Darren Lyn
27 January 2025•Update: 27 January 2025
HOUSTON, United States
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials announced Sunday that 956 illegal immigrants were arrested in various cities nationwide, aligning with President Donald Trump's campaign pledge to pursue large-scale deportations after taking office.
Tom Homan, Trump’s newly appointed border czar, said several detainees had been convicted of serious offenses, including murder and sex crimes. He added that collateral arrests were made during the detention of undocumented immigrants without criminal records who were present at the raid locations.
Homan said Sunday’s operation in Chicago, Illinois, resulted in the arrests of six individuals convicted of serious sex offenses, several gang members, and two others previously convicted of murder and aggravated sexual battery.
“We’ve got to put America’s safety first,” Homan, who oversaw the sting operations in Chicago, told NBC News.
In a statement, ICE officials explained that the agency’s enhanced operations under the Trump administration aim to “enforce US immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities.”
Since Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, ICE has made a total of 2,681 arrests, including 956 on Sunday. However, officials did not disclose how many detainees had criminal histories or convictions.
According to sources quoted by The Washington Post, Trump officials directed ICE to target between 1,200 and 1,500 arrests daily.
Homan said enforcement actions would also occur in previously designated safe zones, such as churches and schools, following Trump’s revocation of long-standing guidance protecting such locations.
“Decisions to enter those spaces would be made on a ‘case-by-case basis,’” he said, adding that the objective was to “get as many criminals as possible.”
“I don’t have a quota,” Homan said. “My instructions to them: Arrest as many as you can.”
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said the city’s police department did not assist in the Chicago raid.
Meanwhile, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker expressed mixed feelings about the federal operation. Speaking to CNN, Pritzker said he supports deporting individuals convicted of violent crimes but opposes the detention of non-criminal immigrants.
“Why are we going after them? These are not people who are causing problems in our country, and what we need is a path to citizenship for them,” said Pritzker.
“We need to secure our border. 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 immigrants will do,” he added.
Similar immigration raids were carried out in Arizona, California, Colorado, Louisiana, New York, and Washington.
