After launch of Operation Midway Blitz in Illinois, ICE cracks down on immigrant communities
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents escort someone inside the agency’s processing center in Broadview as protesters yell and chant “quit your job” and “shame on you” on Sept. 5 Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times
President Donald Trump has been threatening to send send the National Guard into Chicago — copying a template he first used in Los Angeles and has for a month been using on Washington.He seems to have backed down from deploying soldiers, but he is keeping another aspect of what he did in LA and DC: stepped up activity by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Officials are calling it “Operation Midway Blitz.” The Department of Homeland Security has cited the case of Katie Abraham, who was killed in a drunk driving crash earlier this year in Urbana by someone who did not have legal permission to be in the U.S. DHS says the operation is being carried out in honor of Abraham with a mission to target criminals. Meanwhile, Illinois officials have been critical of what the Trump administration is doing.
The 21st team reached out to the Department of Homeland Security, who provided two statements. We also contacted the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, but did not receive a response. An organizer who is part of a group that advocates against deporatations weighs in on the latest developements.
GUEST
Antonio Gutierrez
Co-Founder and Strategic Coordinator, Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD)
