Unlock the White House Watch Bulletin for free
Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world
US immigration authorities began arrests in Chicago on Sunday targeting undocumented residents living in the “Sanctuary” city.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed on social media that its agents, along with several federal agencies, including the FBI, had begun operations in the Midwestern city. Tsar Tom Homan border he was in Chicago for the raid, as was Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove.
The operation targeted about 270 “known criminals,” according to television personality Phil McGraw, who shadowed ICE officers and agents at their Chicago command center and live for his TV Channel Merit TV.
Donald Trump did immigration The central issue of his campaign was the promise of “mass deportations”. Chicago was on edge for more than a week after news broke of the administration’s plans for raids, with fewer people venturing outside in densely populated immigrant neighborhoods.
Just under a fifth of metro Chicago’s population was born outside the U.S., according to the U.S. Census, a grouping that includes people with immigration statuses ranging from naturalized citizens to undocumented. Mexicans make up the largest group born outside the US, followed by people from India and Poland.
About 52,000 immigrants have arrived in the city since August 2022, when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began knocking people over the border to Chicago, among other Democratic-controlled cities.
As a sanctuary city since the 1980s, Chicago has adopted policies that limit cooperation with federal authorities to enforce immigration laws.
The City Council voted this month to reject a proposal that would weaken those protections, and the Chicago Transit Authority displays ads at train and bus stations directing riders to the city’s “Know Your Rights” website, which outlines how to communicate with immigration authorities.
In recent months, Homan has discussed “collateral” arrests, detaining undocumented people if they are in the presence of someone without a warrant. That would violate the 2022 settlement and could make residents of certain states who are detained in such arrests without warrants eligible for immediate release from custody.
On Sunday, Homan agreed when McGraw, also known as “Dr. Phil,” suggested the collateral arrests were the result of local authorities refusing to cooperate with ICE, prompting federal agents to make arrests in city neighborhoods.
“That’s the game they want to play, the game, we’re going to do it,” Homan said.
Immigration advocates fear that the executive orders issued by Trump last week represent a major attempt to remove due process protections.
Expedited removal, which is deporting people without a judicial hearing or legal counsel, usually applies to people detained within 100 miles of the US border.
Trump is trying to expand it throughout the country for everyone who cannot prove to the ice agent’s satisfaction that they have been in the US for at least two years.
Mary Meg McCarthy, executive director of the Chicago-based National Center for Justice, said many of the orders violated US law and the Constitution.
Trump’s rhetoric of “known cruelty and dehumanization. . . Now paired with the full force of the executive branch and Congress, they will relieve the deep suffering of our longtime immigrant neighbors and people who have arrived more recently to seek refuge,” she said.
