Politics
Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino Back in Chicago as Federal Immigration Operations Ramp Back Up
Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino walks alongside his agents after they detain an individual near West 27th Street and South Ridgeway Avenue in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (Anthony Vazquez / Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino and masked federal agents have resumed immigration operations in and around Chicago, weeks after he and hundreds of agents left the area at the start of the winter season.
Illinois officials have confirmed that a large group of federal agents returned to Chicago and have resumed “terrorizing our community,” Illinois Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García said Tuesday.
“At a time when families should be celebrating the holidays in safety and peace, these agents are instead carrying out operations to separate families, sow panic, and intimidate hardworking people,” García said in a statement. “Investigative reporting has made it clear that these ICE raids are targeting individuals with no criminal records.”
The Berwyn Cicero Rapid Response team said it confirmed that Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents were present in the predominantly Hispanic Little Village neighborhood at around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.
That response team said agents were traveling in a “caravan” of at least seven vehicles and were “targeting people through alleys.” The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately disclose how many arrests had been made Tuesday.
But according to the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, more than a dozen people in Cicero, Little Village, Brighton Park and Back of the Yards were “abducted” Tuesday.
“Today we have witnessed a violent escalation by ICE and CBP against communities across Chicagoland,” ICIRR senior director for deportation defense Rey Wences said in a statement. “While Trump orders his minions to attack our communities to distract from his hateful, horrific, and increasingly fascist agenda, the harm on our families and neighbors is real.”
Marcela Rodriguez, head of the Enlace Chicago community organization based in Little Village, said her staffers informed her that Bovino and other agents approached their offices while smiling and waving Tuesday morning.
“As if causing fear in our community brought him joy,” she said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon. “It was creepy, unsettling and honestly heartbreaking to witness someone take pleasure in intimidation and terror.”
Videos posted to social media also showed Bovino — who left Chicago to continue operations in North Carolina and New Orleans — back in Chicago on Tuesday.
Bovino has led the Trump administration’s “Midway Blitz” enforcement operation that launched in September and included numerous aggressive raids that saw federal agents deploy tear gas, pepper balls and other weapons against local residents.
As part of a lawsuit challenging that use of force, a federal judge in November found Bovino and his agents lied about the threat posed by protesters and their conduct on the streets of Chicago.
Gov. JB Pritzker also confirmed Bovino’s return on Tuesday, adding that he had been given no notice that federal agents planned on deploying unmarked cars and SUVs into local neighborhoods.
“They call it enforcement, we call it harassment,” Pritzker said Tuesday, adding that it’s unclear as of now how long they intend to stay. “So, I encourage everyone who can hear me to do as you have because frankly, I’m very proud of the way that Illinoisans have reacted to CBP and ICE and that’s in pulling out your whistles and your phones. Video everything, post it online.”
Pritzker said he was proud of the way local communities have responded to the ongoing operations and said the state is in a better position now than it was when “Midway Blitz” first launched because residents now know better “how to react when their community is being invaded.”
While immigration operations appeared to be winding down around Chicago in recent weeks, federal authorities, including attorneys for the Department of Justice, have repeatedly stated that “Operation Midway Blitz” remains active.
“As we said a month ago, we aren’t leaving Chicago and operations are ongoing,” DHS Assistant Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement Tuesday. “Operation Midway Blitz is achieving what Chicago’s sanctuary politicians have refused to do for decades: decrease crime and remove the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens who put the American people in danger.”
Despite that Trump administration’s repeated claim of targeting the “worst of the worst,” the Chicago Tribune reported last month that of the 614 people included on a list of Chicago-area residents arrested during “Operation Midway Blitz,” only 16 had criminal histories that presented a “high public safety risk.”
