(NewsNation) — Federal immigration enforcement agencies are staging for a multiagency law enforcement blitz in Chicago after Labor Day, similar to previous operations in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., White House officials confirmed to NewsNation.
On Thursday, White House border czar Tom Homan confirmed that the U.S. Naval Station Great Lakes, located near the Illinois-Wisconsin border, would be used as a hub for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers ahead of a planned Chicago operation. Homan said federal agencies would also target New York City and other Democrat-led cities after Labor Day.
Homan said “a large contingent” of ICE officers would be sent to Chicago, but would not confirm how many.
“We’re not going to tell you how many resources we’re sending to the city,” Homan said. “We don’t want the bad guys to know what we’re sending.”
Woman headed to prison for pepper-spraying Border Patrol agent
Homan’s comments came after a NewsNation source with knowledge of the operation said Wednesday that Customs and Border Protection officials have begun planning for U.S. Border Patrol staff and agents to be sent to Chicago, along with ICE officers, for the operation.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told NewsNation this week that an ICE elite tactical unit, known as a “strike team,” will be sent to Chicago “soon,” but did not provide a specific timeline for the deployment.
The source said Noem’s comments signaled Chicago was the latest Democrat-led city where DHS would focus immigration enforcement efforts and that the agency had “tipped its hand.”
In a statement provided to NewsNation about the ICE spike team’s deployment to Chicago, a senior DHS official said, “President Trump has been clear: we are going to make our streets and cities safe again. Across the country, DHS law enforcement is arresting and removing the worst of the worst, including gang members, murderers, pedophiles, and rapists who have terrorized American communities.
“Under Secretary Noem, ICE and CBP are working overtime to deliver on the American people’s mandate to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens and make America safe again.”
What plans for federal immigration enforcement are being made?
The NewsNation source said CBP has been working with Border Patrol staff on planning for the Chicago operation and has inquired to the Department of Defense and the Illinois National Guard about using their facilities.
In addition, the source said a U.S. Postal Service warehouse is being considered for housing staff members and equipment.
Illinois National Guard Lt. Col. Bradford Leighton told NewsNation this week the National Guard had not received any orders regarding any upcoming federal operation. Leighton said the majority of National Guard armories in Illinois are state-owned and that he was not aware of any communications between the National Guard and federal immigration agencies.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported earlier this week that DHS, ICE and CBP officers and agents would be housed at the Naval Station Great Lakes between Sept. 2 and Sept. 30, according to an internal email obtained by the newspaper.
Navy Capt. Stephen Yargosz wrote to his leadership team that the operations were similar to those that took place in Los Angeles this summer, confirming information a source told NewsNation. The published report also said the Navy captain’s email indicated the operation was focused on downtown Chicago, and that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth would need to sign off on a request for assistance.
National Guard troops could also be stationed at the Naval base during the operation, officials said in the email.
White House border czar Tom Homan speaks during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Maryland, on Feb. 22. (Photo by Alex WROBLEWSKI / AFP)
The Washington Post reported recently that the Pentagon has been planning a military deployment to Chicago for weeks, targeting September for an operation that would crack down on homelessness, crime and undocumented immigrants. The plan could be used as a blueprint for other major cities, the report indicated.
NewsNation’s source said internal discussions also involve placing federal immigration officers at Chicago’s major airports to provide support to federal Transportation Security Administration agents.
The source said Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have been briefed on the operation. Spokespersons for Pritzker and Johnson did not return messages seeking comment from NewsNation.
Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez told NewsNation on Wednesday that he had not received any official information from Johnson’s office.
A White House spokesperson declined to comment on the operation Wednesday, telling NewsNation that officials would not “get ahead” of any potential immigration enforcement operations. Homan has previously referred to Chicago as “Ground Zero,” and the city was among the first immigration enforcement targets for the administration shortly after Trump took office.
During a two-day enforcement operation in Chicago in late January, ICE made more than 1,300 migrant arrests.
On Thursday, Homan said, “Chicago has a crime problem, and that’s why President Trump is thinking about it.”
Car batteries used in growing drug smuggling trend
Why is Chicago a top priority for the Trump administration?
Chicago and other Democratic-led cities have remained a target of the Trump administration due to their so-called “sanctuary” policies, which prevent state and local police from cooperating with ICE officers conducting immigration enforcement operations.
Noem appeared in suburban Chicago earlier this month to highlight recent arrests of migrant criminals in the greater Chicago area. She targeted Pritzker and Johnson, saying they were ignoring the law and referred to both elected officials as “obstructionists.”
“They’re deciding that dangerous criminals that are murderers, rapists, money launderers, have committed assaults, and that are trafficking children are more important than the families who live in the communities here,” Noem said at the event.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem spoke about immigration enforcement in Illinois. (Jeff Arnold/NewsNation)
In recent days, President Donald Trump has threatened to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago to address what he called “embarrassing” crime numbers. Trump said that he would send troops if he were asked to do so by Pritzker, who, along with Mayor Johnson, has been vocal in his opposition to federal troops being sent in to patrol Chicago’s streets.
“Governor Pritzker had 6 murders in Chicago this weekend. 20 people were shot. But he doesn’t want to ask me for help. Can this be possible? The people are desperate for me to STOP THE CRIME, something the Democrats aren’t capable of doing. STAY TUNED!!! President DJT,” Trump wrote on social media Thursday.
In response, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said in a prepared statement: “As Illinois leaders and Chicagoans have made clear, we have not asked for or consented to President Trump bringing in the military to ‘save’ our city,” Durbin said. “And now he reportedly wants to further abuse his power, waste government resources, and undermine military readiness by using Naval Station Great Lakes as a center of his operation in Illinois. May I remind the President that deploying the military to Chicago, and derailing critical operations at Naval Station Great Lakes, would be both unhelpful and illegal.”
Chicago, along with cities such as Seattle, Philadelphia, New York and the northern Virginia/Washington, D.C., corridor, had been targeted for the possible deployment of ICE tactical teams. In June, five Democratic-led cities were identified as potential sites for federal immigration operations in the wake of anti-ICE rallies in Los Angeles.
What is an ICE strike team that is being sent to Chicago?
Trump previously sent National Guard troops to Los Angeles to assist with enforcement surrounding large anti-ICE rallies in which ICE officers were targeted by protesters. The team Noem referenced as a strike team in the agency’s plans for Chicago is an ICE Special Response Team.
Eight SRTs are deployed nationwide by ICE that are “trained to serve high-risk warrants under hazardous conditions, escort dangerous criminal aliens who have been ordered deported and assist local law enforcement agencies during critical incidents,” according to ICE.
The tactical units use BearCat tracked vehicles, long guns and tactical vests, typically in operations considered high risk. The elite special response teams are part of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, which are charged with “upholding America’s immigration laws and within and beyond our borders through efficient enforcement and removal operations,” ICE said.
Federal agents block people protesting an ICE immigration raid at a nearby licensed cannabis farm on July 10, 2025, near Camarillo, California. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Federal officers within ICE SRTs undergo intense training and are used specifically in high-risk arrest situations and crowd control tactics, similar to Border Patrol’s BORTAC unit.
The team would be part of a larger DHS operation in Chicago, the NewsNation source said, as the Trump administration continues to target Democratic-led cities. City, state and federal elected officials who spoke at a news conference this week in Chicago argued Trump’s plans have nothing to do with law enforcement, but instead are political theater aimed at his rivals.
DHS officials said in a social media post Tuesday that the agency made its 5,000th criminal migrant arrest. The agency said the enforcement effort had taken “criminal illegal aliens, gang members, child predators and murderers” off the streets.
“This is just the beginning,” officials wrote in the post, which thanked CBP, Border Patrol and ICE for their efforts.
NewsNation’s Kellie Meyer contributed to this report.
