* CNN last week…
The Trump administration is preparing to conduct a major immigration enforcement operation in Chicago as soon as next week, according to multiple sources familiar with the planning, marking the latest escalation between the president and a Democratic-led city. […]
Preparations for Chicago are already underway, including sending armored vehicles to the city in the coming days and surging federal agents by next Friday, Sept. 5, when, according to two sources, the operation is expected to kick off. Discussions, however, are still ongoing and planning is in flux.
White House officials have made clear that these plans are distinct from the idea the president has suggested over the past week to use federal law enforcement and National Guard troops to carry out a broader crime crackdown in Chicago, similar to the current surge in Washington, DC. […]
Homan declined to say how many people would be deployed but maintained “it will be a large contingent.”
“You can see a ramp up of operation in Chicago, absolutely,” he said.
* The Sun-Times on Saturday…
The Department of Defense has secured Naval Station Great Lakes for an immigration blitz in Chicago starting next week, two sources familiar with base operations confirmed to the Sun-Times on Saturday night.
Base staff were told the facility would be providing “support” in the form of office space for a command center as well as parking space and portable laundry units, one source told the Sun-Times. However, the agents won’t be staying at the base.
The initial plan detailed in an email obtained by the Sun-Times would bring federal agents with the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to the Navy’s largest training station and the largest military installation in the state near North Chicago.
Per the plan in the previously reported email to base leadership, federal agents would be given control of Building 617, which houses the Navy College Learning Center and the Morale, Welfare and Recreation Library. The operation would last Sept. 2-30.
* More from the Sun-Times…
Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order Saturday afternoon aimed at holding federal law enforcement in the city to municipal rules on policing while also keeping tabs on new deployments and informing citizens of their rights. […]
According to the [order], the Chicago Police Department would remain a city agency and urges federal law enforcement to abide by city laws on policing. Johnson threatened legal action if they didn’t. This would include barring officers from concealing their identities with masks, making them use active body cameras during engagements, and requiring them to wear identifying information such as badges and uniforms, and also stating CPD will not work with federal or military units in the city.
“I do not take this executive action lightly,” Johnson said. “I would’ve preferred to work more collaboratively to pass legislation … but unfortunately we do not have the luxury of time. We have received credible reports that we have days, not weeks, before our city sees some kind of militarized activity by the federal government.” […]
Julian Davis Mortenson, a constitutional law scholar at the University of Michigan, said the order was “well thought out” in that it only suggested how federal law enforcement operates while making a legally sound case for protecting CPD from becoming federalized. However, he said that if Johnson makes good on the legal ultimatums for federal officers, he would probably not prevail.
* The Tribune…
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem acknowledged Sunday a surge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Chicago in the coming days but stopped short of saying it will be accompanied by a National Guard deployment.
Any military presence ultimately would be President Donald Trump’s call, Noem said, but Gov. JB Pritzker reiterated that such a move would be against federal law and warned it would be met in court “pretty quickly” by the state. […]
“We’ve already had ongoing operations with ICE in Chicago and throughout Illinois, and other states, making sure that we’re upholding our laws, but we do intend to add more resources to those operations,” Noem said.
Asked if a surge in ICE operations was planned for other cities, she said she would not discuss specifics but said the efforts were not aimed at Democrat-led urban areas and could include cities in Republican states.
* NBC Chicago on Sunday …
What’s still unclear is if the National Guard will accompany ICE agents - something Trump said will help crack down on crime. The president posted on social media Sunday, warning Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker “better straighten it out fast or we’re coming.”
Pritzker discussed the possibility on “Face the Nation.”
“Any kind of troops on the streets of an American city don’t belong unless there’s an insurrection, unless there is truly an emergency and there’s not,” he said.
Despite Trump’s threat to send in troops to respond to crime, the most recent year-to-date statistics provided by the city revealed a 31% drop in homicides and a 37.4% decrease in shooting incidents.
* More from Crain’s…
While Johnson has criticized Trump’s plan as unconstitutional and unnecessary, Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling told reporters on Aug. 28 if National Guard troops are deployed, he wants there to be open lines of communication. […]
Snelling said this week when the police department learns of a potential immigration action, a supervisor will be dispatched to assess the situation.
“If we know that it’s only immigration enforcement going on, our officers will not be in those areas assisting in any way,” Snelling said. “But at the same time, I want to be clear, we also do not engage in a way where we’re obstructing federal agents.”
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has said a lawsuit is likely to follow if the National Guard is deployed to Chicago over the objection of local officials.
The Posse Comitatus Act prohibits the federal military from intervening in the enforcement of state and local laws with rare exceptions.
* The Hill this morning…
A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that National Guard troops ran afoul of the law in Los Angeles when President Trump deployed them in June after immigration protests that turned violent. […]
“This was intentional—Defendants instigated a months-long deployment of the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles for the purpose of establishing a military presence there and enforcing federal law. Such conduct is a serious violation of the Posse Comitatus Act,” [U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer] wrote.
Though most of the troops are no longer deployed in the city, the judge’s order blocks any remaining ones from making arrests and searches or conducting traffic patrols and riot control until the government meets a valid legal exception.
Breyer paused his order until Friday, providing the administration with an avenue to appeal before it goes into effect.
Click here to read the full order.
Governor Pritzker and AG Kwame Raoul will “address the people of Illinois amid reports of federal deployments to Chicago” at 3 pm today.
…Adding… CNN correspondent Priscilla Alvarez…
…Adding… NBC Chicago’s Mary Ann Ahern…
In an exclusive interview with NBC Chicago, Pritzker said after weeks of hearing no communication from the Trump administration, his team received a phone call, but not from the president himself. The phone call, made to Illinois State Police, came from Gregory Bovino, the border patrol sector chief for the El Centro, Texas sector. Bovino oversaw the immigration enforcement operations in Los Angeles earlier this summer.
“[They said] they will begin operations here sometime in the coming week,” Pritzker told NBC Chicago’s Mary Ann Ahern. “That - literally after two weeks of all this talk about troops on the ground - that’s the first time we’ve heard from the federal government on this.”
“Did they give you a number?” Ahern asked.
“They did not,” Pritzker said.
* More…
* ABC Chicago | Chicago braces for potential surge in ICE operations, which could begin Tuesday: Tuesday morning, President Donald Trump posted on social media, “I will solve the crime problem fast, just like I did in DC. Chicago will be safe again, and soon.” Trump is scheduled on Tuesday afternoon at 1 p.m. to make an announcement from the Oval Office, according to the White House.
* NBC Chicago | ICE operations could surge in Chicago this week ahead of Mexican Independence Day celebrations: “I think it goes hand in hand that first, agents would be sent here in hopes by the administration that an incident erupts to further justify Trump calling our National Guard,” said Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, D-Illinois’ 4th District. As the city prepares to celebrate Mexican Independence Day next weekend, Garcia urged residents to stay calm and not provoke ICE agents.
* CBS | Transcript: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on “Face the Nation”: ED O’KEEFE: Well, it’s one thing to be clear to us, why not pick up the phone? GOV. PRITZKER: If he wants to send troops, he should call. I’ve been very clear about what it is that we’d like help with. But, instead, he’s talking about sending troops. Nobody’s called, literally nobody from the White House. Nobody from the federal government has called anybody in our administration or the city of Chicago. If they actually wanted to help, they might call and say, what help do you need? I think I’ve been pretty clear about what help we need. I don’t know why they haven’t bothered to reach out if they have plans of their own, but honestly, we’d be happy to receive a call.
* JB Pritzker: Trump’s threats are bad for business — and yet, Chicago stands strong: Even as we have seen significant improvements in public safety, fighting crime is an ongoing effort. To be clear, there is no emergency in Chicago that calls for armed military intervention, and Trump’s plans to militarize Chicago will make it harder to do business and the lives of our residents worse. We are already seeing the impact that troop deployment has had on business in Washington D.C. Restaurants and small businesses there are reporting significantly less foot traffic and a sharp decline in reservations. In Los Angeles during the ICE raids, private-sector work attendance fell 3.1% — a decline comparable to levels seen during the pandemic.
* Tribune | Mayor Brandon Johnson to Labor Day crowd: ‘No federal troops in the city of Chicago!’: “We’re going to defend our democracy in the city of Chicago,” Johnson added. “We’re going to protect the humanity of every single person in the city of Chicago.” The mayor of the nation’s third-largest city spoke alongside a group of labor leaders as Trump administration officials have said an Immigration and Customs Enforcement blitz is set to take place in Chicago in the coming days.
* NBC Chicago’s Mary Ann Ahern…
* Reuters | In Chicago, thousands protest against threat of ICE, National Guard deployment: Thousands of protesters packed the streets near downtown Chicago on Monday, singing, chanting and waving signs protesting U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to flood the city with National Guard troops and federal immigration agents.
The march was one of roughly 1,000 “Workers over Billionaires” protests across the country on the U.S. Labor Day holiday. But Chicago’s demonstration had a decidedly more pointed tone as residents bristled against Trump’s promise to target Chicago next in a deployment similar to those under way in Los Angeles and Washington D.C., two other Democrat-run cities.
* AP | ICE is showing up to interview parents hoping to reunite with their children who entered US alone: Neha Desai, managing director of human rights at the National Center for Youth Law, said the change provides U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement a “built-in opportunity” to arrest parents - something she said has already happened. Mary Miller Flowers, director of policy and legislative affairs for the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, said she knew of a case in which immigration officers arrested the father of a child under the age of 12 who had shown up for an identification check. “As a result, mom is terrified of coming forward. And so, this child is stuck,” Miller Flowers said.
