The Trump administration is preparing to conduct a major immigration enforcement operation in Chicago as soon as next week, according to multiple sources familiar with the planning, marking the latest escalation between the president and a Democratic-led city.
President Donald Trump and his aides have repeatedly slammed Chicago over policies that limit cooperation between local authorities and federal immigration enforcement. Chicago grappled with an influx of migrants during the Biden administration following surges along the US southern border and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to transport migrants to Democratic-led cities.
Chicago was among the first cities targeted in immigration enforcement operations when Trump took office in January. The administration also sued the city over its so-called sanctuary policies, though the case was dismissed when a judge ruled the federal government lacked the legal standing to bring the challenge, and threatened to withhold federal funding, which was also blocked by a judge.
Now, the anticipated operations in Chicago are expected to be at a larger scale, using personnel from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and possibly other agencies. Officials are preparing the National Guard to help if a peacekeeping presence is needed, akin to what unfolded in Los Angeles following protests, the sources said.
Preparations for Chicago are already underway, including sending armored vehicles to the city in the coming days and surging federal agents by next Friday, Sept. 5, when, according to two sources, the operation is expected to kick off. Discussions, however, are still ongoing and planning is in flux.
White House officials have made clear that these plans are distinct from the idea the president has suggested over the past week to use federal law enforcement and National Guard troops to carry out a broader crime crackdown in Chicago, similar to the current surge in Washington, DC.
Those discussions, which center on “cleaning up domestic Chicago crime,” as one of the officials put it, are ongoing and are not a part of this immigration-focused operation (though the effort in Washington has yielded a huge spike in immigration-related arrests).
Instead, the blueprint for the Chicago operation has been established in Los Angeles.
The Department of Homeland Security has touted enforcement operations there, taking to social media to boast about arrests and embracing aggressive tactics. This week, the department announced it made 5,000 arrests in Los Angeles since June.
White House border czar Tom Homan said Thursday that planning for Chicago was still underway. He added that there are talks underway to use a Naval base north of Chicago as a hub for federal personnel. The Navy declined to comment on potential plans and referred questions to DHS.
Homan declined to say how many people would be deployed but maintained “it will be a large contingent.”
“You can see a ramp up of operation in Chicago, absolutely,” he said.
Gregory Bovino, who holds the title of chief patrol agent of the El Centro sector, has been charged with the operations in Los Angeles and is expected to lead operations in Chicago as well, according to two sources.
“Across the country, DHS law enforcement are arresting and removing the worst of worst including gang members, murderers, pedophiles, and rapists that have terrorized American communities,” a senior Homeland Security official said in a statement to CNN when asked about upcoming operations in Chicago. “Under Secretary Noem, ICE and CBP are working overtime to deliver on the American people’s mandate to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens and make America safe again.”
The National Guard’s role in Chicago would be similar to what it was in Los Angeles, where troops were on Title 10 orders, meaning they had been federalized and were barred by the Posse Comitatus Act from engaging in law enforcement activities.
The situation is different in DC, where troops are on Title 32 orders. That normally means they report to the governor — in the unique case of DC, that authority falls to the president and is typically delegated to the Army Secretary — and are not subject to Posse Comitatus. There would be broader legal concerns if the Trump administration tried something similar in Illinois.
Rachel VanLandingham, a former Air Force judge advocate and current law professor at Southwestern Law School, previously told CNN it would be “a whole new world for them to try a Washington, DC-type maneuver in Chicago or anywhere else that’s not Washington, DC, because Washington, DC, is so legally different than any other area.”
The current immigration push, however, is firmly in the president’s executive authority, administration officials said.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Monday railed against Trump for suggesting he could deploy a larger contingent of federal forces to Chicago, accusing the administration of “searching for ways to lay the groundwork to circumvent our democracy, militarize our cities and end elections.”
Pritzker also said that the administration had failed to contact his office or the mayor ahead of the reported deployment, and he slammed the lack of coordination.
