President Trump's Government Launches Immigration Operations In Illinois

The immigration raid by the joint US apparatus in Georgia on September 4. (Source: ICE)

JAKARTA - United States President Donald Trump's administration on Monday said it had launched a deportation crackdown in Illinois targeting big criminals among immigrants in the US without legal status, after weeks of pledging to deploy National Guard troops to fight crime in Chicago.

The US Department of Homeland Security said in an online statement, "Operationariel Blitz" is being carried out by the Immigration and Customs Agency (ICE), but details regarding its coverage and nature have not been explained in detail, as reported by Reuters on September 9.

It remains to be seen whether President Donald Trump will send National Guard troops to Chicago to accompany ICE and other federal law enforcement officers, as he has done inside and around Los Angeles and District of Columbia.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, both Democratic, said their offices had not yet received an official notification from federal authorities regarding the operation, which they criticized as a political action designed to intimidate.

President Trump is known to have stepped up his rhetoric on the expansion of federal law enforcement and the presence of the National Guard in Democrat-led cities and states, calling the use of presidential power an urgent attempt to eradicate crime, even as local officials cited a decline in the number of killings and other violent offenses.

DHS said ICE's latest operations were needed because of a city and state "cash" law that limits cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

DHS Assistant Minister, total McLaughlin, said the crackdown was aimed at gang members, rapists, kidnappers and convicted drug dealers, whom he described as "the worst criminal illegal migrants in Chicago."

The press release cited 11 cases of illegal immigrants in the US, mostly from Mexico and Venezuela, which DHS said had records of arrests or penalties for serious crimes and were released from local prisons instead of being handed over to federal immigration officials.

Separately, Jeylu City Council member Gutierrez, who represents District 14 with a majority of his population of Hispanic on the southwest side of Chicago, said at least five members of his community had been detained in what he called a " federal attack."

Among those arrested, said Gutierrez, there was a flower seller who was detained while at work, while others were detained while waiting for the bus or walking on the sidewalk.

"It's not about capturing the worst of the worst, it's about terrorizing our community," Gutierrez, a Mexican immigrant, told a news conference.

Meanwhile, Governor Pritzker, widely seen as a potential candidate for the White House in 2028, also denied the reasons for eradicating the crimes voiced by President Trump last Tuesday, when he said he would send National Guard troops to Chicago, the country's third most populous city and the Democratic Party's strong base.

"This is not about fighting crime," Governor Pritzker said on social media platform X on Monday.

"It requires support and coordination, but we haven't experienced anything like that in the last few weeks," he added.

Meanwhile, the Johnson Mayor said he was concerned about "the potential for militarized immigration law enforcement without proper legal proceedings," citing "ICE's track record in detaining and deporting American citizens and violating human rights of hundreds of detainees."

In a post on Truth Social on Monday, President Trump cited the recent killings and shootings in Chicago, blaming Governor Pritzker for not submitting a request for assistance from the Trump Administration.

"I want to help Chicago residents, not hurt them," wrote President Trump.

"Only criminals will be injured! We can move quickly and stop this madness," he continued.

Earlier, President Trump's Administration launched a parallel immigration law enforcement operation in Boston in recent days, an ICE official confirmed on Monday.

ICE also said on Monday its Houston-based agency had arrested 822 "criminal elements, transnational gang members, child predators, foreign fugitives, and other serious criminals" in operations over the past week in southeastern Texas.

Earlier, DHS said ICE had arrested nearly 1,500 immigration criminals during a month-long spike in law enforcement in Massachusetts in May and early June.

The latest ICE operation in Chicago was announced on the same day that the US Supreme Court issued a decision allowing federal agencies in Southern California to continue immigration raids detaining people based on their race, ethnicity, language, or accent, even without "natural suspicion" that they are in the country illegally.