Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, in the Chicago area Tuesday morning as federal agents carried out a sweeping immigration crackdown dubbed "Operation Midway Blitz," wrote on social media that the moves are "well on their way."
"We are indeed well on our way to ridding Chicago of violent illegal aliens," Noem said in a post on X from the city's Franklin Park, where ICE agents this month shot and killed a Mexican national who had struck an officer while trying to flee a traffic stop.
"Many Chicago residents are saying it's about time," Noem added.
The Department of Homeland Security said the effort is aimed at "criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois," blaming the surge on state and city sanctuary laws that restrict local police from cooperating with federal agents.
Officials also said the operation is being carried out in honor of Katie Abraham, a Chicago woman killed this year in Urbana by a drunk driver who was an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala.
Noem posted video of nighttime arrests that matched footage of an ICE raid in Elgin, Illinois, northwest of Chicago. She left the area shortly before 10 a.m. Tuesday, reported CBS News.
Gregory Bovino, leading ICE's "Operation At Large," confirmed on social media that the immigration action is in full swing.
"Well, Chicago, we've arrived!" he wrote. "Operation At Large is here to continue the mission we started in Los Angeles — to make the city safer by targeting and arresting criminal illegal aliens."
He added, in response to a reporter's question, that "we are indeed well on our way to ridding Chicago of violent illegal aliens. I am in Franklin Park as we speak, and many Chicago residents are saying it's about time."
Federal agents fanned out across the city Monday, according to The Chicago Tribune, making at least 17 arrests in Chicago and suburbs, including Elgin and Aurora. Immigration advocates reported sightings at courthouses, schools, and workplaces, describing what they called a "patchwork" of enforcement activity.
"We don't know the true scale, but we know activity has increased," said Brandon Lee of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
Meanwhile, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, on Monday criticized what he called a lack of transparency with the ICE shooting in Franklin Park, where Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, 38, was killed.
"This is the most unusual situation I've seen in my entire lifetime, where we have no transparency and the federal government is not policing itself," Pritzker said.
State Sen. Karina Villa, a Democrat, said she confronted ICE agents who had assembled at a local police station before dispersing, and told reporters the operations sparked fear in schools and neighborhoods.
State Rep. Maura Hirschauer, also a Democrat, said sightings Monday came one day after the city's Mexican Independence Day festivities, calling the timing "jarring" for residents.
The Illinois Trust Act, signed in 2017, prevents state and local police from cooperating with immigration enforcement. But Noem and federal commanders insist the crackdown will continue.
President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has left open the possibility of sending National Guard troops into Chicago despite Pritzker's opposition.
"We have to save Chicago," Trump said Monday, suggesting Illinois could be next after federal deployments to Memphis.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.