MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
After several days of uncertainty and tension in Chicago, today the Department of Homeland Security announced it is launching an ICE operation in Illinois. This move comes as President Trump has ramped up threats of federal intervention in multiple cities across the U.S. - cities led by Democrats, including Chicago. NPR's Kat Lonsdorf is in Chicago covering all this. Hey, Kat.
KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: Hey there.
KELLY: Hi. What other details can you tell us from this announcement today from Homeland Security?
LONSDORF: Yeah, so DHS is calling it Operation Midway Blitz, saying it's in honor of a woman killed in Illinois by a drunk driver who was an unauthorized immigrant. NPR looked into that incident, and the crash did take place in January this year in Urbana. The driver in the hit and run was a Guatemalan national, and police arrested him a few days later in Texas. He's facing charges, including a DUI and reckless homicide.
As far as the enforcement operation, DHS says it will target, quote, "criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois," saying they did so because they knew Illinois Democratic Governor JB Pritzker's sanctuary policies will protect them. We also know that right now, DHS is using a naval base about 40 miles north of Chicago as a staging ground.
KELLY: What has been the reaction so far to all this where you are in Chicago?
LONSDORF: Well, Pritzker hasn't said anything about this DHS announcement yet. In Evanston - that's a sanctuary city that borders the north of Chicago - Mayor Daniel Biss said that local police officers there will be clearly identified, and he's urging residents there to trust those officers. He says that Evanston police officers will not be participating in ICE activity. And he acknowledged that people in his city are understandably frightened right now.
And to be clear, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor Pritzker have been strongly against both this move and Trump's threats to send in the National Guard to Chicago for what Trump says is out-of-control crime. I will say violent crime has been down in Chicago in recent years.
KELLY: Beyond Chicago, Kat, 'cause I mentioned Chicago is not the only city where Trump is vowing to crack down on crime and to...
LONSDORF: Right.
KELLY: ...Ramp up on deportations, what other cities appear to be on the administration's radar?
LONSDORF: Yeah, Trump has said he plans to send the National Guard and federal agents into several cities. Again, all of them led by Democratic mayors. In Boston, DHS says it launched an ICE surge across Massachusetts. It's worth noting there that the Justice Department sued Boston over its sanctuary city policies last week. In Baltimore, where Trump has made threats to send in the National Guard, Governor Wes Moore announced he's sending in state police to fight violent crime, even though crime rates there are at record lows, too. More of the city (ph) is going to focus on what works, adding, quote, "you are never going to militarize your way into safe streets."
In D.C., Trump has deployed the National Guard for about a month and launched a surge in ICE activity there as well. And this comes after Trump did a similar move in Los Angeles back in June - sending in ICE agents for deportations and then sending in the National Guard to quell the protests against that.
KELLY: Yeah, a lot of different pieces on the puzzle here. And I want to...
LONSDORF: Yeah.
KELLY: ...Mention one more. This announcement today from Homeland Security - the Illinois announcement - that happened at almost the same time that the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in and allowed the Trump...
LONSDORF: Right.
KELLY: ...Administration to resume immigration raids in the LA area. How does that fit into all this?
LONSDORF: Well, that ruling came in after a lower court judge had blocked the raids earlier. That judge said that the operations targeted people based on their race. The Trump administration had argued the lower court order got in the way of its immigration enforcement efforts. You know, with this one in hand, Trump may have much more leeway in the way the administration conducts immigration crackdowns in LA and in some of these other cities.
KELLY: Kat Lonsdorf, reporting for us in Chicago. Thank you, Kat.
LONSDORF: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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