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Mayor Brandon Johnson and Gov. JB Pritzker stood beside other local and state leaders this afternoon at a press conference addressing the surge of federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) as part of President Donald Trump’s “Operation Midway Blitz.”
Notably missing from the press conference was new Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke. This past weekend, Chicago organizers held a protest in downtown Chicago, calling for O’Neill Burke to stand up to ICE and other federal agents.
Dozens of federal agents in military-style uniforms were spotted yesterday in downtown Chicago, where they detained a family at Millennium Park and chased after a man who vocally criticized them. The man got away after hopping on his bike.
In a collaboration with indie outlet Unraveled Press and alt-weekly Chicago Reader, The TRiiBE has been documenting federal agent activity across Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. Agents have been documented patrolling in various neighborhoods, as well as in the Chicago River on patrol boats.
4:20 p.m.
“What I have directed my [Chicago] Police Department to do through executive order is to protect the fundamental right to peacefully assemble, to ensure that every single department and agency knows exactly what rights have to be carried out. And what you’re seeing today is a strong display of a united front. In fact, if there were ever a time for the people of the world to unite, now is the time,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said during the press conference.
Gov. JB Pritzker added that he and the state are doing all they can to fight against the actions of the Trump administration, calling the actions unprecedented.
“We’re doing everything that we can legally do. We are literally doing everything that we can legally and if there are other things, if we discover them, when they are suggested to us, we’ll take those actions too,” Pritzker said. “And that’s one of the reasons I talked to other governors. It’s one of the reasons I talked to attorneys general, beyond our own attorney general. I want to hear what all the options are.”
4:00 p.m.
Gov. Pritzker said that the actions by the federal government and militarized agents are to provoke and provide any reason to send military troops to Chicago.
“Let me be clear. They are not communicating with the city of Chicago, with the state of Illinois, with Cook County, with Broadview, with anybody. Greg Bovino is putting up his TikTok videos, and it’s giving a misimpression of what’s happening on the ground. peaceful protesters, as they have all across the country, by the way, people are peacefully protesting, and we have, in response to that, chemical agents being fired at people, people who are doing nothing more than sitting in their cars, reporters being detained. So, the provocation is coming from ICE and with clear intent to have the federal government send military troops.”
3:54 p.m.
Erendira Rendon, vice president of Immigrant Justice at The Resurrection Project, explained that people who look like her are under attack during the press conference.
“If you look like me, you are in danger. On Sunday, in Back of the Yards, ICE officers violently arrested three U.S. citizens on baseless charges, simply for exercising their constitutional right to free speech. DHS terrorizes and showcases our pain on social media,” Rendon said, referencing the sizzle-reels and photos of detainees that the agency posts on X (formerly Twitter). “These high-visibility enforcement actions are designed to feed a media narrative that says that immigrants are the threat, but we know the truth. Immigrants power our economy. Immigrants keep prices down. Immigrants feed us. Immigrants build your homes. Immigrants, we love our families.”
Rendon went on to explain what the conditions are like in the Broadview ICE processing center.
“In Broadview, there are 200 people in a place that is not a detention center. They are being held in inhumane conditions. There are no beds, there are no showers, there is limited food. They order children’s meals from Subway to eat,” Rendon said. “We are not allowed to speak to any of our clients that are held in that facility. It is a black hole, and people go missing for days. People are being forced to sign their voluntary departure forms, and their families are being denied access to them.”
3:52 p.m.
Illinois Sen. Karina Villa, who is also the Senate Chair of the Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus, said that the group stands with Pritzker and leaders at every level, to demand answers around “Operation Midway Blitz” and the death of Silverio Villegas González.
“What we are seeing is our First Amendment rights being eroded by an authoritarian administration determined to dismantle dissent. This is not safety. This is persecution,” Villa said. “We demand that every Illinoisan receive rights to due process, medical care and access to legal counsel.”
3:46 p.m.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle called for an end to the tactics currently being used by ICE, CBP and DHS.
“Federal decisions to militarize ICE activity have set a dangerous precedent. ICE agents are wearing masks, breaking into homes and carrying weapons in downtown areas. These actions have created fear and chaos across our region and are designed to intimidate our residents,” Preckwinkle said. “ICE agents have fired tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets at protesters and journalists in Broadview. In Chicago, agents in tactical gear are carrying long guns on our streets. None of this creates safety or security. It only spreads fear.”
“We’ve seen similar attacks on citizens as well. Plainclothes agents, unmarked cars and the refusal to provide identification are not signs of transparency or accountability,” Preckwinkle continued. “They’re acts of cowardice. Cook County will not tolerate injustice or the inhumane treatment of people who came here seeking safety and the chance to build a better life. That’s why I, along with the state and local leaders standing here today, called for accountability and justice. We must ensure that federal agencies act lawfully and respect the rights of all of our people.”
3:37 p.m.
During the press conference, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul also spoke against the actions of the Trump administration and announced legal action.
“This afternoon, we’re filing a lawsuit challenging the administration’s unlawful reallocation of more than $100 million in public safety and disaster relief funds away from other states around the country. These funds under the Homeland Security grant program help states protect against active terrorism and are a critical source of money for networks of police departments, fire departments, Emergency Services and Public Works departments across the country,” Raoul said.
Raoul stated that he was not against fighting crime or collaborating with the federal government to do so, but he said that President Trump was not sincere about fighting crime, as he has greatly defunded community violence interruption programs.
3:26 p.m.
During the press conference, Mayor Johnson said he was shocked to see the heavily armed agents roaming around downtown Chicago on Sunday.
“The president is using his militarized force the exact way he intended — to advance his political goals. He wants to militarize our cities, whether that’s through ICE or through the National Guard or United States Army or armed forces,” Johnson said. “He wants to provoke conflict so that he can use this as a pretext to send even more federal agents into our city.”
Johnson called out U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Tom Homan, who was investigated for accepting $50,000 from undercover FBI agents.
“Let’s call it what it is. Tom Homan sold out the American people for $50,000 in cash,” Johnson said. “That’s why I’m calling on the federal government to appoint an independent investigator to review every single contract in the city of Chicago, the county and the state related to any ICE detention centers. People have a right to know if these contracts are legitimate or if they were granted as a result of outright bribery and corruption.”
Johnson continued about the attacks from the Trump administration.
“This is not even about immigration. This is a continuing administration’s war on the poor. They have cut food assistance, they’ve cut Medicaid, they’ve cut violence. They have made life harder and more dangerous for poor and working people across this country. They have declared war on [the] poor on behalf of the ultra-rich, so they can simply funnel our tax dollars to a small handful of billionaires,” Johnson said.
3:20 p.m.
Pritzker addressed the actions of federal agents in Chicago, such as killing Silverio Villegas González in Franklin Park, detaining a tamale vendor and harassing people enjoying the streets of downtown.
“[President] Donald Trump and [DHS Secretary] Kristi Noem and [Director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] Tom Homan said they were targeting the ‘worst of the worst’ criminals; they lied, and they continue to lie. Sixty percent of the individuals that ICE has taken in Illinois this year have no criminal convictions of any kind. ICE is running around the loop, harassing people for not being white. Just a year ago, that was illegal in the United States. Now, ICE is making it commonplace. That’s not making America great.”
Pritzker urged residents of Illinois to continue to document the actions of federal agents. “Get out your cell phone, record and narrate what you see. Put it on social media peacefully. Ask for badge numbers and identification. Speak up for your neighbors. We need to let the world know that this is happening and that we won’t stand for it.”
3:10 p.m.
Mayor Brandon Johnson and Gov. JB Pritzker spoke at a press conference about the federal agents, speaking on how their presence has not made Chicago safer.
“The Illinois National Guard received word that the Department of Homeland Security has sent a memo to the Department of War seeking the deployment of 100 military troops to Illinois, claiming a need for the protection of ICE personnel and facilities,” Pritzker said during the press conference.
Pritzker said that what he has been warning about “is now being realized.”
