.