Top Trump administration officials, including border czar Tom Homan and Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, traveled to Chicago on Sunday to oversee the start of intensified immigration enforcement in the nation’s third-largest city. Federal agencies also reported arrests across the country as part of the operation.
While specific details, such as the number of arrests, were not immediately disclosed, the broad
participation of federal agencies highlighted President Donald Trump’s commitment to using extensive law enforcement resources, beyond the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to carry out his pledged mass deportations.
Bove noted the presence of immigration agents from DHS, alongside personnel from the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). This marked one of the first operations since DHS expanded immigration authority to Department of Justice agencies, including the DEA and ATF.
“We will support federal, state, and local partners in this critical mission to reclaim our communities,” Bove stated. “Using all available tools, we will overcome obstruction and other unlawful impediments to safeguard the homeland. Our work will not stop until the mission is complete.”
The operation drew public attention, with Dr. Phil McGraw, a television psychologist, livestreaming the raids in Chicago on MERIT TV. Reporters, including those from the Associated Press, were also invited to observe. On Sunday, the DEA’s Chicago office shared photos of Bove and Homan alongside agents from ATF and Customs and Border Protection on social media.
Similar immigration enforcement efforts have been publicized nationwide since Trump took office. Over the weekend, operations occurred in states such as California, Georgia, and Colorado.
In Denver, the DEA conducted a raid targeting drug trafficking by the Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang. According to Jonathan Pullen, special agent in charge of the DEA Rocky Mountain field division, approximately 100 agents and officers carried out the operation early Sunday morning, detaining nearly 50 individuals at a party. ICE later transported detainees to a processing center in Aurora, with about 40 remaining in custody as of Sunday afternoon.
0 Reviews