Federal immigration officers will target more than 300 people with histories of egregious, violent crimes after President-elect Donald Trump takes office Monday, an official said, marking his administration’s initial attempt toward fulfilling his promise of large-scale deportations.
The operation will be concentrated in the Chicago area, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because plans have not been made public. Arrests are expected all week.
U.S. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement arrests a fraction of its targets in such operations, though Trump is expected to cast a wider net than President Joe Biden, whose focus on picking up people away from the border was largely limited to those with serious criminal histories and national security threats. Trump aides have said they will arrest others, such as spouses or roommates, who are not targets but happen to be in the country illegally.
ICE and the Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday. The plan was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal, which said the operation is expected to begin Tuesday.
Trump’s incoming border czar, Tom Homan, told Fox News that Chicago will be one of many places across the country where federal authorities plan to make arrests.
“We’re going to take the handcuffs off ICE and let them go arrest criminal aliens, that’s what’s going to happen,” Homan said Friday. “What we’re telling ICE, you’re going to go enforce the immigration law without apology. You’re going to concentrate on the worst first, public safety threats first, but no one is off the table. If they’re in the country illegally, they got a problem.”
Trump told NBC News on Saturday that mass deportations remain a top priority. He didn’t give an exact date or city where they’ll start, but he said they would begin soon.
“It’ll begin very early, very quickly,” he said, adding: “I can’t say which cities because things are evolving. And I don’t think we want to say what city. You’ll see it firsthand.”
“We have to get the criminals out of our country. And I think you would agree with that. I don’t know how anyone could not agree.”
Next week’s operations are subject to potential weather delays, the official said. Forecasters have warned the Chicago area is facing bitter cold temperatures beginning Sunday that could stretch through the week.
Immigrants and groups advocating for them have been preparing since Trump made mass deportations a signature pledge of his campaign. Trump has often been critical of Chicago, which has some of the country’s strongest protections for people in the country without legal status.
The nation’s third-largest city became a so-called sanctuary city in the 1980s, limiting how police can cooperate with federal immigration agents. It has strengthened those policies several times since, including after Trump first took office eight years ago.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and first-term Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have said they won’t back off those commitments. Johnson in November called Trump’s deportation plans “small and soft.”
Homan blasted top Democratic leaders in the state during a visit to the Chicago area last month where he indicated enforcement would start in Chicago.
“The reality is that, I think there has been a level of fear since Election Day,” Brandon Lee, a spokesperson for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said Saturday. “We were always operating as though Trump was going to target Chicago and Illinois early in his administration.”
Advocates have been working to inform immigrants of their rights, creating phone trees to notify them about where officers are making arrests and advising them that officers often work in early-morning hours. Officers typically work without warrants that entitle them to forcibly enter a home.
“We’re just trying to be as ready as we can,” Lee said. “We’re never going to know all the details (of ICE operations). But for members of the community, knowing their rights is empowering.”
At a news conference Saturday, Democratic U.S. Reps. Jesus Garcia and Delia Ramirez urged immigrants in Chicago to remain calm and exercise their rights, particularly to remain silent and refuse to allow officers into their homes without warrants.
“We are being tested once again,” Garcia said. “We have experience defending our community.”
