The Trump administration is making plans for an immigration crackdown in Chicago that would involve 200 homeland security officials and the use of a naval base outside the city as a staging area, according to internal documents obtained by The New York Times.
The request to use a Naval Station in Illinois, drafted in recent days by the Homeland Security Department, suggested that the Trump administration was planning a sustained operation, potentially for the month of September. The request, should it be granted by the Defense Department, would be a notable example of the nation’s military resources being used for civilian law enforcement by an administration that has increasingly blurred the line between them.
The city has long been a target of the Trump administration. In recent weeks, President Trump has called the city a “mess,” and immigration officials have clashed with city’s leadership over Chicago’s status as a so-called sanctuary city, which generally refers to places that limit cooperation with agents looking to deport undocumented immigrants.
“Chicago still has a crime problem. So President Trump, again, made a promise to the American people he will make the country safe again,” said Tom Homan, Mr. Trump’s border czar. He said that there were “discussions” about using the base; he would not confirm how many people would be sent there.
The plans for the operation also dovetail with Mr. Trump’s promise to take his crackdown on crime beyond Washington.
“I think Chicago will be our next, and then we’ll help with New York,” Mr. Trump said last week after he deployed hundreds of National Guard troops to Washington and his administration tried to make the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration the emergency police commissioner.
The Trump administration has ramped up immigration enforcement across the country, seeking to target and arrest people in jurisdictions that typically don’t work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including Los Angeles and Boston.
The aim is to carry out the mass deportation campaign promised by Mr. Trump during his campaign. Immigration officials have been under increasing pressure to make more arrests and deport a growing number of people.
The draft request for use of Naval Station Great Lakes near Chicago describes “30 days of operations in the Chicago Metropolitan area.” One U.S. official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said that the Homeland Security Department had discussed using the base for immigration enforcement with the military.
Naval Station Great Lakes, a hub for recruit training, would provide “facilities, infrastructure and other logistical needs” if the Homeland Security Department’s request is granted, according to a Defense Department official who was not authorized to speak publicly. The request awaits review by the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth.
A group of advance members from the homeland security team would arrive on Sep. 2, the document says. The request seeks space for 250 department personnel plus a “Tactical Operations Center” and an “Incident Command Post,” as well as bathrooms, laundry, parking for 140 vehicles and storage space for medical supplies and weapons like rubber bullets and tear gas.
Former ICE officials said the request indicated a significant operation targeting Chicago.
“This appears to be a large-scale sustained plan. Having a tactical operations center and incident command center indicates the type of preparation you would see in a military setting,” said Claire Trickler-McNulty, a former senior ICE official. “That this is separate from the police department and existing local ICE infrastructure looks like a massive surge operation” building on operations in Los Angeles and Washington.
A Homeland Security Department statement said that agency officials have been arresting and deporting “the worst of worst, including gang members, murderers, pedophiles and rapists that have terrorized American communities.”
Trump administration officials have hinted in recent days that an effort was on the way for Chicago. The Chicago Sun-Times reported on Wednesday about an email from a local Navy captain saying that homeland security officials would be coming to the base.
ICE has made at least 1,400 immigration arrests in Illinois since Trump took office through last month, a much lower rate per capita than in other immigrant heavy states like New York or Virginia.
More than a thousand of those arrests have been in the Chicago area, and because of Chicago’s noncooperation policy, almost 90 percent of the arrests in Illinois have been arrests in communities, known as at-large arrests, a similar share to last year. Arrests have almost doubled compared to the same period in 2024, but that is still a smaller increase than in most other states.
Eric Schmitt and Albert Sun contributed reporting.
Hamed Aleaziz covers the Department of Homeland Security and immigration policy for The Times.
The post Trump Administration Plans Immigration Crackdown in Chicago appeared first on New York Times.
