The Department of Homeland Security is trying to use a Navy base north of Chicago to support President Trump’s hardline immigration crackdown.
Officials at Naval Station Great Lakes confirmed receiving a request from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s department to house federal immigration enforcement agents, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. It comes as Trump threatens to send National Guard troops to Chicago, and Noem said that an ICE “strike team” would be in the city soon.
No decision has yet been made on the request to use the base, defense officials told The Washington Post, adding that the installation would offer “facilities, infrastructure, and other logistical needs” if the request is granted.
The responsibility to sign off on the request lies with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has previously vowed to give the Pentagon’s full support to DHS agents carrying out Trump’s agenda to deport undocumented immigrants.
Navy Capt. Stephen Yargosz, the commanding officer of Naval Station Great Lakes, sent an email to staff saying DHS authorities would be at the base from September 2 to September 30 if the request is approved, according to the Sun-Times. Yargosz also noted a “potential to also support National Guard units.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the Department of Defense and Naval Station Great Lakes for comment.
DHS attempted to draw connections between the Chicago staging post request and Trump’s push to make cities safer across the U.S., a policy already being implemented in Washington, D.C., with chaotic results.
Despite most people being collected by ICE having no violent criminal history, DHS told the Daily Beast of its plan to use the Naval base: “Across the country, DHS law enforcement are arresting and removing the worst of [the] worst, including gang members, murderers, pedophiles, and rapists that have terrorized American communities.”
“Under Secretary Noem, ICE and CBP are working overtime to deliver on the American people’s mandate to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens and make America safe again,” the official added.
Speaking with NewsNation following a Cabinet meeting this week, Noem said: “We’re going to have a strike team in Chicago soon,” which the network described as specialized units within the agency.
At the Cabinet meeting, Trump criticized Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and other officials in Democrat-led cities as being “against crime prevention.” Pritzker has pushed back against the president’s threats, saying he “will not stand idly by” if Trump “decides to send the National Guard to intimidate Chicagoans.”
“Action will be met with a response,” Pritzker wrote in an X post on Wednesday.
News of the request to use the Naval base comes after a report emerged that the Navy is trying to plan a big celebration involving seacraft this fall after Trump complained that he was disappointed with the marching at the military parade held in the capital on his birthday in June.
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