WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Saturday said deportation raids could start “during the course of this week, maybe even a little earlier than that,” singling out Chicago, characterizing it as a high-crime sanctuary city fighting ICE.
On Friday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a statement she had “personally spoken with ICE leadership in Chicago and voiced my strong objection to any such raids.”
Speaking to reporters on the south lawn of the White House before departing for Camp David, Trump was asked about the upcoming raids in some 10 cities, including Chicago. The impending mass arrests, expected to come as early as Sunday, were first reported Friday in the Washington Post.
”Some cities are going to fight it,” Trump said. “If you notice, they are generally high-crime cities. If you look at Chicago, they are fighting it and if you look at the other cities that are fighting it, many of those cities are high-crime cities and they are sanctuary cities.”
Trump defended the Immigration and Customs Enforcement — known as ICE — raids.
“These are people that came into the country illegally. They’ve been served. They’ve gone through a process and process of the courts and they have to be removed from the country. They will be removed from the country. It’s having a very big effect on the border and the fact that we’re taking them out. The people that came into the country illegally are going to be removed from the country. “
Trump added, “It starts, you know during the course of this next week, maybe even a little bit earlier than that. And again, everybody that came into the country illegally will be brought out of the country very legally.”
For years, Chicago has been a Trump target. Citing Chicago on Saturday marked the first time Trump in public has focused on Chicago since Lightfoot became mayor on May 20.
Lightfoot said in a statement on Friday, “We are all aware of the threat from President Trump regarding raids by ICE, and in response, Chicago has taken concrete steps to support our immigrant communities. I have directed — and Superintendent Johnson has confirmed — that CPD has terminated ICE’s access to CPD’s databases related to federal immigration enforcement activities.
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“I have also personally spoken with ICE leadership in Chicago and voiced my strong objection to any such raids. Further, I reiterated that CPD will not cooperate with or facilitate any ICE enforcement actions. Chicago will always be a welcoming city and a champion for the rights of our immigrant and refugee communities, and I encourage any resident in need of legal aid to contact the National Immigrant Justice Center,” Lightfoot said.
Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, D-Ill., the only Hispanic in the Illinois delegation, is working with local officials and immigration groups bracing for the raids. Garcia on Friday taped a “know your rights” video in Spanish as local officials in the city are also passing along information about what to do in the case of a raid.
“Immigrant communities have been living in fear since Donald Trump became president, and not a day goes by without his Administration issuing new xenophobic and hateful policies and directives,” Garcia said in a statement.
“These alarming reports of potential ICE raids come just days after the Senate Appropriations Committee approved emergency border supplemental funds that ICE claims it needs to address the humanitarian crisis at the border. If the Administration truly wanted to find solutions to the humanitarian crisis at the border, it would improve and expand case management programs and conditions for detainees, rather than target children and families in the middle of the night,” Garcia said.
“Everyone in the U.S. has constitutional rights and protections, regardless of immigration status. It is crucial for our community members to know their rights and to find local organizations with resources and support. As an immigrant, I stand in solidarity with everyone — immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers — who come to America looking for a better life. As a Member of Congress, I will continue working to protect immigrants in my community and hold this Administration accountable for its cruel family separation policies.”
