HUNT VALLEY, Md. (TNND) -- The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Monday it will target illegal immigrants in Chicago who have committed crimes.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is within DHS, will carry out "Operation Midway Blitz." The initiative will target the "worst of the worst" who went to Chicago and other parts of Illinois knowing Gov. JB Pritzker and the state's "sanctuary" policies would protect them, DHS explained.
"For years, Governor Pritzker and his fellow sanctuary politicians released Tren de Aragua gang members, rapists, kidnappers, and drug traffickers on Chicago's streets -- putting American lives at risk and making Chicago a magnet for criminals," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. "President Trump and Secretary Noem have a clear message: no city is a safe haven for criminal illegal aliens. If you come to our country illegally and break our laws, we will hunt you down, arrest you, deport you, and you will never return."
Gov. Pritzker said in response to DHS's announcement the operation is for the purpose of scaring Illinois residents.
"Once again, this isn't about fighting crime. That requires support and coordination -- yet we've experienced nothing like that over the past several weeks," the governor wrote in a post on social media platform X. "Instead of taking steps to work with us on public safety, the Trump Administration's focused on scaring Illinoisians."
A spokesperson for Gov. Pritzker added in a statement to The National News Desk he has not received any formal communication or information from the Trump administration.
"Like the public and press, we are learning of their operations through their social media as they attempt to produce a reality television show," the spokesperson explained. "As Trump has said himself, this is not about seriously fighting crime or reforming immigration - it's about Trump's plan to go to war with America's third-largest city. If he cared about delivering real solutions for Illinois, then we would have heard from him."
President Donald Trump shared in a Saturday post on Truth Social that Chicago was going to soon find out why the Department of Defense will be renamed the "Department of War."
"Tough on crime" strategies targeting gangs, guns and drugs are not sustainable for reducing crime, though, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times earlier Monday. The city has made progress through "effective" and "law-abiding" policing and "violence prevention," as well as by addressing the "root causes" of crime, he explained.
"My priority is to make Chicago the safest big city in America. If our efforts are successful, we'll demonstrate that the progressive approach to driving down crime is not only more just, it is also more effective," Johnson said.