Immigration

Trump ‘border czar' in Chicago as immigration enforcement crackdown begins

The number of federal agencies involved showed President Donald Trump’s willingness to use federal law enforcement beyond the Department of Homeland Security to carry out his mass deportations.

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President Donald Trump's "border czar" Tom Homan and Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove were in Chicago this weekend for the beginning of accelerated immigration enforcement operations in the city.

"It's what President Trump has been saying since day one," Homan said in a one-on-one interview with NBC News on Sunday. "We’re going to focus on public safety threats first, and that’s what we’re doing here today.”

Few details of the operation were immediately made public, including the number of arrests. But the sheer number of federal agencies involved showed President Donald Trump’s willingness to use federal law enforcement beyond the Department of Homeland Security to carry out his long-promised mass deportations.

"There are a lot of targets, a lot of teams looking," Homan said. "I can tell you, last time I looked at the board, I think we got six people who are serious sex offenders, we got at least two to three TDA gang members, two other gangs who were convicted of murder, homicide, aggravated sexual battery, aggravated sexual assault, some bad guys."

Homan has frequently criticized Chicago and Illinois officials, and had promised to visit Chicago early in the Trump administration to back immigration enforcement efforts.

Because of Chicago’s "sanctuary" city policies, the "border czar" said there will likely be collateral arrests.

"In a sanctuary city, if we can't get the bad guy in jail, we’ll go in the community to find them, and when we find them, if they’re with others who are here illegally, they’re going too," he stated.

According to Politico, such “sanctuary” jurisdictions could be targeted by the Trump administration. Bove released a memo last week shortly after Trump was sworn in, calling for a “major redeployment of Justice Department resources” to assist in immigration enforcement.

He also called on attorneys to prosecute officials and activists who “fail to comply with lawful immigration-related commands and requests,” according to the publication. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker appeared on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday morning and discussed how Illinois will navigate interacting with ICE agents.

"Let me start by being clear that when we’re talking about violent criminals who have been convicted and are undocumented, we don’t want them in our state," he said. "We want them out of the country. We hope they do get deported, and if that’s who they’re picking up, we’re all for it."

However, he said, there's also a law on the books in Illinois that states local law enforcement will stand up for law-abiding undocumented people who are "doing the right thing."

Multiple agencies took part in the weekend operation, including the Drug Enforcement Agency, the FBI and the U.S. Marshals. It remained unclear if additional enforcement actions would take place on Sunday night.

According to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement statistics, the agency made 286 arrests across the U.S. on Saturday and nearly 600 arrests the day prior.

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