Top Trump administration officials joined federal agents Sunday as they started making targeted immigration arrests across the Chicago area, capping off a week of fear and confusion.
A spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said a range of federal agencies were beginning to conduct “enhanced targeted operations” 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.”
Few details about the operation have been made public. The arrests were targeted across the Chicago area and didn’t affect churches or workplaces, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove and border czar Tom Homan were in Chicago and spoke to officials from ICE and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, according to photos posted on the X account for the DEA’s Chicago office.
“The DEA, along with our Department of Justice partners, is assisting [Department of Homeland Security] and other federal law enforcement partners with their immigration enforcement efforts,” DEA spokesman Luis Agostini.
In a statement, Bove said he was present for some of the operation Sunday morning.
“We will support everyone at the federal, state and local levels who joins this critical mission to take back our communities,” Bove said. “We will use all available tools to address obstruction and other unlawful impediments to our efforts to protect the homeland. Most importantly, we will not rest until the work is done.”
The ICE spokesperson said the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service were also aiding the operations. Chicago police are not participating in the raids, according to the Chicago Police Department.
Media personality Dr. Phi is also embedded with Homan for ICE operations in the city, and teased in social media posts that footage of arrests would be on his streaming service MeritTV.
Interviews broadcast throughout the day on the channel showed Dr. Phil in a ICE command center in Chicago. In interviews with Homan, Dr. Phil said he followed along as ICE arrested at least two people and that immigration authorities were targeting hundreds of people in Chicago.
No further details of the operations, including locations or number of arrests, had been made public.
Sens. Durbin, Duckworth say raids should focus on ‘dangerous individuals’
Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, Illinois’ Democratic senators, issued a joint statement on the raids Sunday night, saying those “who pose a danger to our country” should be the focus of deportation efforts while others are given a chance to earn legal status by registering with the government, submitting to background checks and “paying their dues.”
“We can all agree that we must remove any dangerous individuals from our country who are here illegally,” the statement read. “But the mass deportation actions being undertaken by President Trump’s administration go far beyond those important goals.
“These actions have the potential to sweep up [DACA recipients] who came to the United States as children, veterans who have served our nation and essential workers who care for our family members, build our homes and ensure we have food on our tables.”
The senators said their offices were ready to help people “improperly caught up in these raids” with caseworkers.
“We stand with the immigrant community in Chicago and across the country,” the statement said.
Judge denies emergency hearing or injunction on ICE raids
A judge denied Chicago activists’ motion for an emergency hearing or injunction against federal law enforcement operations targeting immigrants Sunday. The plaintiffs filed their motion in an attempt to speed up review of a lawsuit they’d filed Saturday against ICE.
Judge Edmond E. Chang raised questions about the need for an emergency hearing given the plaintiffs weren’t the targets of the raids themselves, and he said the already-expedited schedule for briefings “remains the right course,” according to court documents.
“None of the factual materials appear to suggest that these specific organizational plaintiffs are the target of the planned enforcement actions by the federal government,” Chang wrote in the denial. “Instead, the targets of the planned arrest are … those persons who do not have legal immigration status in the United States. Whether that disconnect undermines the First Amendment claim is, at the least, deserving of a briefing.”
Video shows Dr. Phil interviewing man from Thailand detained by ICE
Media personality Dr. Phil was present for at least one arrest in Chicago this morning, shown in video broadcast on his TV network MeritTV.
Video shows Dr. Phil accompanying border czar Tom Homan as they approached a man outside a car in handcuffs around 6:30 a.m. this morning. Another person whose face was blurred out in the video was in the car.
“What have you been charged with?” Dr. Phil asked the man in the video.
“Charged with?” he asked.
“Before.”
The man looked away before answering, “I’m not going to say nothing. I want to talk to my lawyer.”
“Are you a citizen?” Dr. Phil then asked.
“My mom’s a citizen.”
“Your mother is a citizen?”
“But you’re not?”
“No.”
At one point, the man recognized the person interviewing him as Dr. Phil. Homan used the man’s case as an example of the problems he sees with “sanctuary cities.” Chicago police have not participated in today’s raids, citing the city’s Welcoming City Ordinance.
MeritTV described the detained man as a 42-year-old from Thailand.
Activists seek emergency hearing or injunction, citing raids
Activists asked for an emergency hearing or injunction in federal court Sunday in response to federal officials’ immigration arrests.
The legal move Sunday came a day after the activists had filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its plans for what the president had promised would be “mass deportations.”
Prior to Sunday’s request for an emergency order, the government had been required to respond to the lawsuit by noon Wednesday, according to court documents. No hearing had been set on Sunday’s request.
Organized Communities Against Deportation, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Brighton Park Neighborhood Council and Raise the Floor Alliance filed the suit in federal court Saturday. The group filed for the emergency hearing Sunday, citing the raids today and saying without an injunction “the harms are imminent and irreparable.”
“Immigration raids anywhere hurt entire communities,” Sheila Bedi of the Community Justice Clinic had said Saturday. “In Chicago, the Trump administration isn’t just trying to unleash arbitrary immigrant enforcement. The impending raids are a brazen attempt to stomp out the sanctuary city movement and run roughshod over the First Amendment. … This lawsuit is about prohibiting the Trump administration from using law enforcement to decimate a vital social justice movement.”
The suit said the efforts stand to terrorize the community and violate the First Amendment rights of those who have canceled Spanish church services, among other in-person gatherings, out of fear, as well as the groups’ members who fear they will be targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for their advocacy.
It also claimed Trump’s threats to target the city’s federal funds are illegal.
ICE officials said Saturday they don’t comment on pending litigation. The White House didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
ICE targets more than 300 people in Chicago
During an interview broadcast on Dr. Phil’s TV channel, ICE officials said they’re targeting over 300 people with criminal records and removal orders in Chicago today.
They showed a Chicago map showing the targets.
“This is surgical, tactical targeting of high-risk targets,” Dr. Phil said.
Border czar Tom Homan and ICE have given Dr. Phil access to the operation and an ICE command center in the city.
Officers have gone to locations all over the city looking for immigrants they are trying to detain.
There are two high-risk targets that Dr. Phil said ICE will arrest this afternoon. His MeritTV network has promised to broadcast footage of some arrests today.
Chicago police not assisting in operation, statement says
Chicago police on Sunday pointed toward previous statements saying they do not work with federal immigration authorities when asked if they were participating in today’s operation.
“In accordance with the City of Chicago’s Municipal Code, which includes the Welcoming City Ordinance, the Chicago Police Department does not assist federal immigration authorities with enforcement action solely based on immigration status,” the department said in a statement.
“Additionally, CPD does not document immigration status and does not share such information with federal authorities.”
Immigration officers visited at least 5 homes so far, Dr. Phil’s TV channel claims
ICE officers — accompanied by TV personality Dr. Phil — have visited five homes in Chicago so far Sunday.
Dr. Phil’s TV channel, MeritTV, was given special access to the operation on Sunday. An anchor said on the channel around 1:45 p.m. Chicago time that Dr. Phil had visited five homes with immigration authorities.
Two people — one from Thailand and one from India — were taken into custody, according to MeritTV. No one was home or no one answered the door at the other three addresses they visited.
Dr. Phil says he is embedded today with Trump border czar Tom Homan. Another right-wing personality, Ben Bergquam from Real America’s Voice (RAV) News, also talked to Homan this morning.
A video posted by RAV News shows Homan getting in an SUV.
“The president’s plan is for all of government to attack illegal alien crime in this city — we’re going to address it today, starting now,” Homan said.
“PROMISES MADE, PROMISES KEPT” : Exclusive with @RealTomHoman
Major deportation operations are underway in Chicago, Illinois, with teams from multiple federal agencies. RAV’s @BenBergquam is on the ground alongside ICE officers as they target criminal illegal immigrants. Stay… pic.twitter.com/4n4Lup0idu— Real America’s Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) January 26, 2025
What is Dr. Phil’s MeritTV, and why did it get exclusive access to today’s operation?
One media outlet was given a heads-up about Sunday’s operation — with exclusive access that no Chicago media received.
MeritTV was founded by Phil McGraw, better known as Dr. Phil, after his long-running daytime TV show was canceled in 2023.
His Fort Worth, Texas-based production company Merit Street Media “seeks common ground through clarity and common sense, providing traditional family content while also disrupting the news landscape with unbiased reporting on issues that matter most to Americans,” according to its website.
The name honors the “meritocracy upon which our amazing country was built,” McGraw wrote when announcing the channel.
MeritTV’s programming includes true crime programming and other shows that reach over 90 million homes, the company says.
Dr. Phil was given exclusive access around Sunday’s ICE operation in Chicago, including an interview with Trump border czar Tom Homan yesterday.
An anchor on the livestream said around 1:15 p.m. Chicago time that the service was preparing to broadcast some video of the morning’s operations once its production team blurs faces.
Colombia rejects deportation flights, and Trump orders tariffs, visa restrictions in retaliation
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that he was ordering tariffs, visa restrictions and other retaliatory measures against Colombia after its government rejected two flights carrying migrants.
Earlier Sunday, Colombian President Gustavo Petro had announced that his government won’t accept flights carrying migrants deported from the U.S. until the Trump administration creates a protocol that treats them with “dignity.”
On his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said that Petro’s decision “jeopardized” national security in the U.S.
“These measures are just the beginning,” Trump wrote. “We will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States.”
Border czar: ‘Several hundred’ targets in Chicago
In a pre-taped interview from Saturday, Trump border czar Tom Homan told media personality Dr. Phil that ICE has identified “several hundred” targets in Chicago.
The interview aired Sunday morning on Dr. Phil’s streaming service, MeritTV.
Homan said the operation was targeting immigrants accused of crimes in Chicago. It will be a “big operation” with hundreds of vehicles in multiple locations, Homan told Dr. Phil.
Dr. Phil has said that MeritTV would livestream the operation in Chicago once Homan and ICE give the go-ahead.
“We’re going to show the American people why sanctuary cities are dangerous places,” Homan told Dr. Phil at the end of the interview.
Acting deputy AG: ‘We will not rest until the work is done’
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said he was in Chicago on Sunday morning and observed Department of Homeland Security agents, along with assisting federal agencies — including the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. He didn’t say where the operations happened in the city or detail any arrests.
“We will support everyone at the federal, state and local levels who joins this critical mission to take back our communities,” Bove said in a statement. “We will use all available tools to address obstruction and other unlawful impediments to our efforts to protect the homeland. Most importantly, we will not rest until the work is done.”
Dr. Phil says he’s embedded with ICE operations in Chicago
Media personality Dr. Phil posted a video on X saying he is in Chicago embedded with Trump border czar Tom Homan for immigration operations today.
A chyron on his streaming service MeritTV said that it would soon broadcast video of Dr. Phil at an ICE arrest in Chicago.
Acting deputy AG head visits Chicago to ‘observe’ immigration enforcement operations
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove visited Chicago on Sunday to “personally observe” immigration enforcement operations long touted by President Donald Trump.
No further details of the operations, including locations or number of arrests, were made public Sunday.
Bove was in the nation’s third-largest city “to personally observe Department of Homeland Security immigration enforcement operations” and support the efforts of assisting federal agencies — including the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, according to U.S. Department of Justice spokesman Chad Gilmartin.
Messages left for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ATF and FBI officials were not immediately returned.
Chicagoans, especially in immigrant circles, have already been on edge for months in anticipation of large-scale immigration arrests promised by the Trump administration.
Immigrant rights groups have tried to prepare with campaigns for immigrants to know their rights in case of an arrest. City officials have done the same, publishing similar information at hundreds of public transit stations.
On Friday, Chicago Public Schools officials mistakenly believed ICE agents had come to a city elementary school and put out statements to that effect before learning the agents were from the Secret Service. Word of immigration agents at a school — which have long been off limits to immigration agents until Trump ended the policy last week — drew swift criticism from community groups and Gov. JB Pritzker.
The governor, a frequent Trump critic, questioned the operations and targeting immigrants.
“We need to get rid of the violent criminals. But we also need to protect people, at least the residents of Illinois and all across the nation, who are just doing what we hope that immigrants will do,” Pritzker said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Chicago has been one of Trump’s favorite targets. The city has some of the strongest sanctuary protections, which bar cooperation between city police and immigration agents.
