The Trump administration launched an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) crackdown on Chicago Monday, which the city's mayor, Brandon Johnson, said he'd "received no notice" of.
The big picture: The launch of "Operation Midway Blitz" follows weeks of threats from President Trump to tackle crime in Chicago and other Democrat-run cities by expanding ICE's presence and possibly deploying National Guard troops as part of his agenda against undocumented immigrants despite opposition from Democratic leaders.
- Despite Trump's threats, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) have doubled down on the state and city's sanctuary city policies, which provide protections to undocumented people by barring local police from assisting federal law enforcement activity without a criminal warrant.
Driving the news: The Department of Homeland Security said on X it was launching the blitz "in honor of Katie Abraham," a 20-year-old Illinois woman whom police say was killed along with a friend in a suspected drunken-driving, hit-and-run crash in Urbana in January.
- The suspect charged is a 29-year-old man from Guatemala, whom authorities say is an undocumented immigrant.
- "This ICE operation 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 DHS X post said.
Zoom in: DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an emailed statement Tuesday morning that Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem "have a clear message: no city is a safe haven for criminal illegal aliens. 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."
- An ICE spokesperson said in an emailed statement Tuesday evening that the agency had consistently operated in Chicago and since Jan. 20 had "arrested some of the worst offenders" in the city and it's "now surging our resources with Midway Blitz, conducted in coordination with federal partners."
- The White House referred Axios to the Department of Homeland Security for questions on details of the operation.
What we're watching: When asked how long the blitz would take, the ICE spokesperson said: "We cannot say, but [it] will likely be ongoing for weeks."
What they're saying: Pritzker said on X the crackdown was not about fighting crime.
- "That requires support and coordination — yet we've experienced nothing like that over the past several weeks," he said. "Instead of taking steps to work with us on public safety, the Trump Administration's focused on scaring Illinoisians."
- Johnson said on X the city of Chicago "received no notice of any enhanced immigration action by the Trump administration."
- He added: "We remain opposed to any potential militarized immigration enforcement without due process because of ICE's track record of detaining and deporting American citizens and violating the human rights of hundreds of detainees."
Meanwhile, Johnson wrote in a New York Times op-ed Monday that sending in the National Guard would be "the wrong solution" to a real problem.
- "If President Trump had listened to the city's leaders, he would recognize that Chicago just experienced record-low homicide numbers, making this the safest summer since the 1960s, a result of effective collaboration between communities and law enforcement," he said.
- "While the causes of crime and violence are complex, it is clear that poverty plays a central role."
Zoom out: The Trump administration has repeatedly targeted sanctuary cities since the president signed an executive order in April directing federal agencies to document those that were not complying with his hardline immigration agenda.
More from Axios:
- Axios Explains: Inside ICE's superpowers
- Supreme Court lifts limits on ICE stops in LA
- Trump threats rattle Chicago restaurants and events
Editor's note: This article has been updated with comment from Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin and an ICE spokesperson.
