Trump’s first major deportation operation will hit Chicago, says report
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Trump immigration czar Tom Homan has already threatened to prosecute Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson. The Trump administration is reportedly planning to begin its promised campaign of unprecedented mass deportations with a series of raids in Chicago. The operation will include as many as 200 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, and will target scores of migrants, including those with low-level criminal histories that would’ve been deemed low priority by the Biden administration.
Chicago was chosen because of its large immigration population and because of the incoming administration’s public feud with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, sources told the paper. The Independent has contacted the Trump transition team and ICE for comment.
In December, incoming immigration czar Tom Homan told a group of local Republicans that the Trump administration deportation program was “going to start right here in Chicago,” and threatened to prosecute Johnson. “If your Chicago mayor doesn’t want to help, he can step aside,” he reportedly said. “But if he impedes us — if he knowingly harbors or conceals an illegal alien — I will prosecute him.”.
Johnson, in response, noted that Chicago is a “sanctuary” city which limits the ability of local police to be enlisted to carry out federal immigration enforcement. “What the Trump administration has called for is for local police departments around the country to behave as ICE agents. In sanctuary cities, that is not permissible,” Johnson told CNN.
