U.S. Cities in Focus as Immigration Enforcement Raids Expand

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem warned today that nothing is being ruled out regarding the possible expansion of immigration enforcement operations to cities across the United States.

Although she did not disclose operational details to ensure the safety of law enforcement personnel on the ground, Noem stated, “We will continue to go after the worst of the worst across the country, as President (Donald) Trump has directed us.”

“I think many cities are dealing with crime and violence right now,” Noem said in an interview with CBS News on Sunday.

When asked whether National Guard troops would be deployed in Chicago alongside immigration enforcement operations, as they were in Los Angeles, she replied that “this is always a prerogative of President Trump and his decision.”

Last week, the network reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is planning to expand its operations to Chicago in the coming days, following the example of Los Angeles in early June, when National Guard forces were sent in to quell massive protests against the agency’s raids.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson demanded that Trump refrain from sending military forces to the city. In an order issued Saturday, he made clear that the city’s police will not “collaborate with federal agents in joint patrols, arrest operations or other policing tasks, including the enforcement of civil immigration law.”

In recent months, the Trump administration has targeted several cities, primarily those led by Democratic governments. Noem’s comments also come at a time when the president has made crime in major U.S. cities a central focus.

On August 11, Trump announced the deployment of the National Guard and federal control of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., the nation’s capital, and later threatened to extend the initiative to other cities with soaring crime rates.

At that time, the president wrote on social media, “Washington, D.C. will be LIBERATED today! Crime, barbarism, filth and scum will DISAPPEAR. I will make our capital great again! The days of mercilessly killing or injuring innocent people are over! I quickly fixed the border (ZERO ILLEGALS in the last 3 months), D.C. is next!!!”