Trump to Begin Large-Scale Deportations Tuesday - WSJ
Jan. 17, 2025
The incoming Trump administration is planning a large-scale immigration raid in Chicago next week, according to four people familiar with the planning, the first move in President-elect Donald Trump’s promised mass deportation campaign.
The raid is expected to begin on Tuesday morning, a day after Trump is inaugurated, and will last all week, the people said. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will send between 100 and 200 officers to carry out the operation.
Trump ran for president on a bold promise: to carry out the largest mass deportationin U.S. history.
The Trump team intends to target immigrants in the country illegally with criminal backgrounds—many of whose offenses, like driving violations, made them too minor for the Biden administration to pursue. But, the people cautioned, if anyone else in the country illegally is present during an arrest, they will be taken, too.
The transition team had been contemplating cities to target in a day-one operation as a way of making an example of so-called sanctuary cities, which adopt policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities. They settled on Chicago both because of the large number of immigrants who could be possible targets and because of the Trump team’s high-profile feud with the city’s Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson.
Though it isn’t clear how many people the operation will actually target, Trump’s team is planning to work with several right-leaning media outlets to amplify its efforts.
Tom Homan, the administration’s incoming border czar, appeared to preview the operation during a visit to Chicago last month.
“We’re going to start right here in Chicago, Illinois,” Homan said at a holiday party on Chicago’s North Side. “And if the Chicago mayor doesn’t want to help, he can step aside. But if he impedes us, if he knowingly harbors or conceals an illegal alien, I will prosecute him.”
In response to Homan’s comments at the time, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, said “I’m going to make sure to follow the law. I’m concerned that the Trump administration and his lackeys aren’t going to follow the law.”
The Trump transition team and ICE didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Friday, nor did representatives for Pritzker or Johnson.
Large immigrant centers, such as New York, Los Angeles, Denver and Miami, are also in the incoming administration’s sights, and more targeted raids could come. To help carry them out, the Trump team is weighing a broad mix of changes to give sheriffs more power, with rewards for jurisdictions that cooperate, and financial penalties against those that hold out, people involved in the planning said previously. Homan, for example, has publicly threatened to throw the mayor of Denver—who has loudly protested Trump’s immigration plans—in jail.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement that local officials in 2020 banned cooperation with federal immigration authorities, who are prohibited from using county property, databases and personnel without a federal warrant. “We are here to protect the communities we serve, not to enforce immigration laws,” the department said.
Trump’s advisers have said they intend to penalize sanctuary cities by cutting off what could amount to billions of dollars in federal grants to them.
With Trump’s inauguration looming, rumors spread on social media in recent days of coming ICE raids. One organization, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, said it has conducted more than 140 workshops since the election informing immigrants of their rights, legal resources and how to respond if approached by ICE agents.
“If the intent is to instill a sense of terror and persecution, that’s what the Trump administration is doing very well,” CHIRLA spokesman Jorge-Mario Cabrera said.
With the American population aging, the U.S. economy has become increasingly dependent on immigrant labor, particularly in the food, construction and service industries
Since the end of 2020, some 10 million people have migrated to the U.S., after subtracting those who left, including those who came both legally and illegally. The arrivals have eased labor shortages and helped propel faster economic growth.
Economists and business leaders say deportations on the scale Trump has suggested would amount to a shock to the economy, hitting crucial industries with labor shortages.
Many voters felt President Biden’s border policies strained towns and schools across the country. In the November election, immigration was a top concern for voters, with only the economy a bigger worry, polls showed.
Chicago became a political flashpoint during Biden’s presidency, when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott started sending busloads of migrants seeking asylum at the southern border to Chicago and other northern cities. Since August 2022, more than 51,000 migrants have arrived, according to Chicago city figures.
Fasika Alem, program director of the United African Organization in Chicago, said her group and others have mobilized to ensure that people they work with know their rights and have plans for someone to watch their children if they become separated.
“We are preparing our community to be ready,” she said. “That’s how we’re framing it.”
The Chicago Police Department referred any questions about pending immigration enforcement actions to the federal government.
CPD, in a statement, cited Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance, under which the department “does not document immigration status”—or share information with federal immigration authorities. “We will not intervene or interfere with any other government agencies performing their duties,” it added.
Write to Michelle Hackman at michelle.hackman@wsj.com and Joe Barrett at Joseph.Barrett@wsj.com