The Customs and Border Patrol chief who led anti-immigration raids in Los Angeles in June has reportedly arrived in Chicago as the Trump administration ramps up its operation to crack down on illegal immigration in the city.
Chief Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino is reportedly in the Chicago area and has “vowed a blitz of arrests in the region targeting immigrants suspected of being in the U.S. illegally,” according to CBS News, citing people familiar with the matter.
Bovino teased his upcoming deployment to Chicago last week in a social media post, telling followers his team was “taking this show on the road, to a city near you.”
He asked his followers to guess: “Where do you think we’re headed now?”
“We're gonna trade these palm trees for some skyscrapers,” he hinted in the video on X, to the backdrop of Willie Nelson’s On the Road Again.
The Independent has contacted Customs and Border Patrol for comment.
Bovino oversaw “Operation at Large” in California, when heavily armed federal agents in military-style gear conducted an immigration enforcement operation in LA’s MacArthur Park, and made arrests outside Home Depot stores.
Protests erupted in the city in response to the aggressive operation as President Donald Trump called in the National Guard to curtail demonstrations.
Now Bovino’s attention has turned to “Operation Midway Blitz” in Chicago, which will “target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois because they knew Governor Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a Monday statement on X.
State and local officials have pushed back against the administration’s plans with Illinois Governor JB Pritzker condemning the escalation in a post on X.
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“Once again, this isn't about fighting crime,” Pritzker wrote. “That requires support and coordination — yet we've experienced nothing like that over the past several weeks. Instead of taking steps to work with us on public safety, the Trump Administration's focused on scaring Illinoisians.”
The move comes as the Supreme Court this week opened the door for federal law enforcement officers to roam the streets of LA to make immigration arrests based on racially profiling suspects.
A 6-3 decision from the nation’s high court Monday overturned an injunction that blocked federal agents from carrying out sweeps in southern California after a judge determined they were indiscriminately targeting people based on race and whether they spoke Spanish, among other factors.
Attorney General Pam Bondi called the ruling a “massive victory” that allows ICE agents to “continue carrying out roving patrols in California without judicial micromanagement.”
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