Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Immigration authorities have arrested nearly 550 people in the Chicago area in less than two weeks as part of “Operation Midway Blitz,” a major crackdown that officials from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) describe as targeting dangerous criminals shielded by Illinois’s sanctuary policies.
“Operation Midway Blitz in honor of Katie Abraham has resulted in almost 550 arrests,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.
“Every arrest is a testament to DHS and its law enforcement’s dedication to enforcing the laws of our nation. We will not be deterred by sanctuary politicians or violent rioters.”
Abraham was a 20-year-old Illinois college student killed in January in a hit-and-run allegedly caused by a drunk-driving illegal immigrant. Authorities charged Julio Cucul-Bol, a Guatemalan national living in the United States unlawfully, with leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death, aggravated DUI resulting in death, and reckless homicide.
DHS said the Chicago operation, launched Sept. 8, is aimed at removing individuals with serious criminal records and longstanding deportation orders.
“This operation will target the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens in Chicago,” McLaughlin said at the time, alleging that Chicago had become a “magnet for criminals” due to sanctuary city policies.
“President [Donald] Trump and Secretary [of Homeland Security Kristi] Noem have a clear message: No city is a safe haven for criminal illegal aliens,” she said.
“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.”
The Trump administration has repeatedly criticized Illinois’s sanctuary policies, which restrict cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. Officials say such policies allow dangerous offenders to remain on the streets rather than being transferred to ICE custody to be deported.
Noem, who traveled to Chicago to highlight the operation, said recent arrests included suspects charged with assault, DUI, felony stalking, and murder.
“President Trump has been clear: if politicians will not put the safety of their citizens first, this administration will,” Noem said on Sept. 16.
“Our work is only beginning.”
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have condemned the operation, accusing the administration of politicizing law enforcement and spreading fear.
“This isn’t about fighting crime. That requires support and coordination—yet we’ve experienced nothing like that over the past several weeks,” Pritzker said in a statement.
“Instead of taking steps to work with us on public safety, the Trump administration’s focused on scaring Illinoisians.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials said that, as of Sept. 20, about half the arrests so far in the Chicago area were targeted—people already on ICE’s radar due to convictions or prior immigration violations—while the rest were “collateral arrests” of others found to be in the country illegally.
“It doesn’t mean that the collateral arrests are non-criminal,” Marcos Charles, acting head of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, said.
“Some of our collateral arrests ... also have criminal convictions and arrests. They just weren’t the people we were looking for at the time.”
Demonstrations have flared across Chicago in response to the operations. Protests outside the ICE Broadview Processing Center on Sept. 19 turned violent, with federal officials saying rioters assaulted officers, slashed tires, and blocked entrances.
DHS has hardened its stance on immigration enforcement in Democrat-led states. On Sept. 20, the department sent follow-up letters to California, New York, and Illinois demanding they comply with immigration detainer requests, saying that failure to cooperate would put communities at risk.
“ICE detainers ask for something very simple: To notify ICE when criminal illegal aliens are released from jail or prison, to ensure that they go into ICE custody before they are released back onto our streets,” McLaughlin said in a statement.
“These sanctuary state politicians should do the right thing and side with law-abiding Americans over criminal illegal aliens.”
DHS says that, despite “resistance from sanctuary politicians,” the agency has arrested over 400,000 illegal immigrants so far, while 70 percent of those arrested by ICE have criminal charges or convictions.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.