The new presidential administration of Donald Trump plans to launch a massive immigration operation in Chicago the day after taking office, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing four people familiar with the matter.
The raid, which is expected to begin Tuesday, is expected to last all week, the newspaper said, adding that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) would send between 100 and 200 agents to carry out the operation.
Trump’s transition team did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. But a source familiar with the new administration’s plans said Ice would step up controls across the country and there would be no special focus on Chicago or an influx of personnel there.
“We will be conducting operations across the country,” the person said. “You’re going to see arrests in New York. You’re going to see arrests in Miami.
Trump’s new border czar, Tom Homan, said at an event in Chicago that the administration was “going to start right here in Chicago, Illinois,” the Journal reported.
“And if the mayor of Chicago doesn’t want to help, he can walk away. But if he embarrasses us, if he knowingly harbors or hides an illegal alien, I will prosecute him,” he reportedly declared.
Immigration was a focus of Trump’s campaign in the run-up to the November 5 presidential election.
“Moments after my inauguration, we will launch the largest national deportation operation in American history,” Trump said in January 2024.
Trump is expected to mobilize U.S. government agencies to help him deport a record number of immigrants, Reuters reported, building on efforts during his first term to harness all available resources and put pressure on so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions so that they cooperate.
