(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency along with the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives and others have begun conducting targeted operations here in Chicago on Sunday to “enforce U.S. immigration law and preserve public safety.”
ICE agents and officials from the other agencies say they're targeting public safety and national security threats. Sources say it's a multi-day operation that will eventually spread across the country.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove visited Chicago on Sunday to witness the start of ramped-up immigration enforcement in the nation's third-largest city promised by the Trump administration, though few details of the operation were made public.
“We will support everyone at the federal, state, and local levels who joins this critical mission to take back our communities,” Bove said in a statement. "We will use all available tools to address obstruction and other unlawful impediments to our efforts to protect the homeland. Most importantly, we will not rest until the work is done.”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Jeff Carter said the agency “began conducting enhanced targeted operations” Sunday in Chicago but declined other details, citing an ongoing operation. Spokesmen for the FBI, ATF and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) confirmed their involvement but didn't give other information.
Spokesperson David Yost confirmed that only people with known criminal convictions have been targeted.
Border Czar Tom Holman is also in Chicago, and is seen in photos alongside Bove shared to the DEA Chicago social media pages.
The immigration advocacy community kicked in high alert following the reports, but many are holding on to some optimism concerning the purpose of Sunday's raids in Chicago.
“Yeah, there's definitely fear in the community around a potential for more wide scale raids. But what we've been hearing is that this is much more of a targeted enforcement. So folks on a list, and ICE going directly to people's homes,” Eréndira Rendón Vice President of Immigrant Justice at The Resurrection Project said.
“And so, you know, even though it's definitely, folks are definitely very scared, hopefully it's not as large of an impact as it could be.”
State Senator Graciela Guzmán confirmed at least one verified detention of a Chicago resident.
She also said she is tracking reported incidents in Belmont Cragin, Albany Park, Hermosa, and elsewhere.
Guzmán also reminded Chicagoans they have the right to not open their doors and if in the situation to ask for warrants.
The show of force in Chicago was notable. The DEA also posted pictures Sunday on social media of an immigration enforcement operation at a Colorado night club outside Denver where 50 people were taken into custody and of agents preparing for an operation in Los Angeles.
Chicago has some of the strongest sanctuary protections, which bar cooperation between city police and immigration agents.
Immigrant rights groups have tried to prepare for the aggressive crackdown with campaigns for immigrants to know their rights in case of an arrest. City officials have done the same, publishing similar information at public bus and train stations.
On Saturday, several Chicago-based immigrant rights groups filed a lawsuit against ICE, seeking an injunction prohibiting certain types of immigration raids in Chicago.
“Immigrant communities who have called Chicago their home for decades are scared,” said Antonio Gutierrez from Organized Communities Against Deportation, one of the plaintiffs. “We refuse to live in fear and will fight any attempts to roll back the work we’ve done to keep families together.”
The Associated Press and WBBM’s Andy Dahn and Brandon Ison contributed to this report.
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