Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino is back in Chicago today. Mayor Brandon Johnson’s press office confirmed the news Tuesday morning in a Twitter post.
“Greg Bovino is in Chicago again today. A reminder of what was done under his watch last time,” the press office wrote, adding in a laundry list of harms Bovino and his militarized federal agents committed during their heightened immigration enforcement in the Chicagoland area this fall.
“Shot and killed an unarmed father of two, Silverio Villegas González; shot a US citizen five times and bragged about it; been caught drunk driving after leaving the Broadview facility;” the press office wrote, among many other offenses.
Gov. JB Pritzker also confirmed Bovino’s presence in Chicago during a press conference on Tuesday morning, where he signed the Northern Illinois Transit Authority Act into law.
He said neither he nor his team had been given notice that U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents and Bovino would be returning to the city.
“They seem to already be deploying again with masks and unmarked cars and SUVs into neighborhoods,” Pritzker told reporters. “They call it enforcement. We call it harassment, but we don’t know how long they’ll stay. It appears that they’re here for at least a couple of days, if not longer.”
He encouraged Illinois residents to continue documenting CBP agents on their cellphones and to use whistles to alert and protect their neighbors.
“I’m very proud of the way that Illinoisans have reacted to CBP and ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], and that’s in pulling out your whistles and your phones, videoing everything and posting it online.”
Pritzker added that the newly formed Illinois Accountability Commission will hold its first public hearing on Thursday and invited Bovino to testify. The independent commission was created through an executive order signed by Pritzker in October and is tasked with capturing and creating a public record of the conduct of federal agents carrying out immigration enforcement actions. The commission will also recommend actions to hold the federal agents accountable. Members of the public are invited to submit comments or testify in person about their experiences.
Illinois, Pritzker said, is in a much better position than it was back in August. He touted wins in federal court against the Trump administration and other laws that require agents to identify themselves.
“We’ve won some court cases that have demanded things like the members of Customs and Border Patrol and ICE having to identify themselves, even though they’re wearing masks, and what agency they belong to when they’re approaching people and detaining them,” Pritzker said. “There are other restrictions that have been put in place. Some of this is still in the court systems and running through appeals courts and up to the [U.S.] Supreme Court, so we don’t know what the final results on some of these things will be, but we’re much better off than we were back in August when this began.”
Last month, Chicagoans exhaled upon news of Bovino leaving town. Since then, Bovino and his team of agents have carried out immigration enforcement actions in his home state of North Carolina, with Charlotte being the city specifically targeted by agents. More federal operations have taken place in Louisiana and Minnesota; in the latter state, agents specifically targeted Somali immigrants.
In a xenophobic rant earlier this month, President Donald J. Trump called Somali immigrants “garbage” and said they should be sent back home, according to The Guardian.
Today, rapid response teams sounded the alarm on agent sightings on the Southeast Side and in suburban Cicero. One alert stated that at 8:15 a.m., “ICE abducted someone from the Cicero Walmart on 33rd and Cicero Ave. ICE/CBP is wearing green uniforms and vests.”
Another community group confirmed an ICE sighting around 9:45 a.m. in Little Village. In an Instagram post, La Villita Se Defiende wrote, “ICE agents are also targeting people through alleys. They are moving in a caravan.”
The Berwyn Rapid Response Team reported three people were abducted around 11:30 a.m. near 31st Street and East Avenue.
According to Unraveled Press, “agents are threatening people who film with pepper ball and tear gas dispensers.”
During federal militarized operations this fall, agents from Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement were present in the Chicagoland area. And Chicagoans are still reeling from the heightened raids and detainments.
Residents of the South Shore apartment building subjected to an infamous ICE raid in September were forced to move out of the complex last week.
