Original Date Announced

CNN reports that the Trump administration is preparing to conduct a “major immigration operation” in Chicago. The operation will include personnel from ICE, CBP, and possibly other agencies. Officials are also preparing the National Guard to help if a "peacekeeping" presence is needed. Preparations, already underway, include sending armored vehicles to the city and surging federal agents. The blueprint for the operation is the administration's actions in Los Angeles.

Trump 2.0 [ID #1946].

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.08.30 Chicago - Executive Order Denouncing Any Attempts to Deploy the US Armed Forces in Chicago and to Establish the protecting Chicago Initiative

Mayor Brandon Johnson issued an executive order outlining how the city will work to resist the anticipated immigration-enforcement operation. The executive order "demands" that President Trump "stand down from any attempts to deploy the U.S. Armed Forces . . . in Chicago." It further provides that "no [Chicago Police Department] personnel shall be assigned joint law enforcement patrols, arrest operations, or other law enforcement duties alongside federal law enforcement, or military personnel, or National Guard units engaging in civil immigration enforcement." It also establishes the Protecting Chicago Initiative to coordinate the City's work "to promote the well-being and safeguard the rights of all Chicagoans in response to threats arising from the actions and inactions of the federal government."

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.09.08 DHS - ICE Launches Operation Midway Blitz

ICE and DHS announced the launch of "Operation Midway Blitz," an immigration-enforcement operation in Chicago. The operation will target immigrants who have committed crimes, with an allegation that they "flocked to Chicago and Illinois because they knew Governor Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets."

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.09.19 Reported: ICE arrests nearly 550 in Chicago area as part of ‘Midway Blitz’ - AP News

The Associated Press (AP) reports that ICE officials have arrested almost 550 people in the Chicago area as part of its "Midway Blitz" operation. This DHS-provided figure includes arrests by ICE and other assisting federal agencies. Marcos Charles, the acting head of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, said that roughly 50 to 60% of the arrests were targeted, while the rest were collateral arrests.