Operation Halfway Blitz escalates with Border Patrol return to Chicago

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A senior Border Patrol commander who grew to become the face of the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown returned to Chicago Tuesday, prompting protests as brokers fired pepper balls and detained a number of individuals.

Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino's look in Chicago marks essentially the most seen escalation in Operation Midway Blitz since early fall, drawing backlash from immigrant advocates and state leaders who stated the Trump administration did not warn them that the commander or extra brokers have been being redeployed to the world.

Border brokers have been captured on video Tuesday within the predominantly Mexican-American neighborhood of Little Village deploying pepper balls and detaining a person, in keeping with The Related Press.

Bovino’s emergence in Chicago got here a month after he was reassigned to enforcement missions in New Orleans and North Carolina.

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Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino, proper, reappeared in Chicago Dec. 16. (Scott Olson/Getty Photographs; John Rudoff/Anadolu by way of Getty Photographs)

Operation Halfway Blitz was launched in September in honor of Katie Abraham, who was killed in a drunk driving hit-and-run allegedly attributable to Julio Cucul-Bol, an unlawful immigrant from Guatemala. The Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) stated the aim of the operation was to "goal felony unlawful aliens terrorizing People in sanctuary Illinois."

"As we stated a month in the past, we aren’t leaving Chicago, and operations are ongoing," stated DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, in keeping with The Related Press.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker informed reporters Tuesday he was not notified that Bovino and extra Border Patrol brokers have been returning to Chicago, including he doesn’t understand how lengthy the brokers will keep.

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Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino walks alongside his brokers after they detain a person within the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago Dec. 16. (Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Solar-Instances by way of AP)

"I’m so happy with the individuals of Illinois for doing as they've, which is to guard their neighborhoods and their neighbors, to do the appropriate factor," Pritzker stated. "And, so, I feel we’re in a a lot better place."

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson stated he was conscious that Bovino had returned to Chicago.

"We've got discovered that federal brokers are as soon as once more indiscriminately focusing on people — with out warrants — and deliberately displaying up in public areas to intimidate and instill worry, together with at a Teamster picket line and a Little Village group group," Johnson wrote on X, including that "these techniques are destabilizing, improper, and have to be condemned."

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<source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/12/672/378/federal-immigration-enforcement-agents-detain-an-individual-.jpg?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/12/1344/756/federal-immigration-enforcement-agents-detain-an-individual-.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="378" width="672"><source media="(min-width: 1024px) and (max-width: 1279px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/12/931/523/federal-immigration-enforcement-agents-detain-an-individual-.jpg?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/12/1862/1046/federal-immigration-enforcement-agents-detain-an-individual-.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="523" width="931"> Federal immigration enforcement brokers detain a person within the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago Dec. 16. (Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Solar-Instances by way of AP)

Final week, Pritzker signed a bill aimed toward defending unlawful immigrants within the state from deportation by creating new safeguards at a number of areas, together with courthouses, hospitals, school campuses and different public buildings.