The Trump administration is stepping up immigration enforcement in Chicago through Operation Midway Blitz, the Department of Homeland Security announced Monday.
News of the operation came the same day the Supreme Court sided with the administration on an immigration matter when it lifted a lower-court ruling limiting raids in Los Angeles after complaints of racial profiling.
“This stay reaffirms what we’ve always known: lower court activist judges are trying to impede the President from lawfully carrying out the American people’s agenda,” Abigail Jackson, a Trump administration spokeswoman, told the Washington Post in a statement.
The Supreme Court’s ruling is limited to Southern California, but could be seen as clearance for the administration to ramp up immigration efforts in other cities like Chicago.
“This operation will target the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens in Chicago,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a press release.
CHICAGO: a sanctuary city that attracts and protects criminal illegal aliens to the detriment of law-abiding citizens.In an ICE-led operation, we are here to remove these dangerous public safety threats from American communities. pic.twitter.com/p8G2XFYM18
— U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (@ICEgov) September 8, 2025
“For years, Governor Pritzker and his fellow sanctuary politicians released Tren de Aragua gang members, rapists, kidnappers, and drug traffickers on Chicago’s streets—putting American lives at risk and making Chicago a magnet for criminals,” she added. “President Trump and Secretary Noem have a clear message: no city is a safe haven for criminal illegal aliens. If you come to our country illegally and break our laws, we will hunt you down, arrest you, deport you, and you will never return.”
Democrats promptly criticized the move as overkill.
“The President and his cronies will say they are going after the ‘worst of the worst,’ but the reality is that most of those who will be targeted have NO criminal convictions,” Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin wrote on X. “This wastes money. This stokes fear. AND, this does NOT make us safer.”
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, also of Illinois, reacted: “This is not about law and order—if it was, Trump would coordinate with the city and police on public safety. Instead, he’s planning to invade, intimidate and stage chaos all so he can swoop in and play the hero. Nothing about this is normal. NOTHING.”
The City of Chicago received no notice of any enhanced immigration action by the Trump administration. We remain opposed to any potential militarized immigration enforcement without due process because of ICE’s track record of detaining and deporting American citizens and… https://t.co/F7oD1iKHB6
— Mayor Brandon Johnson (@ChicagosMayor) September 8, 2025
The mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson, said on X that he received “no notice” of the Operation Midway Blitz.
“We remain opposed to any potential militarized immigration enforcement without due process because of ICE’s track record of detaining and deporting American citizens and violating the human rights of hundreds of detainees,” he explained.
Johnson followed up his post by highlighting reported human rights abuses at ICE detention facilities, as well as the alleged deportation of a 4-year-old American citizen with Stage 4 kidney cancer.
“Because of these incidents and more, we remain opposed to militarized immigration enforcement that runs afoul of the Constitution in our city,” Johnson wrote, linking to a resource center for migrants and others to know their rights.
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