The incoming Trump administration intends to carry out “post-inauguration” immigration raids in Chicago next week, according to two people familiar with the planning and correspondence reviewed by The New York Times, an opening step in President-elect Donald J. Trump’s goal to oversee the largest deportation operation in American history.
The plan, called “Operation Safeguard” by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, would start on Tuesday, the day after Mr. Trump is inaugurated, and last until the following Monday, according to the people familiar with it and the correspondence. The dates were still being finalized, however, and could change.
The size of the planned operation was unclear. ICE routinely conducts deportations in cities throughout the United States. But the agency was taking additional steps to ramp up enforcement for the operation and tied it to Mr. Trump’s inauguration in a message sent to personnel throughout the agency.
Hundreds of agents were asked to volunteer and participate in the “post-inauguration” operation targeting immigrants in the United States illegally. ICE is planning on sending roughly 150 agents to Chicago for the raids.
For Mr. Trump, the optics of immigration agents sporting ballistic gear and arresting immigrants with uncertain or contested status in a Democratic-led city could be enough. The incoming administration is eager to find ways to send a message that it is cracking down on undocumented immigrants and punishing so-called sanctuary cities — communities like Chicago that refuse to hand over immigrants detained by the police to federal immigration authorities.
Don Terry, a spokesman for the Chicago police, said the department would not “intervene or interfere with any other government agencies performing their duties,” but said that it “does not document immigration status” and “will not share information with federal immigration authorities.”
The planned raids were reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.
Tom Homan, Mr. Trump’s pick to oversee his promised mass deportations, has said the public should expect immigration action in the early days of the Trump presidency that creates “shock and awe.”
Mr. Trump has promised to carry out mass deportations that would target millions of unauthorized immigrants in the United States. Mr. Homan has said the administration will not hesitate to deport parents who are in the country illegally but have U.S.-born children.
Mr. Trump’s team also plans to reassign other federal agents and deputize local police officers and members of the National Guard voluntarily contributed by Republican-run states to help with the deportation efforts.
Mr. Homan has tried to draw attention to the so-called sanctuary cities. In November, he suggested that he would ramp up the number of federal immigration officers in those areas.
“New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, the major cities in this country are still sanctuary cities,” Mr. Homan said then, adding, “If they’re not going to help us, then we’ll just double the manpower in those cities.”
But plans to deport millions of undocumented immigrants are still likely to face enormous financial and logistical hurdles. In recent weeks, Mr. Trump and his immigration officials have said their immigration operation would first target those with a criminal record.
Mr. Trump often threatened nationwide deportation raids when he was last in the White House, shocking many of his ICE officials. He achieved mixed results.
In 2019, Mr. Trump promoted a blitz-like effort to target roughly 2,000 migrants who were in the United States illegally as a show of force against migration. Just 35 people were detained in the operation.
In 2019, ICE removed more than 267,000 people — the highest annual total during the Trump administration. That pales in comparison to the high mark that occurred under President Barack Obama, who deported more than 400,000 people in one year.
Julie Bosman contributed reporting.
