This is part of our series of daily recaps of ICE activity in the Chicago region. Have a tip we should check out? Email [email protected].
CHICAGO — Federal officials won’t pause operations Midway Blitz and At Large over Halloween and Día de los Muertos, Kristi Noem, secretary of Homeland Security, said Thursday.
Gov. JB Pritzker had asked the federal government — in a letter to Noem and during a Thursday news conference — to pause the immigration enforcement operations over the weekend as families and children celebrate Halloween and Día de los Muertos.
Pritzker’s ask came just days after federal agents tear-gassed an Old Irving Park street shortly before a children’s Halloween party was to be held nearby. Chicago organizers are preparing indoor trick-or-treat events, candy dropoffs and neighborhood patrols in a bid to help vulnerable families feel safer during the holiday.
But Noem shot down Pritzker’s idea during a Thursday news conference — and said there’s no plan for the end of the operations.
“The fact that Gov. Pritzker is asking for that is shameful and I think unfortunate that he doesn’t recognize how important the work is to make sure that we’re bringing criminals to justice,” Noem said. “Especially when we’re gonna send all our kiddos out on the street … we want to make sure they’re safe.”
But critics of the immigration enforcement operations have said it is federal agents who are making kids — and others — unsafe.
“Give the children and the families of Illinois a break,” Pritzker said at his own news conference Thursday. “Show us this is about something other than you just causing mayhem on our streets and visiting cruelty upon our people. Can we agree that there is no imminent threat that should disrupt their holiday?
“No child in America should have to go trick-or-treating in fear that they might be confronted with armed federal agents and have to inhale tear gas.”
And U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis admonished Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino for agents’ actions in Old Irving Park.
“Kids dressed in Halloween costumes walking to a parade do not pose an immediate threat to the safety of a law enforcement officer,” Ellis told Bovino during a Tuesday court hearing. “They just don’t. And you can’t use riot control weapons against them.”
Pritzker also repeatedly criticized federal officials’ claims that they’re targeting “the worst of the worst” when it comes to their enforcement operation.
Instead, federal and local law enforcement should work together to arrest violent criminals, Pritzker said.
If federal agents “have a judicial warrant for somebody, you can come get local law enforcement, state law enforcement to help you go get that person,” Pritzker said. “That is absolutely the law. Instead, it’s become obvious that some of these federal agents and the people in charge of them, well, they are the people that our families should be afraid of.”
Federal agents have detained and arrested people without violent criminal records, including the father of a teen with cancer.
Noem Touts Thousands Of Arrests In Operation Midway Blitz
Since Operation Midway Blitz started nearly two months ago, federal agents have arrested more than 3,000 people, Noem said. It remains unclear exactly who’s been arrested, as ICE has been reluctant to share that information.
There have been several instances in which U.S. citizens have been detained by immigration officials during protests over agents’ presence in the city and arrests of neighbors.
Noem denied that, untruthfully saying no citizens have been detained.
“We focus on those that are here illegally, and anything that you would hear or report that would be different than that is simply not true and false reporting,” she said.
Asked by a reporter when Operation Midway Blitz would end, Noem said she wouldn’t discuss that.
“We will keep it going, and we will continue to operate, and will continue to do this work until there are no longer anybody out on our roads and in our communities that’s here illegally,” she said.
Happening In Chicago
Judge Orders Release Of Cancer Patient’s Father Arrested By ICE, Citing No Criminal Record: Ruben Torres Maldonado, whose teenage daughter has cancer, was granted a $2,000 bond during a hearing Thursday morning.
In Chicago’s Back Of The Yards, Neighbors Band Together To Survive Immigration Crackdown: Despite persistent fears, organizers and neighbors are holding events to distribute food to neighbors in need and support local businesses.
Federal Appeals Court Blocks Order Requiring Border Patrol Chief To Report To Court Daily: The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily paused an order requiring Gregory Bovino to appear before a judge every day after the Trump administration called the instruction “extraordinary and extraordinarily disruptive.”
Illinois Lawmakers Propose Bills That Would Protect Immigrants At Schools, Hospitals And Courthouses: Some Illinois lawmakers are working on laws that could limit how and where immigration agents operate. Proposed laws would ban ICE arrests in state courthouses and expand the state’s sanctuary law, among other things.
FROM ABC7: Immigration Enforcement Continues To Affect Life-Saving Health Care In Chicago, Officials Say: Missed appointments are skyrocketing, and some are afraid to seek care even for deadly health conditions amid immigration enforcement, but health care providers told the ABC7 I-Team they’re working to eliminate that climate of fear.
FROM WBEZ: Little Village Advocates Call On City To Step Up ‘ICE-Free Zone’ Signage After 2 Sightings Near CPS Schools: In one incident captured on video, federal agents drove around the parking lot of Lazaro Cardenas Elementary School, according to the Little Village Community Council.
FROM SUN-TIMES: National Guard Deployment Remains On Hold As Supreme Court Asks For More Information: Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops in Illinois — already blocked for 20 days — will now likely be blocked for nearly twice as long.
FROM SUN-TIMES: Trump Taps Big City Hall Contractors For ICE Operation Brandon Johnson Opposes: Chicago-area companies that earned lucrative contracts supporting President Donald Trump’s deportation push also benefited from deals with the city, the Sun-Times found.
FROM TRIBUNE: Illinois Officials Should Investigate, Charge Federal Immigration Agents For State Violations, Group Says: A left-leaning voters’ rights group that has pushed for President Donald Trump’s removal from office over alleged constitutional abuses is now asking Illinois officials to investigate and prosecute alleged violations of state law by federal immigration enforcement agents deployed in “Operation Midway Blitz.”
FROM CBS2: Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino Sits For Deposition Over Agency’s Actions In Chicago: At 10 a.m. Thursday, Bovino began testifying for a deposition that is expected to last about five hours. He will be questioned about how his agents carried out arrests that turned chaotic earlier this month.
FROM CBS2: ICE Says They’re Conducting Targeted Raids In Chicago, But Actions And Reasons Remain Opaque: Questions were asked about their tactics, use of force, and details about the people who have been taken into custody, with some questions going unanswered, or the answers lacked specifics.
FROM NBC5: How Many ICE Detainees Really Are The ‘Worst Of The Worst’?: When the tear gas clears, body slam bruises fade, and undocumented immigrants are hauled away, NBC Chicago investigators find the real story of who the government actually has arrested, broken down by how much of a threat arrestees are and whether they were ever convicted of any crime.
FROM CBS NEWS: Border Patrol Takes Lead Role In Trump Administration’s Chicago Crackdown, Carrying Out More Arrests Than ICE: Border Patrol agents have been responsible for more Chicago-area arrests than ICE amid Midway Blitz, an unprecedented shift that has caused some internal tensions, CBS News has learned.
FROM WBEZ: Family Distraught After Feds Detain Chicago Uber Driver Despite Protected Status, Asylum Application: Diego Castro was detained last Friday as he was dropping off a passenger in West Town. His family says he had made a life here since applying for asylum eight years ago.
FROM WBEZ: What’s In The Tear Gas And Other ‘Chemical Munitions’ Federal Agents Are Using In Chicago?: In the Loop breaks down what’s inside chemical munitions and their health and potential environmental impacts.
FROM FOX32: Broadview ICE Protesters Refuse To Remove ‘Yes We Canopy’ Tent Despite Village Order: The tent was set up weeks ago to support families of people detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, offering information on legal resources and other assistance.
Happening In Chicago
- Around 11:30 a.m. Thursday, federal agents arrested a person at Rockstar Fades, 4307 S. Archer Ave., according to the Southwest Rapid Response Team.
- Around 1:15 p.m. Thursday, federal agents were confirmed present in the 4100 block of North Long Avenue, and agents arrested someone close to the nearby Portage Park Elementary, according to the Northwest Side Rapid Response Team.
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