By Steve Neavling
After weeks of threats to send the National Guard into Chicago, the Trump administration on Monday announced a deportation sweep in Illinois.
Branded “Operation Midway Blitz,” the Department of Homeland Security said the crackdown was targeting immigrants in the U.S. without legal status who had serious criminal records, Reuters reports.
Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the focus was on convicted gang members, rapists, kidnappers and drug traffickers who she called “the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens in Chicago.” The agency cited 11 cases of immigrants with arrests or convictions for serious crimes, most from Mexico and Venezuela, who had been released from local jails instead of turned over to ICE.
Local leaders said the operation went far beyond that. City Alderwoman Jeylu Gutierrez said at least five people in her ward were detained, including a flower vendor arrested on the job and others picked up while waiting for a bus or walking down the street.
“This was never about arresting the worst of the worst, this is about terrorizing our communities,” Gutierrez said at a press conference.
Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson both condemned the action, saying neither had been formally notified.
“This isn’t about fighting crime,” Pritzker said on X. “That requires support and coordination — yet we’ve experienced nothing like that over the past several weeks.”
Johnson warned of “potential militarized immigration enforcement without due process,” citing ICE’s history of detaining U.S. citizens and violating detainees’ rights.
On Truth Social, Trump defended the operation.
“I want to help the people of Chicago, not hurt them. Only the Criminals will be hurt! We can move fast and stop this madness,” he wrote.
