Chicago, Boston are Trump's next immigration targets
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President Trump plans to escalate immigration enforcement in Chicago and Boston, continuing the administration's pattern of targeting Democrat-run cities it views as hostile to Trump's agenda.
Driving the news: A surge of immigration agents is expected imminently in Chicago, and Trump vowed Tuesday to deploy National Guard troops there in a game plan that appears similar to the one that recently boosted arrests and drew protests and outrage in Los Angeles and D.C.
- "I'm very proud of Washington, it serves as a template" for Chicago, Trump told reporters on Tuesday in the Oval Office. "We're going in."
- His remarks came on a day when a California judge ruled that National Guard troops deployed there in June illegally performed law enforcement duties. The decision applies only to California but could affect how the administration approaches using Guard troops elsewhere.
Zoom in: Trump's immigration and anti-crime crackdowns have been panned by nearly all local and state officials whose cities have been or could be affected — a chorus that includes Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who on Tuesday blasted the plans unfolding in that city.
- But it's clear that more cities will see such immigration surges, and possibly troops. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official told Axios that the Chicago and Boston immigration crackdowns would happen "soon."
- "President Trump has been clear: We are going to make our streets and cities safe again," a senior Department of Homeland Security official said in a statement.
- "What we are seeing now is a power grab that goes beyond the boundaries of the law," Boston Mayor Michelle Wu (D-Mass.) said ahead of the increased ICE presence there.
Immigration advocates in Chicago have been building a broad coalition to oppose the surge of federal agents — and particularly the National Guard — in the city.
- The coalition is planning on quick-response protests when members see spikes in immigration enforcement or troops deploying.
- "This is a unifying moment for Chicago and Illinois because there are people stepping up and speaking out against the impending occupation, who might not otherwise have spoken up," said Brandon Lee of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
- The ICE official said the agency is not coordinating with the National Guard in Chicago, as it did in L.A.
Zoom out: Trump's administration repeatedly has targeted sanctuary cities, in which local law enforcement officers don't partner with ICE agents. This prevents coordination for an immigration arrest when someone who is undocumented is released from local custody for any other offense — a primary way ICE makes arrests.
- First it was Boston, where a surge of federal agents led immigration arrests to jump from about 300 in January to about 1,500 in May, according to data from the Deportation Data Project.
- After the White House encouraged ICE to hit a 3,000 daily arrest quota, Los Angeles was flooded with agents backed up by National Guard troops to protect federal buildings and operations amid protests.
- Then D.C. became a focal point, prompting more than 500 arrests.
Now it's Chicago and then back to Boston, with more cities planned.
- "You're going to see a ramp of operations in New York, you're going to see a ramp up of operations continue in L.A.... Portland, Seattle, all these sanctuary cities that refuse to work with ICE," Trump border czar Homan recently told reporters at the White House.
