CHICAGO (WGN) – The Trump administration sent top Homeland Security leaders to Chicago on Tuesday to tout the next stage of their immigration crackdown.
There has been no official word yet on how many individuals ICE agents took into custody on Tuesday, but among those arrested was a 37-year-old alleged gang member, according to ICE spokespeople.
Aldo Salazar Bahena was convicted of murder in 2005, according to Homeland Security spokespeople. Prison officials allegedly refused to honor an ICE detainer request and Bahena was released from Stateville Prison in Crest Hill on Friday, before agents arrested him again Monday in Elgin.
ICE also released details on the arrest of another man, whose criminal history is said to include arrest for DUI, resisting a police officer and vehicular burglary.
The news follows Tuesday’s formidable show of strength by federal agents near 87th Street and the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chatham.
“The way they rolled up on them like they were looking for straight up criminals, jumping out of Range Rovers, jumping out of pickup trucks,” general contractor Lorenzo Stacy said.
“Operation Midway Blitz,” as it’s described by the federal government, converged on a group of day laborers at around 9 a.m. in the parking lot of the Home Depot located on 87th Street near the expressway.
Stacy said it was a heart-wrenching scene with day laborers trying to evade capture. At least one injury was reported and required an ambulance, according to paramedics with the Chicago Fire Department.
According to Stacy, federal agents even made a military helicopter helping them.
“Targeting these people like they’re animals. Go after the bad guys, go after the gang bangers, go after the killers. These guys are just trying to work, that’s all,” Stacy said.
Other ICE arrests were also reported in Elgin, where witnesses described the same sort of overwhelming arrest operation.
“It was a military helicopter and I woke him up and I said, ‘Something’s going on,’ and the search light was going. Drones were up in the air. I saw a second helicopter kind of duck off to the side, so they were working in tandem,” one neighbor said.
In a social media post, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced she’s on the ground in Chicago, overseeing arrests and enforcement.
“Just this morning, DHS took violent offenders off the streets with arrest for assault, DUI, and felony stalking,” Noem wrote on social media.
ICE spokespeople in a written statement criticized what happened Monday in West Chicago, which included State Sen. Karina Villa (D-25th District) and others confronting ICE agents.
ICE called them “agitators” for allegedly inserting themselves into law enforcement efforts and, according to ICE, endangered the public.
WGN News reached out to Villa for comment and has not yet heard back.
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