Kristi Neom (File – AP)
Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday that the Trump administration is considering expanding immigration enforcement operations to more US cities. “We haven’t taken anything off the table,” Noem said on CBS News’ Face the Nation when asked about the possibility of widening immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) activities.”I think there’s a lot of cities that are dealing with crime and violence right now. And so, we haven’t taken anything off the table. We’ve been making sure that we have the resources and the equipment to go in.” According to CBS News, ICE is planning to expand its operations to Chicago in the coming days, mirroring immigration arrest drives earlier this year in Los Angeles.Noem confirmed there have been “ongoing operations with ICE in Chicago and throughout Illinois and other states,” and added, “we do intend to add more resources to those operations.”While she declined to share details for security reasons, Noem stressed: “We will continue to go after the worst of the worst across the country, like President Trump has told us to do.”The Trump administration has recently intensified its focus on cities with “sanctuary” policies, filing lawsuits against jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration agents. The White House has also linked immigration enforcement to its broader push to reduce violent crime in major cities. Earlier this month, Trump federalized Washington DC’s metropolitan police department and deployed the national guard there. A similar deployment in Los Angeles in June had sparked a legal challenge from California’s Democratic governor.On the question of whether the national guard could also be used in Chicago, Noem said the decision rests solely with the President. CBS News reported that current immigration enforcement plans are separate from Trump’s threat to deploy the Guard to Chicago to tackle crime.Illinois Governor JB Pritzker criticised the administration’s approach, calling it “dangerous” and “un-American.” “We have people that have lived, yes in the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago for decades, working here, paying taxes,” Pritzker said. “They’re law abiding members of our communities, friends, neighbors, and why are we arresting them? Why are we making them disappear?”Pritzker argued that federal operations without local coordination could “cause enormous problems.” Noem countered that even “one murder” should be reason enough for the governor to seek the President’s help. Encouraging other mayors and governors to work with the White House, Noem said, “I’d encourage every single big city, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, whatever they are, if they want to help make their city safer, more prosperous… they should call us.”She also clarified that enforcement would not be limited to Democrat-run cities. “Every single city is evaluated for what we need to do there to make it safer,” Noem said. “We absolutely are not looking through the viewpoint at anything we’re doing with a political lens.
