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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday that the Trump administration will expand Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in major cities, including Chicago, escalating tensions with Democratic leaders who have vowed to resist federal intervention.
Appearing on CBS News’ Face the Nation, Noem confirmed that ICE operations already underway in Illinois will soon receive “more resources.”
“We’ve already had ongoing operations with ICE in Chicago and throughout Illinois and other states, making sure that we’re upholding our laws,” Noem said. “But we do intend to add more resources to those operations.”
When pressed on whether the expansion would involve National Guard troops assisting with immigration raids and arrests, Noem declined to provide details. “That always is a prerogative of President Donald Trump and his decision. I won’t speak to the specifics of the operations that are planned in other cities,” she said.
Chicago pushback
Her remarks came one day after Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a Democrat, signed an executive order directing the city’s legal department to challenge any federal effort to send troops or surge immigration enforcement. Johnson warned Saturday that officials had received “credible reports that we have days, not weeks, before our cities see some type of militarized activity by the federal government.”
The clash follows a similar federal deployment in Washington, D.C., earlier this month, when the Trump administration directed ICE agents and thousands of National Guard troops to assist local police in crime-fighting efforts. Trump has since threatened to expand the approach to other cities, including Baltimore.
Wider national debate
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Sunday that Trump’s strategy represents government overreach. “We don’t want troops on the streets of American cities. That’s un-American. Frankly, the president of the United States ought to know better,” Pritzker told CBS. He accused Trump of politically targeting Democratic-led states while ignoring crime in Republican strongholds.
Other Democratic governors have also condemned the president’s actions, calling them “an alarming abuse of power” and warning that deploying state National Guard troops without governors’ consent undermines their mission.
Noem rejected accusations of partisanship. “Every single city is evaluated for what we need to do there to make it safer,” she said. “We absolutely are not looking through the viewpoint at anything we’re doing with a political lens.”
What comes next
It remains unclear how soon Chicago will see increased ICE activity or whether federal troops will accompany immigration agents. But with both Johnson and Pritzker promising legal challenges, the city is poised to become a flashpoint in the broader battle between Trump’s immigration crackdown and Democratic resistance.
