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A top Border Patrol commander becomes the face of Trump administration’s aggression immigration crackdown Back in Chicago on Tuesday, agents fired pepper balls and detained several people, sparking protests.
The presence in Chicago of Border Patrol Capt. Gregory Bovino marked the most visible escalation in tensions. Operation Midway Blitz from In early fall, it sparked a backlash from immigration advocates and state leaders who said the Trump administration failed to warn them that commanders or other agents were being redeployed to the area.
Border agents were captured on video deploying pepper balls and detaining a man in the mostly Mexican-American Village community on Tuesday, The Associated Press reported.
Bovino’s appearance in Chicago comes a month after he was reassigned to law enforcement duties in New Orleans and North Carolina.
Border Patrol Captain Gregory Bovino (right) appears again in Chicago on December 16. (Scott Olson/Getty Images; John Rudolph/Anadolu, Getty Images)
Operation Midway Blitz was launched in September to honor Katie Abraham, who was killed in a drunken hit-and-run incident allegedly caused by Julio Cucul-Bol, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the operation targeted “illegal immigrant criminals who are terrorizing Americans at shelters in Illinois.”
“As we said a month ago, we are not leaving Chicago and operations continue,” said assistant secretary of homeland security Tricia McLaughlin, according to the Associated Press.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker He told reporters on Tuesday that he had not been notified that Bovino and other Border Patrol agents would be returning to Chicago, adding that he did not know how long the agents would stay.
On Dec. 16, Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino worked with his agents to detain an individual in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood. (Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
“I’m very proud of what the people of Illinois have done to protect their communities and their neighbors and do the right thing,” Pritzker said. “So, I think we’re in a better position.”
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said he was aware Bovino had returned to Chicago.
“We have learned that federal agents are once again indiscriminately targeting individuals without search warrants and deliberately appearing in public spaces to intimidate and instill fear, including on trucker picket lines and in small village community organizations,” Johnson wrote on X. “These tactics are destabilizing, wrong and must be condemned,” Johnson wrote on X.
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On December 16, federal immigration enforcement agents detained an individual in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood. (Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
last week, Pritzker signs bill Aims to protect illegal immigrants in the state from deportation by establishing new safeguards at multiple locations, including courthouses, hospitals, college campuses and other public buildings.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
