Trump’s deportation plan reportedly set to start next week in Chicago

The incoming Trump administration plans to conduct a “post-inauguration” immigration raid in Chicago next week, according to two people familiar with the matter reviewed by The New York Times, the first step in President-elect Donald J. Trump’s goals .
The program, which Immigration and Customs Enforcement calls “Operation Safeguard,” will begin the day after Trump takes office and run through Monday, according to people familiar with the matter and letters. However, dates are still being finalized and are subject to change.
The scale of the planned operation is unclear. ICE frequently conducts deportations in cities across the United States. But the agency is taking additional steps to bolster enforcement of the action and tie it to Trump’s inauguration in a message to personnel across the agency.
Hundreds of agents are being asked to volunteer for “post-inauguration” operations targeting illegal immigrants in the United States. ICE plans to send about 150 agents to Chicago to conduct the raid.
For Trump, it is enough for immigration agents armed with ballistic equipment to arrest immigrants with uncertain or disputed status in Democratic-led cities. The incoming administration is scrambling to find ways to send a message that it is cracking down on undocumented immigrants and punishing so-called sanctuary cities — communities like Chicago that refuse to turn over immigrants in police custody to federal immigration authorities.
Chicago police spokesman Don Terry said the department does not “interfere or interfere with the performance of any other government agency’s duties,” but said it “does not record immigration status” and “does not share information with federal immigration authorities.”
The Wall Street Journal earlier reported on the planned raid.
Tom Homan, Trump’s appointee to oversee his promised mass deportations, said the public should expect “shock and awe” from immigration actions early in Trump’s presidency.
Mr. Trump has promised mass deportations of millions of unauthorized immigrants in the United States. Mr. Homan said the government would not hesitate to deport parents whose children were born in the United States but were living in the country illegally.
Trump’s team also plans to reassign other federal agents and appoint local police and National Guard members volunteered by Republican-controlled states to help with the deportation effort.
Mr. Homan sought to draw attention to so-called sanctuary cities. In November, he recommended increasing the number of federal immigration officers in those areas.
“New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, the major cities in this country are still sanctuary cities,” Mr. Homan said at the time, adding, “If they don’t help us, then we’re going to double the manpower in those cities.”
But plans to deport millions of undocumented immigrants could still face huge financial and logistical obstacles. In recent weeks, Trump and his immigration officials have said their immigration actions would first target those with criminal records.
When Trump was last in the White House, he alarmed many ICE officials by frequently threatening deportations across the country. His results have been mixed.
In 2019, Trump launched a blitzkrieg targeting about 2,000 immigrants living in the United States illegally in a show of force against immigration. Only 35 people were detained during the operation.
In 2019, ICE deported more than 267,000 people, the highest annual total during the Trump administration. That number pales in comparison to President Barack Obama’s record deportations of more than 400,000 people in one year.
Julie Boseman Contributed reporting.