ICE Operations Will Only Incease, Border Patrol Chief Warns

Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol official who led U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in California, on Tuesday announced he had arrived in Chicago, signaling ICE operations in the area are ramping up.

“Well, Chicago, we’ve arrived!” Bovino wrote in a social media post, accompanied by a video of Border Patrol agents in Chicago. “Operation At Large is here to continue the mission we started in Los Angeles — to make the city safer by targeting and arresting criminal illegal aliens.”

The escalated operation comes as Chicagoans are celebrating Mexican Independence Day.

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin wrote on social media that Chicago arrests on Tuesday included people arrested for violent assault, felony stalking or DUI. She did not provide any names.

Bovino, who is typically dressed in tactical gear, led the latest deportation effort in Los Angeles that led to more than 5,000 arrests. Tuesday’s enforcement is separate from the Department of Homeland Security’s “Operation Midway Blitz,” which was announced two weeks ago.

Replying to a social media post by Gov. JB Pritzker’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications Matt Hill, who criticized that ICE hasn’t called Pritzker but has “the time to create a TikTok video showing off beautiful Chicago scenery,” Bovino wrote, “Tik tok, tik tok, time is up!!”