Chicago Mayor Johnson suggests ICE operations ruined metropolis's most secure summer time

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Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson drew sharp criticism from the Division of Homeland Safety after suggesting {that a} federal immigration operation beneath Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino disrupted what he stated had been the town’s most secure summer time in a long time.

Johnson has been touting latest evaluation that 2025 was Chicago’s most secure summer time in 60 years by way of violent crime , because the city’s NPR affiliate discovered a complete of 123 murders occurred between June and August final 12 months.

The University of Chicago’s Crime Lab discovered that violent crime declined throughout the nation, together with within the metropolis all through 2025, however it nonetheless had elevated figures versus different main cities globally.

Johnson stated final week that these figures had been true earlier than DHS kicked off "Operation Halfway Blitz" across the first week of September.

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Johnson stated that after ICE and the Border Patrol confirmed up, crime elevated once more.

"Chicago had the most secure summer time since 1965 earlier than Bovino stepped foot in our metropolis," Johnson stated. "The place ICE was most lively, crime went up."

When requested for a response, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated Johnson is continuous to "demonize our law enforcement, who're dealing with a 1,300% improve in assaults in opposition to them."

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"The hazard and violence our regulation enforcement has confronted in sanctuary cities like Chicago, in comparison with jurisdictions like Florida, is night time and day," she stated, after video surfaced of a girl being promptly detained and arrested after allegedly interfering in a Jacksonville immigration enforcement operation.

"He ought to flip down the rhetoric and work with DHS to forestall extra harmless American deaths by the hands of gang members, murderers, drug traffickers, and rapists who don't have any proper to be on this nation," McLaughlin stated, noting that DHS arrested greater than 4,500 unlawful immigrants with felony information; a lot of them violent; through the Midway Blitz operation .

Johnson had countered that the statistics and timing confirmed his administration "lowered violence in Chicago regardless of ICE."

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Johnson pointed to the case of Mexican nationwide Silverio Gonzalez, who was shot and killed by brokers final 12 months. An account from the Chicago Solar-Occasions reported that ICE decided Gonzalez had allegedly resisted arrest and drove his automotive towards officers, injuring one.

Rep. Jesus Garcia, D-Unwell., who represents the world, later referred to as for a federal investigation.

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Johnson himself had been responding on X to feedback from Bovino, who in flip was disputing an assertion from Obama confidant David Axelrod.

"In Chicago, the path of misrepresentations by DHS was so lengthy, an exasperated federal choose declared ‘it turns into troublesome, if not inconceivable, to imagine virtually something’ they signify as reality. That sample continues in Minneapolis," Axelrod wrote, citing and linking to a New York Occasions report of a person shot and injured by a federal agent in Minneapolis days after Renee Good’s loss of life.

In response, Bovino stated that "double-digit decreases in violent crime in Chicago communicate the reality you’r[e] after."

"Taking violent illegal aliens off the streets by the hundreds appears to hassle those that select unlawful aliens over Americans."

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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/2026/01/672/378/ice-agents-protestors-clash-minneapolis-shooting-003.jpg?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2026/01/1344/756/ice-agents-protestors-clash-minneapolis-shooting-003.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/2026/01/931/523/ice-agents-protestors-clash-minneapolis-shooting-003.jpg?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2026/01/1862/1046/ice-agents-protestors-clash-minneapolis-shooting-003.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="523" width="931"> U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino, heart, joins federal brokers on the scene of a capturing in Minneapolis. (Ellen Schmidt/MinnPost by way of AP)

That remark led Johnson to quote the 1965 versus 2025 violent crime figures.

"Abolish ICE," Johnson later wrote on Fb, posting the contents of his prior feedback.

Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox Information Digital.

He joined Fox Information in 2013 as a author and manufacturing assistant.

Charles covers media , politics and tradition for Fox Information Digital.

Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple College with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story ideas will be despatched to charles.creitz@fox.com.