By Renee Hickman
CHICAGO, Dec 16 (Reuters) – U.S. Border Patrol agents returned to Chicago in force on Tuesday after a month-long slowdown, renewing a conflict with opponents of the agency’s methods, according to a Reuters witness, local officials and community advocates.
State Representative Lilian Jimenez said that she had learned that Border Patrol agents were conducting raids in the suburb of Cicero and in Little Village, a Chicago Mexican-American enclave.
“It just seems very cruel to come in and snatch people off the streets and just destroy their families right before the holidays,” Jimenez said.
Enlace Chicago, a community center in Little Village, said it was among the targets. A representative said about a dozen agents arrived at the center, which locked its doors and did not let anyone inside.
Reuters witnessed Border Patrol roving commander Gregory Bovino in a convoy of agents conducting raids in Chicago on Tuesday.
President Donald Trump, a Republican, has targeted Democratic-led U.S. cities for immigration enforcement this year, including Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
Trump says the actions are necessary because the cities limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. Democratic opponents have criticized operations for sweeping in non-criminals, families and U.S. citizens.
Border Patrol, under Bovino’s direction, led a campaign in Chicago to arrest those who allegedly broke immigration laws starting in September. That campaign resulted in pushback from residents and federal courts over his agency’s tactics. Agents deployed tear gas in residential areas, shot pepper balls at clergy and journalists, and pointed firearms at bystanders.
Bovino moved on to Charlotte and New Orleans in mid-November, but after shorter campaigns in those cities, agents appeared on Tuesday to be revisiting Chicago, a Democratic stronghold and America’s third-largest city.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the enforcement operations in Chicago had not stopped and aimed to find and deport “the worst of the worst” criminal offenders.
“As we said a month ago, we aren’t leaving Chicago and operations are ongoing,” she said.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said during the signing of a transit bill on Tuesday that his office was not given any notice of the agents’ arrival.
“We don’t know how long they’ll stay. It appears they’re here for at least a couple of days, if not longer,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker encouraged Illinois residents to “do as you have” in recent months by blowing whistles when they spot immigration agents, recording interactions and posting them online.
He said the state has a “population that knows how to react when their community is being invaded.”
(Reporting by Renee Hickman; Additional reporting by Jim Vondruska and Ted Hesson; Editing by Emily Schmall and Lisa Shumaker)
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