As the Trump administration’s mass deportation raids begin their second month, their impact has stretched across the Chicago region and the nation.
Political tensions have deepened, hundreds have been detained or arrested, and thousands have protested from a two-story brick U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in suburban Broadview to city street corners and suburban downtowns. Throughout it all, activists, protesters and journalists have been tear gassed or hit with pepper balls and President Donald Trump’s threats to send in the National Guard — first to quell crime in Chicago, then to assist ICE and Border Patrol agents — have, for the moment, not come to fruition.
Here’s what we know about federal immigration enforcement in and around the city, as well as other immigration-related stories and the National Guard deployment.
Stay current with the latest news by subscribing to the Chicago Tribune — and sign up for our free Immigration Bulletin newsletter.
How we got here
President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security announced Sept. 8 that it had begun a surge of immigration law enforcement in Chicago, dubbing it “Operation Midway Blitz” and claiming it would target “criminal illegal aliens” who have benefited from the city and state’s sanctuary policies.
The announcement came more than two weeks after the Republican president said he was planning to target Chicago because of the city’s crime rates, causing Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson to warn residents of potential immigration sweeps.
“Let’s be clear, the terror and cruelty is the point, not the safety of anyone living here,” Pritzker said Sept. 2.
Trump set the stage for the operation with a social media post depicting military helicopters flying over the city’s lakefront skyline using the title “Chipocalypse Now.” “Chicago is about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” Trump wrote, a day after signing an executive order to rename the Department of Defense to its pre-1949 title.
- Gov. JB Pritzker establishing an ‘accountability commission’ on Trump administration’s immigration raids
- ICE and Donald Trump target police in Chicago and other cities for recruitment in a TV ad
- CPS prepares students, parents amid National Guard deployment threat
- As President Donald Trump appears to waffle on National Guard in Chicago, Gov. JB Pritzker says, ‘do not come’
- Gov. JB Pritzker again makes Nazi comparisons after President Trump threatens DC-like takeover in Chicago
ICE in and around Chicago
“Operation Midway Blitz” has been noticeable around Chicago and its suburbs, from tear gas incidents in Logan Square and detaining a mother and child at Millennium Park to a wild manhunt in suburban Mount Prospect and multiple rideshare arrests at O’Hare. A federal judge ruled all immigration enforcement agents must have body cameras and said she was particularly worried about alleged violations in recent clashes, including one in Chicago’s East Side neighborhood where agents used a controversial and potentially dangerous maneuver to disable a fleeing vehicle, then tear-gassed people during a tense gathering at the scene.
On Sept. 12, Trump’s immigration-enforcement push took a violent turn when agents fatally shot a man in Franklin Park after he allegedly tried to flee a traffic stop and struck the officer with his vehicle. The man who was killed was identified by federal officials as Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, a 38-year-old single father with two young children. DHS said in a written statement that Villegas-Gonzalez is a citizen of Mexico and was in the U.S. illegally, though further details were not provided.
On Oct. 4, federal immigration authorities shot a Chicago woman who, according to federal authorities, had tried to impede them in Brighton Park. In the shooting’s wake, protesters quickly took to the intersection to confront the federal forces. Some threw water bottles as the agents tossed tear gas and flash-bang grenades at them on the residential street.
- Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino accused of violating judge’s order by throwing tear gas at crowd in Little Village
- Oak Park attorney arrested near school says federal agents pointed gun at him, had ‘Chiraq Team 2’ group chat
- Federal immigration agents raid Swap-O-Rama, patrol Southwest Side: ‘It’s us against y’all’
- They were already living in one of Chicago’s worst apartment buildings. Then came the ICE raid.
- WGN-TV producer detained during ICE enforcement action in Lincoln Square
- Downtown aldermen rip ‘public relations stunt’ day after Border Patrol agents patrolled busy Chicago streets
- Chase of cyclist by ICE agents in downtown Chicago described as surreal by witness
- Upset neighbors interrupt federal immigration manhunt in Mount Prospect
- Elgin man who is a US citizen was briefly detained in latest Chicago-area immigration enforcement blitz
- Videos of ‘targeted’ immigration raids in Carpentersville circulate online, including activity near village hall
- Flower vendor arrested at launch of Trump’s ‘Operation Midway Blitz’ deported to Mexico
- Waukegan mayor intercedes in Border Patrol arrest: ‘I want to … make sure our residents are safe’
What’s happening in Broadview?
Confrontations between federal agents and people protesting “Operation Midway Blitz” have put the tiny suburb, and the first Black woman to lead it, in the national spotlight.
Protesters have held near-daily demonstrations at Broadview’s ICE processing center since DHS announced it was launching “Operation Midway Blitz” in early September. Friday and Sundays often see larger crowds and, with that, arrests in violation of Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson’s recently issued order that protests only occur between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Bowing to a court-ordered deadline, crews tore down the controversial security fence outside the facility on Oct. 14. Federal officials erected the 8-foot-high fence three weeks earlier . In turn, Broadview officials immediately pushed back, saying it was “illegally built,” and demanded that the Department of Homeland Security take it down.
- Broadview residents are scared as ICE facility becomes a battleground for Trump immigration blitz
- Refusing ‘a position of fear,’ Broadview’s mayor deals with ICE and a national spotlight
- Broadview ICE facility becomes backdrop for candidates to signal immigration stance and raise campaign funds
- Tribune photographer describes capturing viral image from recent ICE protest
- US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says ‘we’re here to stay,’ indicating ICE may expand in Broadview
- Elgin man who is a US citizen was briefly detained in latest Chicago-area immigration enforcement blitz
Chicago takes action
Whether its aldermen leading street patrols or residents blowing whistles to alert others, activists are coming in all shapes and sizes in Chicago. “We’ll do everything in our power to make sure that ICE is out of Chicago,” Ald. Michael Rodriguez, 22nd, who represents Little Village, told the Tribune on Oct. 3.
Numerous U.S. citizens and others have reported being detained, including a 44-year-old U.S. citizen who said agents zip-tied her and questioned her after work at a downtown bar earlier this month, and a Rogers Park man who agents fined $130 for not carrying his legal papers with him when they questioned him about his legal status last week. Here’s what to do if ICE stops you.
- Cafes and restaurants across Chicago put up signs barring immigration agents
- Fighting Trump’s immigration blitz in Chicago, ward by ward
- Amid ICE surge, Board of Education urges CPS to offer remote learning
- Illinois Democratic lawmakers take on activist role amid President Trump’s immigration crackdown
- Outside hotels and a naval base, suburban Chicago protests immigration ‘blitz’
- As fear of ICE arrests grips immigrants across Chicago, faith leaders offer resources and moral support
‘No Kings’ protests
The sound of whistles — an ominous warning from neighbors in recent weeks that signals ICE — instead rang out on Oct. 18 from the Chicago crowd as a cheer. During the “Hands off Chicago” protest speeches at Butler Field in Grant Park, Mayor Brandon Johnson urged the attendees to keep protecting immigrants who live in fear of federal immigration authorities.
“There are those in this country that have decided, at the behest of this president, to declare war on Chicago and American cities across this country,” Johnson told the crowd, eliciting a chorus of boos. “They have clearly decided that they want a rematch of the Civil War. But we are here to stand firm, to stay committed, that we will not bend, we will not bow, we will not cower, we will not submit.”
The Chicago demonstration — one of roughly 2,500 similar protests nationwide — was the latest flashpoint in Trump’s ongoing immigration crackdown.
Could the National Guard be next?
Gov. JB Pritzker has repeatedly called out the Trump administration for defending its decision to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago as necessary to fight violent crime in the city, even though the federal government has emphasized in court and Pentagon memos that the mission is mainly to protect federal immigration enforcement agents and federal property.
Appearing on ABC’s “This Week,” Pritzker on Oct. 13 said President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance’s ultimate goal is to bring in the National Guard to cities like Chicago and Portland, Oregon, to militarize the country’s Democratic-controlled enclaves as a form of political payback.
“They just want troops on the ground because they want to militarize, especially blue cities and blue states,” he said.
The Trump administration on Oct. 17 asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the president to dispatch troops in the Chicago area pending appeal. A federal judge in Chicago on Oct. 22 indefinitely extended the restraining order barring President Donald Trump from deploying the National Guard in Illinois as both state and federal officials await a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that could upend the case. Members of the Texas National Guard arrived in the Chicago area Oct. 7.
Trump has discussed the potential of invoking the two-century-old Insurrection Act as a way to get around judicial orders blocking guard deployment. The Insurrection Act is an exception to the Posse Comitatus Act and would allow the U.S. military to be actively involved in law enforcement to put down a “rebellion” or when enforcing federal law becomes “impractical.”
- Loop businesses uneasy about possible National Guard deployment: ‘It does have a chilling effect on business’
- Mayor Brandon Johnson calls for ‘dramatic’ response ahead of imminent National Guard deployment
- Gov. JB Pritzker points to Trump inconsistencies in deployment of National Guard to Chicago
- The National Guard has been activated to Chicago 18 times from 1877-2021. Here’s a breakdown.
- Donald Trump’s National Guard threat taps into traumas long held by Chicago’s Black community
- Gun violence survivors slam President Donald Trump’s talk of deploying National Guard in Chicago