By Chicago will soon become the first test of Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement operation. Sources close to the initiative told The Wall Street Journal that the raids, planned for next week, represent a key step in the new president’s pledge to execute a mass deportation campaign targeting undocumented immigrants.
Scheduled to commence on Tuesday, the day after Trump’s inauguration, the operation will involve between 100 and 200 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. While the primary objective is to apprehend individuals with criminal records, officials have suggested that undocumented immigrants encountered during the operation may also be detained.
The newspaper writes that 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 Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson.
Though it isn’t clear how many people the operation will actually target, Trump’s team is planning to work with several right-leaning media outlets to amplify its efforts.
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.”
In response to Homan’s comments at the time, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, said “I’m going to make sure to follow the law. I’m concerned that the Trump administration and his lackeys aren’t going to follow the law.”
Chicago’s selection as the launch site reflects its status as a sanctuary city with a substantial immigrant population. The Trump administration’s approach has already clashed with the city’s Democratic leadership, including Mayor Brandon Johnson, who has been a vocal critic of federal immigration policies. Tom Homan, appointed as the administration’s border czar, hinted at the planned enforcement during a recent visit, emphasizing Chicago’s position as a starting point and warning local officials against obstructing federal efforts, with potential legal consequences for those who do.
Homan, who headed ICE during the first Trump administration, previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the White House would concentrate on the “worst first,” prioritizing illegal migrants who have criminal histories and orders of removal. However, he’s made it clear that any illegal migrant still in America is “fair game.”
“Like the first Trump administration, we’re going to prioritize public safety threats, national security threats and fugitives,” Homan stated to the DCNF, adding that gang members and other criminals would be their main focus. “Those that had due process at great taxpayer expense, were given orders of deportation, never left and became a fugitive – them too, they’re a priority.”
According to a new poll published by The New York Times, the American people back the Trump approach to fixing the border and deporting the millions of illegal immigrants who have entered the country.
“A little more than half of the country expresses some desire to see Mr. Trump follow through with his harshest threat to deal with illegal immigration: deporting everyone living in the United States without authorization.
The poll, which surveyed 2,128 adults from Jan. 2 to 10, found that 55 percent of Americans either strongly or somewhat support such mass deportations.
A vast majority of Americans — 87 percent — support deporting undocumented immigrants with a criminal record, which Mr. Trump has said would be one of the first orders of business he carries out.
Nearly two-thirds of all Americans — including 54 percent of Hispanics and 44 percent of Democrats — support deporting people who entered the country illegally during the last four years of the Biden administration, after it reversed many of Mr. Trump’s immigration restrictions from his first term. In that time, legal and illegal immigration soared to the highest levels in U.S. history.”
Future Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently pushed back against liberal news host Kristen Welker and explained why so many people, like himself, have changed their tune on illegal immigration.
Marco Rubio destroys Kristen Walker in his defense of mass deportations. Absolutely brilliant answer.
Seriously this is how absolutely every single Republican must talk about deportations because this is the truth and this is where we are as a country because of the last four… pic.twitter.com/oyDK8MHJdl
— Insurrection Barbie (@DefiyantlyFree) January 17, 2025
Trump will take office on January 20th at noon.
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