{"id":232885,"date":"2025-09-17T03:47:31","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T03:47:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/232885\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T03:47:31","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T03:47:31","slug":"border-patrol-agent-who-led-la-immigration-operation-now-in-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/232885\/","title":{"rendered":"Border Patrol agent who led LA immigration operation now in Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO (AP) \u2014 The Border Patrol agent who has broken norms leading an immigration crackdown in Los Angeles reached Chicago on Tuesday, potentially signaling a new, more aggressive phase to an enforcement surge<\/a> announced last week in the nation\u2019s third-largest city. <\/p>\n

\u201cWell, Chicago, we\u2019ve arrived!\u201d Gregory Bovino<\/a> said in an X post that included a stylized video of Customs and Border Protection vehicles driving into the city along with agents walking in slow motion amid picturesque downtown shots. \u201cOperation At Large is here to continue the mission we started in Los Angeles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was also in Chicago, saying Department of Homeland Security officers made multiple arrests early Tuesday. She posted videos of armed agents in camouflage military-style gear leading people in handcuffs from a residence. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur work is only beginning,\u201d she said on X. <\/p>\n

Trump again floats National Guard troops in Chicago <\/p>\n

For weeks, President Donald Trump has promised \u2014 with threats of apocalyptic force<\/a> \u2014 that Chicago would see a surge in immigration enforcement and National Guard troops over the objections of local leaders<\/a> and residents<\/a>. Immigrant rights activists and Illinois lawmakers have noted a recent uptick<\/a> in immigration enforcement agents as Trump targets Democratic strongholds<\/a>. <\/p>\n

However, Trump has seesawed<\/a> on sending a military deployment to Chicago. After saying he\u2019d focus on other cities<\/a>, Trump said Tuesday that Chicago would see a deployment soon. <\/p>\n

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat and frequent Trump critic who has objected to any federal intervention,<\/a> dismissed the Republican president\u2019s latest statements about Chicago. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to believe anything he says,\u201d Pritzker told reporters. <\/p>\n

Scrutiny on immigration arrests<\/p>\n

Officials did not answer questions about the focus or size of immigration enforcement in Chicago. Neither did a spokesman for a military base outside Chicago that has agreed to provide limited logistical support<\/a> to federal agents. <\/p>\n

\u201cTeams have spread across Chicago to go after targets,\u201d Bovino told The Associated Press. <\/p>\n

He said Noem observed a 5:30 a.m. raid that resulted in five arrests.<\/p>\n

They included one U.S. citizen, Chicago news outlets reported. Joe Botello, 37 said he was briefly detained after telling agents who showed up at his Elgin home early Tuesday he was a U.S. citizen and had identification, according to the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times.<\/p>\n

Brandon Lee, a spokesman for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said the arrests weren\u2019t about keeping the community safe. <\/p>\n

\u201cSecretary Noem\u2019s Elgin photo-op put the cruelty of ICE on full display, forcibly removing people from their home and disrupting daily life for citizens and noncitizens alike,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Increased enforcement in recent days has renewed fears<\/a> among Chicago\u2019s immigrant communities, leading to the cancellation and delay of some celebrations for Mexican Independence Day, which was Tuesday. Tensions are especially high since an ICE officer fatally shot<\/a> a man who was allegedly evading arrest last week. <\/p>\n

Pritzker,<\/a> a possible 2028 presidential contender, criticized Bovino\u2019s tactics, calling them violent and discriminatory. He accused the administration of sending federal agents to agitate and inflame tensions as a justification for Trump to deploy the military. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey are grabbing people who have brown skin or who speak with an accent or who speak another language and not people who are guilty of or are accused of perpetrating a crime,\u201d Pritzker said Tuesday. <\/p>\n

In Los Angeles, Bovino\u2019s self-described \u201cturn and burn\u201d operation led to thousands of arrests. Agents smashed car windows, blew open a door to a house and patrolled MacArthur Park<\/a> on horseback. The operation in California began June 6 without any hints before it was launched. <\/p>\n

On social media, Bovino amped up his Chicago-related content, pointing out favorable media coverage, snapping back at members of Pritzker\u2019s staff and using a popular musical refrain from Djo\u2019s \u201cEnd of Beginning\u201d as background music for his arrival video. The line \u201cand when I\u2019m back in Chicago, I feel it\u201d is often used on social media in odes to the city. <\/p>\n

Chicago mayor signs measure to protect protesters<\/p>\n

Mayor Brandon Johnson said he has had no direct conversations with federal officials and reaffirmed that Chicago police would not collaborate with immigration agents. As a largely symbolic measure, he signed an executive order aimed at protecting the right to protest.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the event that the federal government tramples on the Constitution, our police department has a responsibility to make sure we\u2019re protecting our democracy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Johnson and Pritzker have vowed to sue over a federal intervention. <\/p>\n

Noem said DHS would not back down. <\/p>\n

Congresswoman says Chicago immigration arrests in the hundreds <\/p>\n

Ahead of Bovino\u2019s arrival, DHS offered few details about immigration enforcement in Chicago, aside from noting roughly two dozen arrests since ICE began an operation earlier this month. Immigration activists have said the number is much higher, with more than 15 alone in one suburb on Monday. Officials with ICE did not return messages Tuesday.<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood of Illinois, a Democratic member of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Appropriations, said Monday that ICE has taken 250 people into custody since it began its \u201cOperation Midway Blitz\u201d on Sept. 6. Underwood said she was briefed after requesting more information from ICE and that she was told the program would include the entire state of Illinois and Lake County, Indiana, which is part of the Chicago metropolitan area.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone deserves to feel safe in their community. Like all Illinoisans, I\u2019ve been concerned and alarmed by reporting about ICE\u2019s conduct and operations in our state under Donald Trump,\u201d Underwood said in a statement. <\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO (AP) \u2014 The Border Patrol agent who has broken norms leading an immigration crackdown in Los Angeles…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":232886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[2064,20174,66460,276,960,69,57,110594,5386,1819,1818,409,6323,2862,72794,125421,2399,125422,224,80,3676,2065,61,93],"class_list":{"0":"post-232885","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-border-security","9":"tag-brandon-johnson","10":"tag-brandon-lee","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-chicago","13":"tag-donald-trump","14":"tag-general-news","15":"tag-gregory-bovino","16":"tag-il","17":"tag-il-state-wire","18":"tag-illinois","19":"tag-immigration","20":"tag-in-state-wire","21":"tag-indiana","22":"tag-j-b-pritzker","23":"tag-joe-botello","24":"tag-kristi-noem","25":"tag-lauren-underwood","26":"tag-los-angeles","27":"tag-politics","28":"tag-u-s-department-of-homeland-security","29":"tag-u-s-immigration-and-customs-enforcement","30":"tag-u-s-news","31":"tag-washington-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115217592938869022","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}