The Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency is continuing to crack down on illegal immigration just one week into President Trump’s second term, announcing it conducted almost 1,000 arrests on Sunday in Chicago alone.
ICE officials shared on Sunday that in Chicago, they conducted 956 arrests of undocumented immigrants who had entered the country illegally.
“US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with federal partners, including the FBI, ATF, DEA, CBP, and the US Marshals Service, began conducting enhanced targeted operations today in Chicago,” a post to ICE’s website on Sunday said.
The efforts are being overseen by Tom Homan, Trump’s “Border czar,” and several other top officials. Homan discussed his efforts during an interview with ABC News on Sunday, saying that the numbers are only going to “steadily increase.”
“Right now, it’s concentrating on public safety threats, national security threats. That’s a smaller population,” Homan said.
Since taking office, Trump has declared a national emergency at the US-Mexico border, allowing his administration to crack down on the number of undocumented immigrants entering the country and those who are already here.
The arrests from Sunday show the increased efforts by ICE, as a report from the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 showed the average number of daily arrests of non-citizens with criminal convictions or pending charges was 310.7.
When addressing the increased arrests from this weekend, ICE said in its post that the goal is “to enforce U.S. immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities.”
A social media post from DEA Chicago showed that they were assisting the Department of Human Services and other law enforcement agencies in their immigration enforcement efforts. The post featured an image of agents, Homan, and acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove.
However, not all were on board in assisting ICE in its efforts, including Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D).
“We’ve received reports of ICE enforcement activity in Chicago today,” Johnson said on X. “Please know that Chicago police were not involved. My team and I are working closely with City officials.”