“Midway Blitz” - Chicago Federal Troop Deployment
The Trump administration launched Operation Midway Blitz, which is focused on individuals in the country without legal status who also have criminal records or pending charges. Raids followed a federal visit to an ICE facility in nearby Broadview, Illinois. As of October 8, 2025, Operation Midway Blitz is ongoing in the Chicago area, marked by escalating legal battles and intense clashes between federal agents and protesters. Federal officials claim to have made over 1,000 arrests since the operation began in early September, targeting individuals in the country without authorization.
The operation in Chicago would be inherently different than that in DC, where troops are on Title 32 orders, meaning they report to the governor or in DC's case, the Secretary of the Army. While on Title 32 orders, troops are not subject to the Posse Comitatus Act, which bars them from engaging in law enforcement activities. Chicago would instead be more similar to what occurred in Los Angeles over the summer, when Trump federalized National Guard troops on Title 10 orders, which are prohibited from engaging in law enforcement by the Posse Comitatus Act.
President Donald Trump on 08 October 2025 called for the arrest of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, accusing them of failing to protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers during operations in the sanctuary city. "Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also!" The demands follow Trump's deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago to address violent crime and immigration enforcement, a move opposed by local leaders who filed a lawsuit claiming it violates state sovereignty. Protests have erupted near ICE sites amid rising tensions between federal authorities and city officials.
Governor JB Pritzker responded "I will not back down. Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power. What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?" Mayor Brandon Johnson responded "This is not the first time Trump has tried to have a Black man unjustly arrested. I’m not going anywhere."
Mehdi Hasan observed "If the US media thinks this is ‘normal’ or has any precedent in modern politics or should be covered in a ‘normal’ or ‘both sides’ way, then the US media is complicit in open fascism and the death of American democracy. It’s that simple."
Pritzker, one of the most vocal Trump critics, called out the president’s plan to deploy National Guard troops to the Democratic cities of Chicago and Portland, accusing him of “suffering dementia” in a scathing statement. “This is a man who’s suffering dementia,” Pritzker, who is considered a strong contender on the 2028 Democratic race for president, said in a telephone interview with The Chicago Tribune. “This is a man who has something stuck in his head. He can’t get it out of his head. He doesn’t read. He doesn’t know anything that’s up to date. It’s just something in the recesses of his brain that is effectuating to have him call out these cities.” He said “Let me be clear, Donald Trump is using our service members as political props and as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation’s cities”.
POTUS exited the residence at 11 am October 5, 2025. Asked about Chicago and Gov. Pritzker, Trump said: "Number one, he's wrong. Number two, I really believe he's afraid for his life. Somehow, when you can have 40 or 50 people killed over the last couple of months, hundreds of people wounded. There's no place like that in the world. Hundreds of people wounded, 50, 55 people shot and killed. And Pritzker gets up and says what a wonderful place it is. They need help. Washington DC is now a safe place. You're not going to get mugged or hit, you're not going to get raped, you're not going to get anything. Washington, DC went from a hell hole to a safe place.... We got no crime. It took 12 days to solve the problem, 12 days. And we're going to do that in Chicago.... That's a bunch of paid insurrectionists. We do have a lot of paid people in Chicago too. I believe the politicians are under threat, because there's no way somebody can say that things are wonderful in Chicago."
There is no publicly available logo for Operation Midway Blitz because it was a short-term, multi-agency operation led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in September 2025 to target criminal illegal immigrants in Illinois, not a long-term program with a distinct visual identity. The operation was announced by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) but was not a separate entity requiring its own logo.
The name “Midway Blitz” almost certainly derives from a combination of two evocative historical and conceptual references. “Midway” in a Chicago context carries WWII resonance, but also functions as a geographic signifier — something distinctly Chicagoan, tied to the city’s southwest industrial and working-class identity. The Battle of Midway (June 1942) was a decisive World War II naval battle in which U.S. forces stopped and destroyed much of Japan’s carrier fleet. “Midway” thus symbolizes a turning point, a counteroffensive, or a decisive strike that changes momentum. Using “Midway” in a modern operation name evokes a theme of strategic reversal or victory achieved through planning, intelligence, and precision rather than brute force. Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW) is located on the southwest side of the city. It was originally called Chicago Municipal Airport (opened in 1927), but in 1949 it was renamed “Midway Airport” to honor the Battle of Midway. Adding “Blitz” — meaning lightning-fast or overwhelming action — gives the phrase a sense of urgency, intensity, and offensive movement. “Midway Blitz” together suggests: A fast, decisive counteroffensive operation intended to turn the tide, inspired by the Battle of Midway’s historic reversal and executed with blitz-like speed and intensity.
In the first six months of 2025, Chicago saw a 33% reduction in homicides and a 38% reduction in shootings. Overall, violent crime was down 21.4% in 2025 compared to the previous year. According to data from the Chicago Police Department, in 2025, Chicago recorded the fewest homicides in June, July, and August since 1965. This summer saw 123 homicides, with 278 total homicides through August 31, 2025. Through the first half of 2025, the CPD recorded 188 homicides and 665 shootings, which mark declines of 32% and 39%, respectively. City data shows significant declines in other categories of violent crimes including carjackings (down 51%), robberies (down 32%), aggravated assaults (down 18%) and aggravated batteries (down 9%). In the first half of 2025 (January-June), Chicago's homicide rate was 33% lower than it was for the same period in 2024. That decline was about twice the average decrease of 17% seen in the 30 large cities in CCJ's study sample Crime in Chicago: What You Need to Know - Council on Criminal Justice.
Trump repeatedly singled out Chicago as "next," calling it a "mess" and claiming residents are "screaming" for federal intervention. No formal request had been made to Illinois officials. Trump said on Truth Social: "Chicago is the worst and most dangerous city in the World, by far". On September 30, 2025, Trump told military leaders: "I told [Defense Secretary] Pete [Hegseth] we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military, National Guard, but military, because we're going into Chicago very soon. That's a big city with an incompetent governor. Stupid governor. Stupid".
Governor JB Pritzker on September 29, 2025, said the Department of Homeland Security is seeking the deployment of 100 military troops to Illinois "for the protection of ICE personnel and facilities." The Illinois National Guard obtained a memo that DHS sent to the Defense Department which sought to request 100 military personnel for Illinois. Pritzker likened the memo to one sent by the Defense Department to Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, which called 200 members of the Oregon National Guard into federal service for a 60-day deployment. Vice President JD Vance told reporters Wednesday, September 3, there are "no immediate plans" to deploy to Chicago, while Trump said Tuesday the administration was "going in" without specifying a timetable, muddying the waters on if and when a potential deployment would occur. Military officials were sketching out a plan that could deploy a few thousand National Guard members. The use of active-duty forces had also been discussed. When pressed on August 25, Trump hedged, saying he may or may not send in federal troops to Chicago. "I didn't get a request from the governor," Trump said.
On September 8, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security announced Operation Midway Blitz in honor of Katie Abraham who was killed in a drunk driving hit-and-run car wreck caused by an illegal alien in Illinois. This ICE operation targets criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois. The surge, dubbed Operation Midway Blitz, would target undocumented people in Chicago and throughout Illinois. The city received no notice of the operation, Mayor Brandon Johnson said. On September 28, 2025, Customs and Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement troops with automatic weapons and full combat gear patrolled high-visibility tourist areas in Downtown Chicago. US Border Patrol agents wearing tactical gear and carrying long guns made arrests in downtown Chicago and the River North neighborhood on Sunday, September 29. Governor Pritzker said: "This is not making anybody safer—it's a show of intimidation" On Chicago's first full day of 'Operation Midway Blitz'.
It was the first time immigration agents had been seen operating in downtown Chicago since the federal immigration crackdown began earlier this month under Operation Midway Blitz. Governor JB Pritzker said about 200 ICE agents and 100 vehicles were positioned in and around the city, including outside courthouses where immigrants show up voluntarily for hearings ICE in Chicago amid ongoing "Operation Midway Blitz" activity. Federal officials said those arrested include "dangerous criminal illegal aliens" with prior convictions or pending charges for crimes ranging from sexual assault of a child to armed robbery and domestic violence. ICE arrested at least 13 people in Chicago in the initial days of Operation Midway Blitz ICE arrests 'worst of the worst'.
El Grito Chicago, a popular Mexican Independence Day festival scheduled for mid-September 2025 in Grant Park, was called off due to the threat of a large-scale immigration enforcement operation in Chicago What To Know About ICE's Operation Midway Blitz In Chicago. The first full day of "Operation Midway Blitz" played out with sporadic reports of arrests and rising tension in Chicago's Latino community as hundreds of federal agents moved in—and many residents hunkered down. Details were scarce as videos surfaced of masked federal agents taking people into custody. Federal agents detained at least three U.S. citizens amid President Trump's aggressive deportation campaign in Chicago, according to lawyers mounting a court challenge. The National Immigrant Justice Center and the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois argued that ICE arrested 27 people without warrants or probable cause and in violation of an existing consent decree. The filing describes how one person getting ready for work in Elgin allegedly "saw red lasers all over the kitchen and the front door" before an explosion suddenly rang out, signaling the start of a raid.
Governor JB Pritzker immediately decried the president's promise to deploy troops as an authoritarian ploy. Pritzker said: "The president of the United States is not sending troops into Republican cities or into Republican states. He's made a list of people that are his political opponents, and he's calling us domestic enemies". Pritzker went so far as to say the 25th Amendment should be invoked to remove Trump from office, stating: "Not only has dementia set in, but he's copying tactics of Vladimir Putin, sending troops into cities, thinking that that's some sort of proving ground for war, or that, indeed, there's some sort of internal war going on in the United States". Pritzker accused Trump of a "nefarious plan to bring military into cities so that ultimately, in the 2026 election, people would be normalized to the idea of militarization during the next election so that he can affect the outcome of that election".
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said: "We have received credible reports that we have days, not weeks, before our city sees some type of militarized activity by the federal government". Mayor Johnson stated: "This is about politics, money and power. The president is using his militarized force the exact way he intended—to advance his political goals. He wants to militarize our cities, whether that's through ICE or through the National Guard or the United States Army or armed forces. He wants to provoke conflict so that he can use this as a pretext to send even more federal agents into our city". Mayor Brandon Johnson directed police against collaborating with National Guard troops if they are deployed to the city.
Mayor Johnson signed an executive order reinforcing Chicago's sanctuary policies, barring city police from collaborating with federal immigration agents. Johnson said: "We will not have our police officers who are working hard every single day to drive down crime deputized to do traffic stops and checkpoints for the president." The order also requires Chicago officers to wear uniforms and not wear masks to "clearly distinguish them from federal agents".
Both Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Governor Pritzker said a memo was not enough to spark a legal challenge, "but I know that there are actions in waiting and a lawsuit potentially," the governor said. Raoul said his office was "prepared" to file a suit should troops be deployed. Raoul said Illinois would file a lawsuit against the Trump administration "if the evidence follows, the pattern follows what we've seen in Oregon". Pritzker said: "What we can do when it comes to troops being sent into Chicago and to the state of Illinois is immediately go to court"o.
On September 6, Trump threatened "Apocalypse Now"-style action against Chicago, writing "I love the smell of deportations in the morning" amid an AI-generated picture of himself as Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore in front of a burning Chicago skyline with helicopters and that "Chicago [is] about to find out why it's called the Department of WAR". Governor Pritzker responded on social media: "The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city. This is not a joke. This is not normal. Donald Trump isn't a strongman, he's a scared man. Illinois won't be intimidated by a wannabe dictator".
A few hundred people gathered Downtown across from Grant Park Tuesday evening, September 10, to protest Trump's ramped-up deportation campaign in Chicago. Demonstrators held signs reading "ICE out of Chi" and "Hands off Chicago." Led by speakers rallying the crowd, they chanted, "Hey Chicago, what do you know, crime is at an all-time low". Students from Chicago public and charter schools walked out of class Tuesday, September 17, and went downtown to protest ICE and "Operation Midway Blitz" outside Trump Tower ICE in Chicago amid ongoing "Operation Midway Blitz" activity.
Pritzker urged Chicagoans to record any interactions with ICE agents on their phones, and "narrate what you see, put it on social media. With one voice, we are telling this unwarranted and unconstitutional occupation by ICE and potentially by military troops to get out of Chicago. You are not helping us". Immigration advocates and organizers urged neighbors to record and report ICE arrests, so advocates can denounce if agents make unlawful arrests.
Deployments began in Los Angeles in June 2025 and expanded to Washington, D.C. in August 2025, before presidential authorizations were issued to expand to Memphis, Tennessee and Portland, Oregon in September 2025; plans were underway for Chicago, Illinois and potentially other cities like New York, Baltimore, San Francisco, and Oakland. Trump had argued that it is essential to combat crime in Los Angeles, DC and other cities. Despite widespread criticism and legal challenges, he has defended his decision, saying some troublemakers have to be handled by soldiers. Trump said on Wednesday: "Frankly, they were born to be criminals. And they're tough and mean, and they'll cut your throat, and they won't even think about it the next day. They won't even remember that they did it. And we're not going to have those people".
ICE agents conducted a fast-rope operation from Black Hawk helicopters during a raid in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood on 01 October 2025. The raids were part of a multi-agency operation called "Operation Midway Blitz," which targeted suspected members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), with support from the FBI and U.S. Border Patrol, targeted individuals with criminal records or alleged gang ties. Federal agents used flashbang grenades to breach an apartment building and deployed several helicopters and drones. Witnesses reported agents rapping from a Black Hawk helicopter onto the rooftop of a residential building.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that 37 people without legal immigration status were arrested, including two "confirmed Tren de Aragua members". Eyewitness accounts: Multiple witnesses, including a neighbor and a resident who was briefly detained, described chaotic scenes. Accounts include agents dragging residents from their apartments, including children, and separating them from their mothers. The operation was widely condemned by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who said such tactics do not make the city safer. Chicago alderpersons also spoke out against the tactics.
Critics said the deployment constitutes the formation of a "police state", the sidelining of state authorities, and overreach. Others say it is over-policing that could have an adverse impact on relations between communities and local law enforcement. "This is an active military takeover of the capital," protesters who assembled outside Congress in DC wrote in an open letter. "It is a textbook indicator of backsliding democracy and intensifying authoritarianism... This might come off as alarmist, but in the last 100 years of history, the pattern is clear and we are witnessing it in real time".
The Posse Comitatus Act prohibits the military from engaging in domestic law enforcement without permission from Congress. U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer ruled that the troop deployment in Los Angeles violates that act, although the ruling only applies to California. Deployments in states run by Republicans, however, may be more legally sound, say experts. "If the governor wants to invite troops from other states in—it may or may not be pointless—but legally speaking it's not necessarily problematic, as long as they're respecting the Posse Comitatus Act". Unlike Washington D.C. (which has unique federal control) or states with Republican governors willing to cooperate, Illinois has a Democratic governor who has vocally and legally opposed the deployment, creating a fundamentally different dynamic than in other cities where troops have been deployed.
On 06 October 2025, the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago filed a lawsuit to block the Trump administration's deployment of federalized National Guard troops to the city. A federal judge is scheduled to hear arguments on Thursday, October 9, on the state's request for a temporary restraining order. Federal deployment is already underway, as the Pentagon ordered the federalization of up to 300 Illinois National Guard personnel on October 4. President Trump authorized the federalization to protect federal personnel and property at sites of "violent demonstrations". Demonstrations escalated outside the Broadview ICE Processing Center, where protesters have tried to block federal vehicles. Federal agents have used tear gas and pepper balls, and several arrests have been made. In response, the Broadview mayor imposed restrictions on protest hours.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order on October 6 creating "ICE Free Zones" on all city-owned properties. This prohibits federal immigration agents from using city property for civil immigration enforcement without a warrant. On October 8, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Illinois and other plaintiffs filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration. It alleges "indiscriminate" force against peaceful protesters and journalists at the Broadview ICE facility.
The situation remained in flux, with Trump continuing to threaten deployment while state and local officials prepare legal and political resistance. Unlike Los Angeles and Washington D.C., where troops were deployed despite opposition, Chicago represents a standoff where the deployment has been threatened but not yet executed, while aggressive immigration enforcement operations proceed.
FBI Director Kash Patel: "When I was there today with Todd, we learned that the Chicago city streets have 110,000 gang members—that's right, you heard me right! They had 1,200 shootings this year alone, 360 homicides."
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