WASHINGTON: The incoming Trump administration intends to carry out “post-inauguration” immigration raids in Chicago next week, according to two people familiar with the planning and correspondence reviewed by The New York Times, an opening step in Trump’s goal to oversee the largest deportation operation in American history.
The plan, called “Operation Safeguard” by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, would start Tuesday, the day after Trump is inaugurated, and last until the following Monday, according to the people familiar with it and the correspondence. The dates were still being finalized, however, and could change.
The size of the planned operation was unclear. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) routinely conducts deportations in cities throughout the US. But the agency was taking additional steps to ramp up enforcement for the operation and tied it to Trump’s inauguration in a message sent to personnel throughout the agency.
Hundreds of agents were asked to volunteer and participate in the “post-inauguration” operation targeting immigrants in the United States illegally. ICE is planning on sending roughly 150 agents to Chicago for the raids.
For Trump, the optics of immigration agents sporting ballistic gear and arresting immigrants with uncertain or contested status in a Democratic-led city could be enough. The incoming administration is eager to find ways to send a message that it is cracking down on immigrants without legal permanent status and punishing so-called sanctuary cities — communities like Chicago that refuse to hand over immigrants.
Don Terry, a spokesperson for the Chicago police, said the department would not “intervene or interfere with any other govt agencies performing their duties,” but that it “does not document immigration status” and “will not share information with federal authorities.” The planned raids were reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.
Tom Homan, Trump’s pick to oversee his promised mass deportations, has said the public should expect immigration action in the early days of the Trump presidency that creates “shock and awe.”
