Gov. JB Pritzker, who is running for a third term as governor and considering a run for president in 2028, said he was “appalled by the reports of excessive use of force against children as well as the many innocent bystanders who were punished simply for residing in that building.”

Chicago Ald. Jessie Fuentes was detained by federal agents inside Humboldt Park Health, as tensions continue to rise between local residents and officials and immigration agents conducting enforcement operations in the city.

Illinois and Cook County law enforcement have constructed designated areas for protesters to “safely exercise their rights” outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in suburban Broadview.

Calls from local residents seeking legal aid have “skyrocketed” in recent months, Chicago immigration advocates said Thursday, as families are increasingly seeking out assistance amid ongoing federal enforcement operations.

It’s not yet clear when military troops could be deployed into Illinois, but Gov. JB Pritzker expects President Donald Trump to “keep the militarization going” even after the federal government shut down overnight.

Illinois cannot yet file suit against the federal government for an apparent plan to send federal troops to Chicago, Attorney General Kwame Raoul said, but if boots hit the ground, President Donald Trump “should expect a legal challenge.”

Pritzker on Monday said the Department of Homeland Security has ordered the Illinois National Guard deployment after ICE agents used chemical munitions and less lethal ammo on protesters outside the agency’s suburban Broadview facility.

Dozens of armed federal agents, in full tactical gear, walked the streets of some of the city’s most prominent tourist and shopping areas. That comes amid a surge of immigration enforcement that began early this month.

Federal immigration agents targeted the well-liked leader of Iowa’s largest school district in a traffic stop Friday and arrested him after he fled into the woods, leaving educators and community members stunned.

Mayor Katrina Thompson in a letter to the ICE Field Office Director Russell Hott on Friday claimed ICE’s response to protesters exercising their First Amendment rights outside the Broadview facility is “endangering nearby village residents” and harming Broadview’s police and firefighters.

The Trump administration has targeted the Chicago area for its latest immigration enforcement surge touting hundreds of arrests in the past three weeks.

A shooter with a rifle opened fire from a nearby roof onto a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement location in Dallas on Wednesday, killing one detainee and wounding two others in a transport van before taking his own life, authorities said.

A suburban fire chief has asked federal authorities to remove fencing placed up around an Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center this week in Broadview.

Nationwide, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security reports more than 2 million people have left the country since Jan. 20. The agency said it is on pace to deport nearly 600,000 people by the end of President Donald Trump’s first year back in office.

Across the city and surrounding suburbs, other teams were fanning out in support of “Operation Midway Blitz.” It has unleashed President Donald Trump’s mass deportations agenda on a city and state that has had some of the strongest laws preventing local officials from cooperating with immigration enforcement.

ICE launched its Chicago area operation dubbed “Midway Blitz” on Sept. 8, drawing concern from activists and immigrant communities who say there’s been a noticeable uptick in immigration enforcement agents.