Immigration crackdowns in Illinois, Massachusetts start : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4336x2891+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F96%2F77%2F99851eaa42c7ac355e4deaba670c%2Fap25161836500390.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4336x2891+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F96%2F77%2F99851eaa42c7ac355e4deaba670c%2Fap25161836500390.jpg" class="img" alt="A federal agent wears a badge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement while standing outside an immigration courtroom at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in New York, on June 10, 2025." fetchpriority="high"/> A federal agent wears a badge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement whereas standing outdoors an immigration courtroom on the Jacob Okay. Javits Federal Constructing in New York Metropolis, on June 10. Yuki Iwamura/AP cover caption

toggle caption

Yuki Iwamura/AP The Division of Homeland Safety introduced it is launching an immigration enforcement operation in Illinois within the newest escalation of federal motion on U.S. cities and states led by Democrats.

The company mentioned in a submit on X that the U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement's "Operation Halfway Blitz" is in honor of Katie Abraham, a 20-year-old girl it says was killed in January in a drunk-driving hit-and-run accident involving a person who's an undocumented immigrant in Illinois.

Officers recognized him as Julio Cucul-Bol. NPR has not confirmed particulars concerning the incident. The DHS submit featured an interview with the dad and mom of the sufferer, Joe and Michelle Abraham, who mentioned the incident came about in Urbana, Unwell.

DHS says the ICE operation targets "felony unlawful aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois" as a result of they knew Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker's "sanctuary insurance policies" would shield them.

This newest announcement about Illinois follows a summer season during which the Trump administration has focused Democratic-led cities for elevated immigration enforcement and Nationwide Guard deployments.

It additionally follows an earlier announcement from DHS that mentioned it was launching a brand new immigration enforcement effort in Massachusetts, in keeping with reporting from NPR member station WBUR in Boston.

In the meantime, Nationwide Guard troops — a few of them armed — are nonetheless patrolling the streets of Washington, D.C., ostensibly to deal with the administration's issues about crime. That is even though town is experiencing a 30-year low in crime, in keeping with the U.S. Justice Division from earlier this yr. And earlier Monday, the U.S. Supreme Courtroom sided with President Trump, permitting immigration raids in Los Angeles to proceed. This enables immigration brokers to conduct "roving patrols" and profile individuals primarily based on their look in Los Angeles and Southern California.

Chicago intervention The announcement that Illinois would be the goal of elevated immigration enforcement comes after a complicated weekend throughout which Trump escalated threats towards Chicago after which walked them again.

All through the weekend, Trump maintained that the Nationwide Guard can be despatched to town and to different main U.S. cities, all led by Democrats, to struggle crime and to step up immigration arrests and deportations.

Like in Washington, D.C., the place Trump despatched Nationwide Guard troops final month, information reveals that violent crime has gone down in Chicago lately.

Trump posted on social media that Chicago was about to search out out why the Division of Protection is known as the "Division of Conflict." (Final week, the president signed an govt order renaming the division, however it will take an act of Congress to make that official.)

In response to Trump's submit, Pritzker this weekend wrote on X that Trump was "threatening to go to conflict with an American metropolis. This isn't a joke. This isn't regular."

However then Trump later instructed reporters on Sunday as he left the White Home, "We're not going to conflict. We'll clear up our cities. We'll clear them up so they do not kill 5 individuals each weekend. That is not conflict, that is frequent sense."

Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat, on Monday mentioned the federal operations in Chicago are "wasteful, ineffective, inhumane and makes Illinoisans much less secure."

"Deploying large federal regulation enforcement sources to search out non-violent people for civil immigration violations does not do a single factor to make our nation safer," she added.

Residents in Chicago expressed deep concern about what this threatened federal motion would appear like. It seems, for now, this federal presence will take the form of a rise in ICE brokers on the streets. As of Monday afternoon, there was no indication there's been an uptick in immigration enforcement.

Boston faces enforcement surge Over the weekend, DHS confirmed to WBUR that it's launching a second immigration enforcement surge all through Massachusetts, however did not specify how lengthy there can be elevated ICE exercise.

This enforcement effort could also be closely centered on town of Boston, in keeping with WBUR which reported that the DHS particularly referred to as out Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, claiming town's sanctuary legal guidelines "appeal to and harbor criminals."

In Could, federal immigration officers mentioned they arrested practically 1,500 individuals as a part of a month-long crackdown referred to as "Operation Patriot," WBUR reported. DHS refers to this new surge as "Patriot 2.0."

This type of federal intervention in main U.S. cities and states isn't prone to cease any time quickly, as Trump has additionally threatened to ship troops to Baltimore and New Orleans in latest days.