{"id":239701,"date":"2025-09-19T20:00:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T20:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/239701\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T20:00:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T20:00:13","slug":"more-than-400-arrested-in-chicago-area-operation-so-far-top-immigration-official-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/239701\/","title":{"rendered":"More than 400 arrested in Chicago area operation so far, top immigration official says"},"content":{"rendered":"

PARK RIDGE, Ill. (AP) \u2014 Immigration enforcement officials have arrested more than 400 people as part of an operation in the Chicago area<\/a> that launched a little less than two weeks ago, a top Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said Friday.<\/p>\n

Marcos Charles, the acting head of ICE\u2019s Enforcement and Removal Operations, gave the figures during an interview with The Associated Press. The figure, which has not been widely reported, offers an early gauge of what is shaping up as a major enforcement effort that comes after similar operations were launched in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

When asked whether he thought that amount of arrests at this point in the operation was positive, Charles said 400 is a \u201csolid number,\u201d adding that the figure includes arrests made by other federal agencies besides ICE who are assisting in the campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to be conducting this operation until we feel that we\u2019ve been successful,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s not an end date in sight.\u201d<\/p>\n

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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents make an arrest during an early morning operation in Park Ridge, Ill., Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. (AP Photo\/Erin Hooley)<\/p>\n

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents make an arrest during an early morning operation in Park Ridge, Ill., Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. (AP Photo\/Erin Hooley)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

ICE launched its Chicago area operation dubbed \u201cMidway Blitz\u201d on Sept. 8, drawing concern from activists and immigrant communities who say there\u2019s been a noticeable uptick in immigration enforcement agents. That has deepened dread in communities already fearful of the large-scale arrests or aggressive tactics<\/a> used in other cities targeted by President Donald Trump<\/a> \u2019s hardline immigration policies.<\/p>\n

The operation has brought allegations of excessive force and heavy-handed dragnets that have ensnared U.S. citizens, while gratifying Trump supporters who say he is delivering on a promise of mass deportations.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has promised to send an influx of immigration agents and National Guard troops to Chicago, over the fierce of objections of local leaders<\/a> and residents<\/a>. A military deployment to Chicago has yet to materialize even as immigration enforcement operations continue.<\/p>\n

Officials and activists in the Chicago area opposed to the enforcement surge argue the approach is dangerous and imprecise, pointing to accounts of two U.S. citizens who were briefly detained this week<\/a> by federal officers focused on immigration enforcement. Advocates also have protested the death of a man shot by an ICE officer on Sept. 12<\/a> after authorities said he tried to flee during a traffic stop, dragging the officer.<\/p>\n

Charles said roughly 50% to 60% of the Chicago operation arrests were targeted arrests, meaning they were specific people that ICE was trying to find because they had committed a crime, had a final order of removal or had done something that put them on ICE\u2019s radar.<\/p>\n

The rest were what\u2019s often referred to as \u201ccollateral arrests,\u201d meaning people that ICE comes across during their operations who aren\u2019t the person they\u2019re looking for but are in the country illegally, so ICE can arrest them.<\/p>\n

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\"U.S.<\/p>\n

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents make an arrest during an early morning operation in Park Ridge, Ill., Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. (AP Photo\/Erin Hooley)<\/p>\n

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents make an arrest during an early morning operation in Park Ridge, Ill., Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. (AP Photo\/Erin Hooley)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Collateral arrests were not allowed during the Biden administration but the Trump administration threw out those restrictions almost immediately after coming into office as part of Trump\u2019s efforts to beef up deportations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean that the collateral arrests are non-criminal. Some of our collateral arrests … also have criminal convictions and arrests. They just weren\u2019t the people we were looking for at the time,\u201d said Charles.<\/p>\n

The Department of Homeland Security launched \u201cMidway Blitz\u201d after months of Trump administration criticism of Chicago and Illinois over state and local policies that restrict law enforcement cooperation with ICE.<\/p>\n

ICE says these policies mean that immigrants who\u2019ve committed crimes in the U.S. and can be deported as a result are instead released into the community. ICE says it then has to go out into the community and track them down to remove them. <\/p>\n

Many local officials and activists have said that immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility and that if they cooperate with ICE, it makes it less likely that immigrants who are victims or witnesses to crime will come forward to work with police. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PARK RIDGE, Ill. (AP) \u2014 Immigration enforcement officials have arrested more than 400 people as part of an…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":239702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,69,57,2055,5386,1819,1818,409,128259,80,2065,93],"class_list":{"0":"post-239701","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-general-news","11":"tag-government-and-politics","12":"tag-il","13":"tag-il-state-wire","14":"tag-illinois","15":"tag-immigration","16":"tag-marcos-charles","17":"tag-politics","18":"tag-u-s-immigration-and-customs-enforcement","19":"tag-washington-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115232743462783380","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239701","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=239701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}