The Trump administration is poised to escalate immigration enforcement actions in sanctuary cities across the country as part of its mass deportation initiative.
Chicago appears to be one of the main cities on the White House’s list, as Trump indicates he will also send the National Guard to the city to curb crime.
From CNN:
Whispers of imminent immigration enforcement ricocheted across Chicago over the weekend as deportation efforts escalated in Boston and the nation’s border czar vowed a much broader surge in the coming days.
“You can expect action in most sanctuary cities across the country,” Tom Homan told CNN’s Jake Tapper, decrying as “problem areas” the next targets of the sweeping nationwide deportation agenda that helped propel President Donald Trump to a second term but Americans largely oppose.
In tandem with those threats, more Democratic-led cities also are bracing for the Trump administration to decide – “over the next day or two,” the president said Sunday – where to further deploy National Guard troops to crack down on violent crime, a purported problem the White House sometimes has linked with immigration.
The Department of Homeland Security on Sunday blamed Boston Mayor Michelle Wu for sanctuary polices that “not only attract and harbor criminals but also place these public safety threats above the interests of law-abiding American citizens.” Crossing the border or overstaying a visa and being undocumented in the United States generally is a civil infraction, not a criminal one.
Here we go 👀
— Clandestine (@WarClandestine) September 4, 2025
Trump is about to make his move on Chicago!
Fox News reporting that ICE are preparing to move into Chicago for an “immigration crackdown”.
This whole thing is not just about crime, it’s also about targeting sanctuary cities and uprooting Democrat election fraud!… pic.twitter.com/OSjX0HICSN
During a recent appearance on Fox News, border czar Tom Homan claimed the majority of illegals that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is arresting are dangerous criminals. “70 pecent of everybody ICE is arresting is a criminal,” he said. “The other 30 percent are gang members who don’t have criminal histories, national security threats, arresting them by the thousands.”
“They had due process, a great taxpayer expense,” Homan continued. “A federal judge ordered them removed. They become fugitives. We're looking for them, too. So how do we send that message? We send a message. But I look at the numbers again this morning. We have a historic number of prosecutions for 111.”
WOW: Tom Homan just revealed some shocking statistics on Fox News.
— DeVory Darkins (@devorydarkins) September 7, 2025
"I looked at the numbers this morning. 70% of everybody ICE is arresting is a criminal. The other 30% are gang members who don't have criminal histories, national security threats (we're arresting them by the… pic.twitter.com/8Rr0Zjx2Oc
Democrats are already criticizing the administration for taking action on immigration and crime in major cities. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) claimed Trump “essentially just declared war on a major city in his own nation.”
Duckworth: "Let's make it clear -- the President of the United States essentially just declared war on a major city in his own nation. This is not normal. This is not acceptable behavior." pic.twitter.com/7kamu6GdQW
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 7, 2025
Since January, ICE has arrested almost 150,000 illegal immigrants, according to the White House.