JB Pritzker Calls ICE Agents ‘Jackbooted Thugs’ as They Begin Chicago Blitz

Chicago officials confirmed that the Trump administration’s planned immigration operation in Chicago — a surge of federal agents dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz” — ramped up over the weekend,resulting in the detainment of dozens of people without prior criminal convictions.

At a press conference Monday, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker called federal agents “jackbooted thugs” and cited examples of immigration raids that happened over the past 48 hours in Chicago.

“We received numerous confirmed reports of federal agents from ICE and Customs and Border Protection abusing their power, intimidating innocent civilians and waging war on our people,” Pritzker said. “All of this has been aimed at causing chaos and mayhem in the hopes of creating a pretext to deploy military troops to Chicago.”

Pritzker said he was recently notified of the Department of Homeland Security’s request to send 100 military troops from the Department of Defense to Illinois, “claiming the need of protection for ICE personnel and facilities.”

Tensions erupted in the Chicago suburb of Broadview after a crowd of protesters attempted to stop a federal vehicle from entering a local Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility Friday night. Agents deployed tear gas and pepper spray into the crowd — and at a journalist — who returned the next evening. On Sunday, residents reported seeing a rapid increase in ICE agents flooding into the city.

“Since the operation began, ICE officers have arrested dangerous criminals charged with felony assault, domestic violence, murder, sexual assault, DUIs and more,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement to NOTUS. “These are the kinds of sick criminals that ‘sanctuary cities’ like Chicago are giving sanctuary to.”

ICE did not respond to a request for comment about the number of individuals arrested.

Gregory Bovino, the chief border patrol agent in charge of operations in Los Angeles this summer, told the Associated Press that agents had made “several arrests” but declined to give specifics.

“We’ve always got a target: That’s anyone who is here illegally,” Bovino said.

At Monday’s press conference, Pritzker said the state and city had not received communication from the White House or the Department of Homeland Security.

“Let me be clear, they are not communicating with the city of Chicago … with anybody,” Pritzker said.

Bonvino on Sunday told the Chicago Sun-Times that arrests are being made based on physical appearance.

“You know, there’s many different factors that go into something like that,” Bovino said of how federal immigration agents go about determining who to detain. “It would be agent experience, intelligence that indicates there’s illegal aliens in a particular place or location.”

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers detain a man during an operation in California. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

“Then, obviously, the particular characteristics of an individual, how they look. How do they look compared to, say, you?” he told the reporter, a “tall middle-aged man of Anglo descent,” the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

The Trump administration also sent federal agents to Portland, Oregon, and activated hundreds of the state’s National Guard members over the weekend — just hours after the president suggested the city was “war ravaged” and “under siege” by antifascist activists.

Portland in turn announced Sunday it would be suing the administration, writing in its lawsuit that “the facts cannot justify this overreach.”

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said he is in communication with Oregon officials about their lawsuit and that Illinois plans to file a similar one in the coming days.

“And if the pattern follows what we’ve seen in Oregon, he should expect a legal challenge here as well,” Raoul said, previewing litigation against the Trump administration on several related issues.

“In fact, this afternoon, we are filing a lawsuit challenging this administration’s unlawful reallocation of hundreds of millions of dollars in public safety and disaster relief funds away from Illinois and other states,” Raoul said.