On Sunday, January 26, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested 956 and detained 554.
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with federal partners, including the FBI, ATF, DEA, CBP and the U.S. Marshals Service, began conducting enhanced targeted operations today in Chicago to enforce U.S. immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities,” a graphic posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, reads.
The city of Chicago was reportedly uninvolved with the ICE operation, but Mayor Brandon Johnson urges residents to “[understand] their rights.”
“There have been confirmed reports of ICE enforcement activity in Chicago today, Sunday, January 26. Per City code, Chicago police were not involved in this immigration enforcement activity. My team and I are in close communication with City officials including the CPD. It is imperative that all Chicagoans know their constitutional rights and share the Know Your Rights guidance with their neighbors and community,” Johnson stated.
Thomas Douglas Homan, who is tasked with leading Donald Trump’s immigration and deportation efforts, recently told ABC that daily arrest numbers would “steadily increase.” On Thursday and Friday, ICE arrested a combined 879 people and detained an additional 670 people in cities across the country last week, including Newark. After an ICE raid occurred at a local seafood restaurant in Brick City, Mayor Ras Baraka called it a “plain violation of the Fourth Amendment.”
“This egregious act is in plain violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees ‘the right of the people be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures,” Baraka stated. “Newark will not stand by idly while people are being unlawfully terrorized. I will be holding a press conference in alliance with partners ready and willing to defend and protect civil and human rights.”
ICE agents have upped their daily arrest and detainment efforts after Trump implemented new immigration efforts. Most notably, ICE agents are no longer barred from making arrests at schools and churches. Furthermore, The Washington Post reports the administration is pushing to arrest anywhere between 1,200 and 1,500 people per day “because the president has been disappointed with the results of his mass deportation campaign so far.”
“The quotas were outlined Saturday in a call with senior ICE officials, who were told that each of the agency’s field offices should make 75 arrests per day and managers would be held accountable for missing those targets. The four people spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose internal briefings,” reported Nick Miroff and Maria Sacchetti of The Washington Post.
