Feds in military gear flood downtown Chicago; top border chief says people arrested based on ‘how they look’

While dozens of federal immigration agents took individuals into custody during a winding patrol through downtown Chicago on Sunday, a top U.S. Border Patrol official told WBEZ the agents were arresting people based on “how they look.”

Gregory Bovino, commander at large of the border force, even contrasted the people being arrested to a white WBEZ reporter, saying agents consider a person’s appearance before taking them into custody.

“You know, there’s many different factors that go into something like that,” Bovino said. “It would be agent experience, intelligence that indicates there’s illegal aliens in a particular place or location.”

“Then obviously the particular characteristics of an individual, how they look, how do they look compare to, say, you?” he said to the reporter, a tall, middle-aged man of Anglo descent.

Bovino, who recently brought his “Operation At Large” deportation campaign from California to Illinois, made the comments about three weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court said federal agents could continue stopping people based on factors including race and language during the campaign in California. The court’s majority did not explain itself.

The immigration agents were spotted making arrests in downtown Chicago and the River North neighborhood early Sunday. A Sun-Times photographer saw the agents, many of whom appeared to be with U.S. Border Patrol, make at least two arrests.

Agents, some of whom were masked, were walking north on Michigan Avenue from Millennium Park toward Tribune Tower. They then walked down Wacker Drive near Trump Tower, while some headed to the Riverwalk. They then made their way to River North.

Some passersby shouted at the agents telling them to go home and “ICE sucks.” One person shouted, “Thank you!” Another pedestrian said sarcastically: “Real patriotic, guys. Real patriotic.”

As the officers walked north on Clark Avenue, about two dozen protesters tailed them, chanting, “ICE go home!”

Some motorists and pedestrians jeered, though a few people tagged along on foot and showed their support. People on a double-decker tour bus craned their necks to get a look at the commotion.

At one point, agents were seen chasing a bicyclist who’d yelled at them.

Alexis, 28, saw dozens of the military-clad ICE officers at Clark and Kinzie. She works in marketing and lives in the city’s West Loop neighborhood.

“It’s pretty crazy,” she said, declining to give her last name. “It’s scary to see them patrolling through downtown.”

It seemed the large number of officers were there to “intimidate people,” she added.

The agents’ presence downtown is the latest part of President Donald Trump’s administration campaign against immigration. The administration announced the launch of “Operation Midway Blitz” on Sept. 8, bringing a flood of federal immigration officers to the Chicago area to conduct raids and arrests.

Since then, several people have been arrested. In response, protesters have regularly gathered at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in suburban Broadview, where there was little activity on Sunday. In contrast, federal officers again fired rubber pellets and chemical irritants into crowds of protesters gathered there Friday and Saturday.

One arrest witnessed by the Sun-Times on Sunday happened near Clark and Superior streets around 2 p.m. Agents chased down a man and asked him for his papers. About two dozen agents surrounded the man, who was handcuffed. Several activists were also present recording the arrest.

Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights confirmed federal agents were seen downtown. The organization said over 50 agents were seen around 1 p.m. near Millennium Park, the Michigan Avenue Apple Store and other locations along Michigan Avenue.

Agents were still in the area Sunday afternoon in an “ongoing operation,” according to the organization.

Earlier Sunday, the Department of Homeland Security said in a social media post that 11 people had been arrested during a protest outside the Broadview ICE facility Saturday night.

Federal agents launched tear gas and other chemical irritants near protesters gathered at the facility. A Chicago journalist was among the people arrested.

DHS claimed in a social media post that two guns were recovered from the people arrested. The agency also alleged an “explosive device” was found near the facility. The post did not say whether the people arrested had been charged and what they were charged with.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.