Chicago prepares for eviction arrests targeting hundreds next week

Federal immigration agents will target more than 300 people with a history of violent and egregious crimes after President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Monday, an official said, marking his administration’s first attempt to fulfill its promise to large-scale evictions.

The operation will be focused in the Chicago area, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plans have not been made public. Arrests are expected throughout the week.

U.S. Immigration, Customs and Enforcement arrests fraction of its targets in such operations, although Trump is expected to cast a wider net than President Joe Biden, whose focus on recovering people away from the border was largely limited to those with serious criminal histories and national security threats. Trump aides have said they will arrest other people, like spouses or roommates, who are not targets but are in the country illegally.

ICE and the Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday. The project was reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal, which said the operation was expected to begin Tuesday.

Trump’s new border czar, Tom Homan, told Fox News that Chicago would be one of several places around the country where federal authorities are considering making arrests.

“We’re going to take the handcuffs off ICE and let them arrest criminal aliens, that’s what’s going to happen,” Homan said Friday. “What we’re saying to ICE is you’re going to enforce immigration law without apologizing. You’re going to focus on the worst threats first, which are threats to public safety, but no one is excluded. If they are in the country illegally, they have a problem.”

Trump told NBC News on Saturday that mass deportations remain a top priority. He didn’t give an exact date or city where they will start, but he said they will start soon.

“It’s going to start very soon, very quickly,” he said, adding: “I can’t say in which cities because things are evolving. And I don’t think we want to say which city. You’ll see it from your own eyes.

“We must remove criminals from our country. And I think you would agree with that. I don’t know how anyone could disagree.

Operations next week are subject to possible weather delays, the official said. Forecasters warned that the Chicago area would face freezing temperatures starting Sunday and could extend throughout the week.

Immigrants and the groups that defend them have prepared since Trump did mass deportations a signature commitment of his campaign. Trump has often criticized Chicago, which offers some of the nation’s strongest protections for people without legal status.

The nation’s third-largest city became a sanctuary city in the 1980s, limiting police cooperation with federal immigration agents. He has strengthened these policies several times since, including after Trump took office eight years ago.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and first-term Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have said they will not back down from those commitments. Johnson in November called Trump’s expulsion plans “modest and moderate.”

Homan blasted the state’s top Democratic leaders during a visit to the Chicago area last month, where he indicated enforcement would begin in Chicago.

“The reality is I think there has been some level of fear since Election Day,” Brandon Lee, a spokesman for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said Saturday. “We always acted like Trump was going to target Chicago and Illinois early in his administration. »

Advocates have worked to inform immigrants of their rights, creating phone lines to inform them of where agents make arrests and informing them that agents often work early in the morning. Officers generally work without a warrant allowing them to force entry into a home.

“We’re just trying to be as ready as possible,” Lee said. “We will never know all the details (of ICE operations). But for community members, knowing their rights is empowering.

At a news conference Saturday, Democratic U.S. Reps. Jesus Garcia and Delia Ramirez urged immigrants in Chicago to remain calm and exercise their rights, particularly to remain silent and refuse to allow police officers into their homes. them without a warrant.

“We are being tested once again,” Garcia said. “We have experience defending our community.”