A top Department of Justice (DOJ) official was in Chicago over the weekend as federal authorities carried out large-scale deportation raids, monitoring for any interference from city officials, reported The New York Post quoting a DOJ source.
Acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove travelled to Chicago after warning that the DOJ could investigate and prosecute sanctuary city leaders who obstruct Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations.
The crackdown resulted in 100 arrests in pre-dawn raids on Sunday, conducted by ICE alongside the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and other federal agencies.
Sanctuary city under scrutiny
Chicago’s sanctuary policies prohibit local police from assisting federal immigration enforcement in most cases. According to The New York Post, ICE notified the Chicago police department of the general locations of its raids but withheld specifics.
Bove recently launched the Sanctuary Cities Working Group, a DOJ initiative tasked with gathering evidence of potential federal law violations by sanctuary cities. The group is also investigating federal funding allocated to such jurisdictions.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has remained defiant, vowing to uphold the city’s long-standing sanctuary status. “Regardless of who is in the White House, Chicago is a city that opens its arms to people from around the globe,” Johnson said Tuesday. He reaffirmed that the city would continue protecting immigrants under its “Welcoming City Ordinance.”
Adding further, Johnson said, “The Welcoming City Ordinance is a law, and it is the law of the land here in Chicago. We will uphold it, along with the complementary Illinois Trust Act to ensure that our immigrant communities are safe”.
The raids come amid heightened tensions between federal authorities and sanctuary city leaders. Tom Homan, former acting ICE director and Trump’s “border czar,” criticised Chicago for what he described as a “well-educated” illegal migrant population.
“They’ve been educated on how to defy ICE, how to hide from ICE,” Homan said in an interview with CNN, adding that aid organizations provide pamphlets guiding migrants on how to avoid arrest. “They call it ‘Know Your Rights.’ I call it ‘how to escape arrest,’” he said.
As per The New York Post, the House Oversight Committee is also investigating Johnson and other mayors for implementing policies that allegedly obstruct ICE operations.
