The legality of the operation was questioned by some legal experts,[1] and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker is planning legal action.[3] Pritzker's office has stated that the Trump administration did not communicate with his office about the operation.[1] The operation caused anxiety among certain Chicago residents such as Latinos.[1] Religious organizations in Chicago have coordinated to schedule gatherings and make resources available for immigrants.[1][4] A hotline set up to report ICE sightings was very busy on the first day of the operation, confirming that enforcement actions increased.[3]
During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump stated he would use the military to end protests without consent from state governors, actions which his aides had previously talked him out of during his first term.[5] Also during Trump's second campaign and current tenure his administration has pursued a deportation policy characterized as maximalist",[6] and a mass deportation campaign, affecting hundreds of thousands of immigrants through detentions, confinements, and expulsions. The Trump administration has also launched successive purges of top military and intelligence leadership whose views were seen as being at odds with Trump.[7] During a September 30 meeting with over 800 generals and admirals, Trump stated that the deployments should be used as "training grounds for our military" and described America as waging "a war from within"; saying that "America is under invasion from within" and that it was "No different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways because they don’t wear uniforms".[8]
In 2025, the Trump administration had deployed forces of the federal government such as the National Guard to select US cities. Deployments began in Los Angeles in June 2025, followed with deployment to Washington D.C in August 2025. and planned deployments to Memphis, Chicago and Portland amongst others.[9][10][11][12] On September 8, 2025, DHS announced that ICE would lead Operation Midway Blitz, a multi-agency surge aimed at “criminal illegal aliens” in Illinois. According to U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood, the operation began on September 6, 2025.[13] According to DHS, the mission honors Katie Abraham, a Chicago woman killed earlier in the year by an undocumented driver in Urbana.[14]
Launch and scope
While announced as a Chicago crackdown, the operation's jurisdiction covers the entire state of Illinois and neighboring Lake County, Indiana.[15] In addition to ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), personnel from the U.S. Marshals Service, Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) were included.[16] The ICE processing facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview was the site of clashes between protestors and federal agents.[17]ABC 7 Chicago reported that more than 250 people had been taken into custody during the first nine days, with detainees transferred to immigration detention centers in Indiana and Wisconsin.[18] Thirteen days after the operation began, DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin stated that officials had arrested almost 550 people.[19]
On September 6, thousands of people protested in the Chicago Loop against Trump sending ICE and the National Guard.[20][21] A similar protest was held outside of the Great Lakes Naval Base in North Chicago, Illinois, where federal agents were being sent for the operation.[22] Additional protests against Trump sending ICE and the National Guard to Chicago were held in Joliet, Illinois and Rockford, Illinois.[23][24] That same day on Truth Social, Trump posted an AI image of himself depicting himself as an officer in the film Apocalypse Now, stating “Chicago is about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR”, a post that was sharply criticized by state and city officials.[25]
On September 12, ICE agents in Franklin Park, Illinois shot and killed Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez. After Villegas-Gonzalez was stopped at a traffic stop, he tried to flee and struck an officer with his car. The injured ICE officer was released from the hospital after being treated for "severe back injuries, lacerations to the hand and substantial tears on his knee".[26] DHS officials released a statement stating: "During a vehicle stop, the subject resisted and attempted to drive his vehicle into the arrest team, striking an officer and subsequently dragging him as he fled the scene. Fearing for his life, the officer discharged his firearm and struck the subject".[27]
El Grito Festival, a festival celebrating Mexican Independence Day scheduled to take place in Grant Park on September-13-14, was postponed due to news of increased ICE activity in Chicago. A separate celebration was held in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago on September 15.[28]
In northwest suburban Elgin, federal agents in military uniforms used explosives to breach the door of a residence around 6:00 AM on September 16, while at least one helicopter circled the neighborhood. They detained at least six persons, two of whom were later determined to be U.S. citizens. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem may have been present. Noem shared a video of the operation on her social media channels.[29][30][31]
In downtown Chicago on September 28, protesters heckled armed U.S. Border Patrol agents as they marched through the downtown and Gold Coast neighborhoods, chanting "Shame", "Pigs", and "Get out of Chicago". Agents arrested a Latino family in Millennium Park, including an 8-year old and 3-year old child, during the patrolling.[32]
On September 30, ICE conducted a late night raid on a South Shore neighborhood of Chicago, using a Black Hawk helicopter to rappel onto residential buildings.[33][34] The FBI, U.S. Border Patrol, and ATF assisted in the operation. DHS stated it arrested 37 people in the raid.[35] Stephen Miller declared after the raid that the building was "filled" with Tren de Aragua "terrorists"[36] but later statements by DHS identified no more than two people as suspected gang members.[37] Eyewitness reports stated that several U.S. citizens were removed from their homes, zip-tied and detained by federal agents for around three hours before being released. Reports on the raid stated that some children were taken from the building while naked.[38][39][40]
In the Chicago Loop, hundreds continued to protest ICE and Trump threatening to send the National Guard.[41]
October 1-10
Protest in Chicago against ICE deportations, on September 30, 2025
On October 1, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a first-of-its-kind restriction on drones over Chicago.[42] According to Newsweek, the restriction was at the request of DHS.[43] Centered on Chicago, the restriction zone measured 35 miles (56km) wide, larger than those imposed over Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon during similar law-enforcement operations.[43]
On October 3, alderwoman Jessie Fuentes of Chicago, a Puerto Rican US citizen, was handcuffed by federal agents inside of an ER. They threatened her with arrest before releasing her outside of the hospital.[44] In Logan Square, an ICE agent threw smoke grenades onto a crowded street, affecting several bystanders.[45]
On October 4, U.S. Border Patrol agents shot a woman after, according to a report from the Department of Homeland Security, their patrol vehicle was boxed in and then rammed by 10 other vehicles.[46] Local community groups disputed federal claims that the agents had been boxed in, claiming that federal agents crashed into a civilian car and caused a multi-car crash.[47][48] The victim was taken to a local hospital and discharged later that day. Protests broke out in Brighton Park in the area of the shooting, and federal agents shot pepper balls and tear gas at the protesters.[49][47] The tear gas also affected several Chicago police officers on the scene, and Mayor Brandon Johnson called for an investigation.[50][51] Over 500 national guard troops were deployed to the Chicago area from Illinois and Texas by the White House.[52]
On October 6, Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order prohibiting federal agencies from using city property for civil immigration enforcement.[53] Dariana Fajardo, a U.S. citizen, was detained by ICE agents in Waukegan, Illinois. They claimed she was trying to box in ICE vehicles, a claim she and community leaders denied.[54]
On October 7, Trump sent the National Guard to Chicago against the wishes of Governor J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson, and a lawsuit filed by the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago to declare the deployment illegal was pending until a court hearing on October 9.[55] Four workers at a cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois were detained by ICE agents after attempting to help a man who was struggling in the Des Plaines River near the cemetery's perimeter. ICE agents pepper sprayed them before tackling, zip-tying and shackling them.[56][57]
On October 8, a federal grand jury refused to indict a couple arrested while legally carrying firearms in Broadview, Illinois in September. Prosecutors also abandoned charges against a third protester arrested on September 27 after reviewing new body camera footage of their arrest.[58] In Chicago and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, protests continued over Trump sending ICE and the National Guard to Chicago.[59][60][61]
On October 9, after detaining four people in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago, ICE wrote a man a $130 ticket for not having papers on him proving that he was a legal resident.[62] An anti-ICE protest was held at the University of Illinois Chicago, following a viral video showing ICE arresting two women near campus.[63]
On October 10, Debbie Brockman, an employee of WGN-TV, was detained in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Chicago by federal agents for seven hours after videotaping agents detaining a Latino man and asking if they had a warrant.[64][65] On October 14, Brockman's attorney released a statement saying that Brockman was pursuing legal action against ICE and the Department of Homeland Security for assault and wrongful arrest.[66] In Broadview, Illinois, protests continued outside of an ICE facility guarded by Illinois State Police instead of the National Guard, which was suspended from being deployed into Illinois by a federal judge. Meanwhile, Illinois Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth were denied entry to the building for a fourth time.[67]
October 11-present
A procession offering Catholic Eucharist by the facility.
On October 11, in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, ICE agents detained a 15-year old girl in a video that went viral. Over 400 people protested in the Rogers Park neighborhood after 4 people were detained there by ICE two days earlier.[68]
On October 12, ICE agents deployed tear gas in the Albany Park neighborhood, in direct violation of a court order that had been handed down by a federal judge just days before.[68] A procession offering Catholic eucharist to detainees at the Broadview ICE facility was denied.[69]
On October 14, several people were detained in ICE raids in the Pullman and Roseland neighborhoods. In the East Side neighborhood, hundreds of residents confronted ICE agents after they rammed a vehicle and caused a multi-vehicle car crash during a chase. ICE agents deployed tear gas for the second time in violation of a court order handed down on October 9. The tear gas also affected Chicago police officers who were at the scene.[70] Three people who gathered around the site of the crash were arrested.[71]
On October 15, a Cook County judge signed an order barring ICE from arresting people while going to court proceedings, including arrests outside courthouses, in parking lots, surrounding sidewalks and entryways.[72] A U.S. citizen with the first name "Angel" was grabbed off the street and pulled into a vehicle by U.S. Border Patrol agents in the South Chicago neighborhood on October 15, 2025. The incident was captured on his cousin's ring camera. After interrogating him, agents dropped him off a half a mile away from where they had pulled him into the vehicle.[73]
On October 16, in Hanover Park, Illinois, ICE detained a police officer named Radule Bojovic, an immigrant from Montenegro, claiming that his tourist visa had expired in 2015. Hanover Park officials stated that Bojovic had a current work authorization card from the federal government and was legally authorized by the federal government to work in the U.S.[74]
Lake County was the site of several raids on October 17.[75]
On October 22, during an ICE raid in the neighborhood of Little Village and neighboring Cicero, Illinois, ICE detained eight people, including four U.S. citizens and two members of Alderman Michael Rodriguez's staff.[79][80]
On October 23, ICE returned to Little Village and fired tear gas at a crowd, the third time ICE used tear gas in the city in direct violation of a court order handed down on October 9. They detained around five people, including a high school student.[81][82]
On October 24, ICE detained several people in the Lakeview and Lincoln Park neighborhoods and deployed tear gas into a crowd of approximately 50 people, going against a court order handed down on October 9 for the fourth time. Judge Sara Ellis ordered Gregory Bovino to appear in court on October 28 as part of an ongoing inquiry into potential violations of her restraining order on crowd-control tactics used during “Operation Midway Blitz,” including tear gas.[83][84]
On October 25, ICE deployed tear gas in the neighborhoods of Old Irving Park and Avondale, once again in violation of the court order. Three people were arrested, including two U.S. citizens, and an agent violently pushed a woman to the ground. A children's Halloween parade was disrupted and canceled as a result.[85][86]
On October 26, ICE agents conducted a stop at a supermarket Sunday morning in Addison, Il. The manager of the store recorded the incident on social media. Agents broke the vehicle's window to arrest the individuals inside the parked vehicle. Two people were detained and a third person, who was the driver, showed the agents her green card and was let go. Community members lined the street along the supermarket on Sunday afternoon to protest. Family members said the two individuals, now in federal custody, had no criminal history or record. [87]
Chicago journalists and unions filed a lawsuit against ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, alleging that the federal government used "extreme force" against reporters and television crews during protests in Broadview, Illinois. The village of Broadview also filed a lawsuit over fencing surrounding the facility, and three criminal investigations into ICE activity.[90][91]
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings ruled that ICE agents illegally arrested 22 people in Chicago without warrants, in violation of the Castañon Nava consent decree.[92] Such arrests violated a three-year consent decree banning warrantless arrests unless agents have probable cause to believe someone is in the United States unlawfully and is a flight risk. The judge ordered ICE to reimburse all bond payments and lift any imposed conditions of release, in addition to making monthly disclosures of how many warrantless arrests agents make each month until the agreement’s new expiration date.[93]
Local and state leaders filed a lawsuit objecting and challenging the deployment of the national guard to Chicago in early October 2025. US District Judge April Perry, stated at an emergency hearing that the deployment could continue forward but any troop action before the October 9 hearing could be used as evidence against the Trump administration.[94][95] On October 9, 2025, Judge Perry temporarily blocked Trump's deployment of the National Guard in Chicago for 14 days, stating that the federal government did not meet the burden needed to send the National Guard into Illinois and that the deployment was unconstitutional, violating the Posse Comitatus Act and the Tenth Amendment.[96] That same day, US District Judge Sara Ellis issued a temporary 14-day restraining order against ICE and Border Patrol agents, ruling that federal agents can't use tear gas, pepper spray and other weapons against journalists and peaceful protesters who don't pose a serious threat to law enforcement officers or others. Ellis also prohibited federal agents from using physical force against journalists or arresting them unless they are suspected of committing a crime. The order also required federal agents to wear badges or other “visible identification” so the public can know who they are, with exceptions for those officers who work undercover.[97]
On October 15, 2025, a Cook County judge signed an order barring ICE from arresting people while going to court proceedings, including arrests outside courthouses, in parking lots, surrounding sidewalks and entryways.[72]
On October 16, 2025, Judge Ellis ordered Chicago U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Field Office Director Russell Hott to appear in court on October 20 to answer for several violations of the court order regarding using tear gas, rubber bullets and other crowd control methods in the Chicago area, in addition to answering questions regarding an ICE-caused vehicle collision following a car chase in the East Side Neighborhood on October 14. Judge Ellis also modified the temporary restraining order on ICE, requiring all agents to wear body cameras and keep them on during operations.[98][99] That same day, a federal appeals court panel denied a request from the Trump administration to lift a lower court's order blocking the president from deploying National Guard troops in Illinois.[100]
On October 28, 2025, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis called Gregory Bovino into court to answer for the multiple deployments of tear gas in Chicago neighborhoods since a restraining order was handed down on October 9. Ellis ordered Bovino to appear in court every weeknight for seven days to give a report on the day's incidents, ordered Bovino to wear a body camera moving forward, and called for a chart of all force reports, bodycam footage and arrest reports dating back to September 2. She also stated that if agents continued to use tear gas without warning or cause, they would lose the right to use it. [101]
Reaction
Mayor Brandon Johnson said Chicago received "no notice of any enhanced immigration action," calling the operation "militarized immigration enforcement."[13][102] Governor JB Pritzker accused federal officials of undermining the authority of local officials and suggested the possibility of taking legal action to challenge the surge.[103][104] Representative Lauren Underwood said she learned about the arrest counts at a meeting with ICE leadership.[105][106]
Local advocacy organizations organized protests outside the suburban ICE facilities while distributing "Know Your Rights" flyers in English and Spanish.[107] Community hotlines reported a surge in calls from community members looking for advice and reporting sightings of federal agents.[108]
In a post on Truth Social, President Trump called for the arrests of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, and raised claims that the two were failing to protect ICE agents in Chicago. Pritzker responded on Twitter, calling Trump's demand part of the path to "full-blown authoritarianism" and that he and Johnson were elected officials checking Trump on his actions.[95]
On October 5, while speaking with Fox NewsHomeland Security SecretaryKristi Noem alleged that Chicago was a "war zone" and spoke out against comments made by Johnson against Trumps policies. Noem argued that the administrations actions have resulted in a safer Chicago, while Pritzker argued on CNNs State of the Union the Noem and Trumps actions were causing Chicago to become a warzone.[109]
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