Park Ridge, Illinois (AP) — At 3:30 a.m., 10 U.S. immigration officers gathered in a parking lot outside Chicago to give a briefing on suspects hoping to be arrested. They looked into the person’s description, made sure their radio was on the same channel, and discussed where the nearest hospital was in the event that something went wrong.
“Let’s plan on not being there,” the officer said before climbing into the car and heading out.
Crossing the city and surrounding suburbs, other teams said, ” Operation Midway Blitz. “The agenda of President Donald Trump’s massive deportation agenda unleashes a state and state agenda that has some of the most powerful laws that prevent local officials from helping with immigration enforcement.
ICE launched its operation on September 8th, drawing concerns from activists and immigrant communities who fear mass arrests. Aggressive tactics Used in other cities Republican president targeted. They say that while military deployments to Chicago have not yet been realized, there has been a significant increase in immigration enforcement agents.
The Associated Press rode like ice in suburban Chicago to see how the operation was unfolding.
Stabbing wait and two arrests
“He got into the car. I don’t know if it’s a target.”
A man who matches the man’s description of ice leaving the house, getting into his car, leaving the street lined with trees. Not sure if this was their target, the officers continued. A few minutes later, the car was approaching the highway, the radio voice said:
“I’ll do it,” said Marcos Charles, deputy director of ice enforcement and removal operations.
Agents from multiple vehicles quickly overtook the car and put it in a box. After talking to the man, they detained him because they realized he was not the person he was seeking, but that he was illegally in the United States.
Eventually, after it broke down in a one-storey brick house shortly after dawn, the man they were looking for left the house and got into the car. Ice officers closed. The man got out of the car and was arrested. Ice said both men were illegally in the country and had criminal records.
Charles called it a “successful operation.”
“There were no safety issues on our officers’ side, no safety issues, no individuals we arrested, and it went smoothly,” he said.
“Ice doesn’t belong here.”
Ice activists and critics say it is not the norm for immigration operations.
They point to a video showing ice agents breaking windows to arrest suspects, An outside confrontation Popular Italian restaurants in San Diego, and Arrests like Tufts University In March, students, as their neighbors see, via masked agents outside their apartment in Summerville, Massachusetts.
Charles said ICE is using “the right amount of power, and agents are dealing with suspects who increasingly fail to follow commands.
There was a “rising of people who are not compliant.” He said he denounces inflammatory rhetoric from activists who encourage people to resist.
Mayor Andre Vasquez, who chairs the Chicago City Council’s committee on immigration and refugee rights, vehemently opposed the explanation and declined the ice due to any escalation.
“We’re not here to cause chaos. The president is,” Vasquez said. He accused immigration enforcement agents of trying to overreact activists to justify seeking the use of force like the National Guard. “Ice doesn’t belong here.”
Immigrant shooting by ICE officers raises tension
Chicago was already in the upper hand when the shootings on September 12th increased tensions.
The US Department of Homeland Security says Ice officer fatally shot Silver Vilgas Gonzalez, a Mexican immigrant who tried to avoid arrest. Chicago suburbs He drives his car on an officer and drags one of them. The bureau says the officer felt his life was being threatened and opened fire to kill the man.
Charles said he could not comment due to open investigations. However, he met with a hospital officer and said that he saw his injuries and felt the force used was appropriate.
The officers were not wearing body cameras, Charles said.
Gov. JB Pritzkerd-ill. , I requested “Complete, Fact Accounting” Of shooting. Mexican President Claudia Sinbaum condemned the death and said Mexico is calling for a thorough investigation.
“These tactics led to the loss of the life of one of our community members,” said Democrat State Rep. Norma Hernandez.
In another use of a military case under the criticised “Midway Blitz,” a US citizen was detained by immigration agents along with his father and was attacked by a stun gun on the suburban Death flat on Tuesday, the man’s lawyer said.
Local supporters also accused ice agents of wearing masks, unable to identify themselves and not using body cameras. This is in stark contrast to the Chicago Police Department’s policies.
“It’s time to hit Chicago.”
Charles said there is no timeline for an ice-driven operation to end in the Chicago area. As of Thursday, immigration enforcement officers had arrested nearly 550 people. Charles said 50% to 60% of them were targeted arrests. In other words, they are the people immigrant enforcers are particularly trying to find.
He pushed back criticism that Ice is randomly targeting people, saying that agents will not “go out to the Home Depot parking lot” to make indiscriminate arrests.
Charles said ICE brought in more than 200 officers from across the country for the operation.
He said cities like Chicago, which limit cooperation with ICE, have allowed immigrants, particularly those with criminal records, to remain in the country illegally. It was time to act, he said.
“It’s time to hit Chicago.”
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Chicago Associated Press Writer Christine Fernando contributed to this report.
