As reported by the Wall Street Journal, the new Trump administration plans to promote an anti-immigration raid in Chicago, probably the day after Inauguration Day. The operation, which will be carried out through the deployment of 100 to 200 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, will last throughout next week.
A source familiar with the new administration’s plans said that Chicago will only be the starting point; such measures will later be taken in other areas of the country. The unnamed source hinted that the next cities affected by ICE operations could be Miami and New York.
In early December, Tom Homan, the Trump administration’s new border czar, had already revealed that mass deportations of illegal immigrants, repeatedly promised by the president-elect, would begin in the Windy City.
“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,” he said during a party organized by the Law and Order PAC and the Northwest Side GOP Club.
Immigration has probably been the main issue exploited by Donald Trump during the last victorious election campaign. “After I take office, we will begin the largest domestic deportation operation in American history,” the MAGA leader has repeatedly vowed over the past 12 months.
According to Reuters reports, Trump is now expected to mobilize government agencies to deport a record number of immigrants, drawing on all available resources and pressuring so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions to cooperate with his administration. Trump’s team intends to target illegal immigrants in the country with criminal records, many of whom, such as driving infractions, were considered too minor to prosecute, by the Biden administration.
The choice to begin operations from Chicago was made both because of the large number of immigrants in the city and the strained relations between MAGA leader and Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson.
Other major centers, such as New York, Los Angeles, Denver, and Miami, have also come into the crosshairs of the incoming administration and may soon become theaters of new targeted raids.
To facilitate such operations, Trump is considering a wide range of changes to give sheriffs more power, with rewards for cooperating jurisdictions and financial penalties against those who oppose such initiatives instead.
