ICE is Now Under Fire by Chicago Bystanders • Franknez.com

Federal agents in camouflage uniforms fanned out across Chicago’s glittering downtown and affluent neighborhoods on Sunday, turning the city’s tourist heart into an unlikely stage for President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement push.

The deployment, part of a broader operation targeting what officials call “criminal illegal aliens,” sparked immediate backlash from protesters chanting “ICE, go home!” and drew sharp rebukes from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, who slammed it as a “show of intimidation” designed to sow fear rather than safety.

Details of the Matter

The patrols kicked off early Sunday morning, with U.S. Border Patrol officers and Department of Homeland Security personnel spotted along West Wacker Drive, outside the iconic Tribune Tower, and weaving through Millennium Park and the bustling Chicago Riverwalk.

In a particularly eye-catching move, a group of agents marched down Clark Street in the Gold Coast—one of the city’s wealthiest enclaves—drawing stares from brunch-goers and shoppers alike.

Customs and Border Protection boats even cruised the river, adding to the surreal scene in a neighborhood better known for luxury high-rises than law enforcement sweeps.

This wasn’t random muscle-flexing.

The agents were there under “Operation Midway Blitz,” a DHS initiative launched earlier this month to zero in on what Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin described in a press release as “the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens in Chicago.”

The operation has already rippled through Illinois, with detentions reported and immigrant communities on edge.

Chief U.S. Border Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino, fresh off quelling a protest at an ICE facility in suburban Broadview the day before, was on the ground directing the patrols.

When pressed by the Chicago Tribune on the number of agents involved, Bovino kept it vague: “A lot.”

Protestors Make Themselves Heard

Protesters wasted no time making their voices heard.

Crowds gathered quickly, trailing the agents and unleashing chants of “shame” and “The people, united, will never be defeated!”

Livestreams captured the tension: Officers in tactical gear standing sentinel on street corners, vans idling nearby, and bystanders filming every move.

One local attorney, Enrique Espinoza of the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois, didn’t mince words after witnessing the spectacle.

“This was a show,” he told The Daily Beast.

“They wanted to get attention, and they got it.”

Sentiment and Reaction

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker echoed that sentiment on X, blasting the federal incursion as political theater.

“This is not making anybody safer—it’s a show of intimidation, instilling fear in our communities and hurting our businesses,” he wrote.

“We cannot normalize militarizing American cities and suburbs.”

Pritzker’s office didn’t immediately respond to requests for further comment, but his words cut deep in a city that’s long prided itself on sanctuary policies amid national debates over immigration.

The Chicago Tribune has reported that Operation Midway Blitz has already “sown fear throughout immigrant communities in Chicago and its suburbs,” with families hunkering down and businesses bracing for fallout.

Sunday’s patrols come on the heels of similar federal show-of-force operations in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., where National Guard units were deployed earlier this month to tackle urban crime and immigration enforcement.

Trump has teased more to come, including in Portland, Oregon, and Memphis, Tennessee, framing them as essential to restoring order in Democrat-led cities.

DHS spokespeople defended the Chicago push as a necessary response to rising crime tied to undocumented immigrants, but critics see it as escalation for escalation’s sake.

Espinoza, a Mexican immigrant himself, pointed out the optics: Agents marching through one of the priciest ZIP codes in the Midwest, far from the neighborhoods where most immigrants live.

“It’s like they’re saying, ‘We’re here, and we’re watching,'” he added.

As the sun set on the patrols—with agents peeling away in unmarked vans—the question lingers: Will this deter crime, or just deepen divides?

In a city that’s weathered protests, pandemics, and political storms, Sunday’s deployment felt like another chapter in America’s endless tug-of-war over borders and belonging.

For now, Chicago’s richest streets are back to their usual hum, but the echoes of those chants—and the hum of those boats—won’t fade anytime soon.

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