By rssfeeds-admin President Donald Trump sent a surge of ICE agents, supported by the Army National Guard, to Washington, D.C., in an effort to crack down on crime and illegal immigration. He has threatened to send troops to other cities, with Chicago next on the list.
Unlike the recent federal takeover of policing in Washington, D.C., the Chicago operation is not expected to rely on the National Guard or military and is focused exclusively on immigration instead of being cast as part of a broad campaign against crime, the officials said.
“We’re going in,” Trump said Tuesday. “I have an obligation. This isn’t a political thing.”
According to Gov. Pritzker, on Saturday, Illinois State Police had received a call from Customs and Border Protection’s chief patrol agent Gregory Bovino, notifiying them of upcoming ICE operations in the city.
“We’ve gathered [additional] information from unauthorized, patriotic officials inside the government … about Donald Trump’s plan, which is to deploy armed military personnel to the streets of Chicago,” Pritzker said.
The governor said the White House began positioning armed federal agents and military vehicles at the Great Lakes Naval Base on Monday.
“Unidentifiable agents in unmarked vehicles with masks are planning to raid Latino communities and say they’re targeting violent criminals,” Pritzker said, adding that he expects to see videos of “them hauling away mothers and fathers traveling to work or picking up their kids from school.”
“We have reason to believe that [White House Deputy Chief of Staff] Stephen Miller chose the month of September to come to Chicago because of celebrations around Mexican Independence Day that happen here every year,” he continued.
Pritzker also said he believed “Trump and his team will be looking for any excuse to put active duty military on our streets, supposedly to protect ICE,” and said “We have reason to believe that the Trump administration has already begun staging the Texas National Guard for deployment in Illinois.”
He issued a warning to Chicago residents, saying, “If someone flings a sandwich at an ICE agent, Trump will try to go on TV and declare an emergency in Chicago. I’m imploring everyone: if and when that happens, do not take the bait.”
The Governor said the Chicago surge is expected to last 30 days.
The federal surge into Chicago could start as early as Sept. 5 and last about 30 days, according to two U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans that had not been made public.
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