CHICAGO (NewsNation) — U.S. Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino vowed before leaving Chicago in November that his departure from a two-month immigration enforcement operation didn’t mean the Trump administration’s crackdown was ending and that he would return.
Bovino returned on Tuesday, and the face of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown immediately resumed overseeing an enforcement effort in the nation’s third-largest city. The targeted operation ramped up as agents remain in New Orleans, where Bovino reported on Monday that 350 arrests have been made.
NewsNation learned Monday that DHS was expected again to turn its attention to Chicago, where federal agents made more than 4,300 arrests between early September and mid-November. However, the operation was met with heavy resistance from local residents and elected officials, including Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
It is unknown how long federal agents under Bovino’s watch will remain in Chicago, but sources told NewsNation that at least 200 Border Patrol agents were part of the renewed immigration enforcement. Local officials said Tuesday that agents made several arrests in neighborhoods on Chicago’s southwest side, including at a localWal-Mart store.
Community organizers called Tuesday’s increase in activity a “violent escalation” by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents. They reported that federal agents detained at least 15 people on Tuesday in multiple neighborhoods. Among those arrested were a tamale vendor and day laborers outside of a Home Depot, community organizers said.
The first large-scale operation, dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz,” led to a federal lawsuit, including one in which Bovino and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem were named as defendants, and involved federal agents’ use of force against clergy, journalists and protesters.
Plaintiffs in that case filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit after an Illinois appellate court granted a stay of a previous judge’s preliminary injunction that prevented federal agents from using excessive force unless they were facing imminent threats.
Judge Sara Ellis provided a lengthy response to the court’s ruling to stay the order, accusing Bovino of lying repeatedly during hours of sworn testimony about the operation in Chicago. Bovino, meanwhile, has consistently defended the actions of himself and his agents, calling the behavior as being “legally, ethically and morally” sound.
In a statement provided to NewsNation about Bovino’s return to Chicago, Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, “As we said a month ago, we aren’t leaving Chicago and operations are ongoing. Operation Midway Blitz is achieving what Chicago’s sanctuary politicians have refused to do for decades: decrease crime and remove the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens who put the American people in danger.”
Immigration advocacy groups reported increased activity by federal agents on Chicago’s southwest side on Tuesday morning. Video posted to social media channels showed Bovino telling local residents protesting the presence of federal agents that “we never left” and wishing them “Merry Christmas” if he didn’t see them again before the upcoming holiday.
Brandon Lee, the spokesperson for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said in a statement that the organization has received multiple reports of “confirmed abductions” in the neighborhoods of Cicero and Brighton Park.
“We ask residents across Chicago and the suburbs to remain vigilant, look out for your neighbors,” Lee said.
Pritzker told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday that his office was not given any notice that federal agents would be returning to Chicago under Bovino’s watch. Asked about how long Border Patrol agents could remain in the area, the governor expected the stay to last at least a couple of days if not longer.
“They seem to already be deploying again with masks and unmarked cars, and SUVs into neighborhoods,” Pritzker said. “They call it enforcement. We call it harassment.”
U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, another Illinois Democrat, said in a prepared statement that his office on Tuesday was made aware of a large group of masked federal agents arriving in Chicago “once again terrorizing our community.”
“At a time when families should be celebrating the holidays in safety and peace, these agents are instead carrying out operations to separate families, sow panic and intimidate hardworking people,” Garcia said, adding, “These operations are a choice. Masked agents, unannounced raids and holiday timing are tactics designed to maximize fear.”