CHICAGO (NewsNation) — Operation Midway Blitz has been ongoing for weeks now around the greater Chicago area, but President Donald Trump’s promise to deliver a federal show of force has become more visible in recent days.
U.S. Border Patrol agents were present along Michigan Avenue and other popular downtown destinations last week, led by commander-at-large Gregory Bovino, who is heading the Chicago operation. Department of Homeland Security officials have reported that hundreds of arrests have been made as federal officers continue to target what the administration refers to as the “worst of the worst.”
This week, NewsNation got a firsthand look at an early-morning enforcement operation in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood, where sources say that 37 migrants who entered the U.S. illegally, including suspected Tren de Aragua gang members, were taken into custody.
On Thursday, three migrants who Customs and Border Protection officials say are in the United States illegally were arrested after they ran after a federal vehicle pulled up near a homeless shelter in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood. An agency spokesperson said that federal officers did not enter the shelter but that they detained those who ran.
Yet as federal officials, including Bovino, insist that they are making Chicago safer, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson continue to vehemently oppose the presence of federal troops, which will remain ongoing despite the government shutdown.
This week, Johnson criticized the Trump administration’s characterization of Chicago being “dangerous” and said that he has spoken to local business owners who are afraid to send their children to school because of the increased presence of federal officers and agents, which the mayor called “reckless.“
“It is not ‘tough’ or ‘patriotic’ to throw a crying mother to the floor who just wanted to be reunited with her children. It’s not ‘law and order’ to body slam a 79-year-old business owner, an American citizen, for trying to produce the papers of his employees,” Johnson said.
“So again, I say, this is not about public safety. This is not even about immigration. This is a continuation of the Trump administration’s war on the poor.”
Despite the government shutdown, Pritzker does not expect the ongoing, large-scale federal operation to end. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem posted on social media this week that federal officers and agents will remain on the job but that up to 200,000 officers and military members will do their jobs without pay.
“The president is likely to continue the militarization going — he can do that, because there are emergency personnel and military personnel can keep on the job,” Pritzker said this week.
Federal agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, CBP, the Drug Enforcement Administration and FBI have remained active. During the South Shore operation, military Black Hawk helicopters, trucks and drones were used to surround a five-story apartment complex, where the arrests were made.
Trump continues to promote Chicago as being the National Guard’s next destination, saying this week that he will use “dangerous” Democrat-led cities like Chicago for a “training ground” for the U.S. military and National Guard.
Johnson and Pritzker pushed back with the governor accusing Trump of „copying the tactics of Vladimir Putin.“
Said Johnson: „American cities are not a training ground for the military,“ the mayor said. „Quite frankly, it’s appalling that he would even suggest such a thing. This is further evidence and proof that he’s an unstable, unhinged individual.”
Trump’s plans include members of the Illinois National Guard, which Pritzker said this week received a memo from DHS officials about a request for 100 troops to be deployed to Chicago to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and facilities. ICE’s processing center in suburban Broadview has remained at the center of the operation.
The facility, which is being used as the main processing facility for those taken into federal custody, has remained a focal point for anti-ICE protesters. Demonstrators have been met with tear gas, pepper balls and other chemical agents, which have prompted Broadview village officials to launch three separate criminal investigations into the actions of ICE officers.
Trump has given no definitive timeline for when more troops could arrive, nor has there been one for how long Chicago will remain the priority of hundreds of federal officers and agents.
“We’re not going anywhere,” Bovino told NewsNation this week.
