Naval Station Great Lakes, a U.S. military base in Chicago’s suburbs, could be used to assist ICE operations as the Trump administration gears up to conduct a major immigration enforcement effort in Chicago.
The Navy’s largest training installation and the largest military base in Illinois, Naval Station Great Lakes is located on over 1,600 acres overlooking Lake Michigan in the city of North Chicago.
A spokesperson said the naval station was approached by the Department of Homeland Security over a “potential request” to support ICE operations, and as of Wednesday, no decisions had been made.
According to the spokesman, the request “involves limited support in the form of facilities infrastructure, and other logistical needs to support DHS operations” – but further details weren’t provided.
North Chicago Mayor Leon Rockingham said he talked to the commanding captain of the base and learned agents won’t be staying there.
“He said that they will be using offices on the base,” the mayor explained. “I don’t know if that’s National Guard or what – but they’re not going to be staged on base but they will be residing outside in the community.”
As President Donald Trump considers deploying National Guard members to Chicago as part of a crackdown on crime, base officials said they haven’t received a request to support the National Guard.
The immigration effort, which will likely bring a surge of officers to Chicago, is expected to last about 30 days and could start as early as Sept. 5. Unlike the recent federal takeover in Washington, it is not expected to rely on the National Guard or military and is focused exclusively on immigration instead of being cast as part of a broad campaign against crime.
On Friday, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker noted that ICE is a civilian law enforcement agency and can legally operate in the city but said “we don’t appreciate when they mistreat our residents, many of whom have been here for decades.”
“We now have a president and a federal government that’s going after them, hunting people down and disappearing them off the streets,” Pritzker said after a school visit in the city’s south suburbs. “Men with masks are grabbing people off the streets and taking them away. That’s just shameful.”
The immigration crackdown in Chicago could mirror a similar one in Los Angeles, where the Department of Homeland Security said this week that it has made 5,000 immigration arrests since enforcement efforts began on June 6. Authorities are undeterred by a temporary court order prohibiting racial profiling in LA, which the administration has challenged before the Supreme Court.