Border Patrol agent who led immigration crackdown in Los Angeles arrives in Chicago

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CHICAGO (AP) — The Border Patrol agent who has broken norms leading an immigration crackdown in Los Angeles reached Chicago on Tuesday, potentially signaling a new, more aggressive phase to an enforcement surge announced last week in the nation’s third-largest city.

“Well, Chicago, we’ve arrived!” Gregory Bovino said in an X post that included a stylized video of Customs and Border Protection vehicles driving into the city along with immigration agents walking in slow motion amid picturesque downtown shots. “Operation At Large is here to continue the mission we started in Los Angeles.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was also in Chicago, saying Department of Homeland Security officers made multiple arrests early Tuesday. She posted videos of armed agents in camouflage military-style gear leading people in handcuffs from a residence.

“Our work is only beginning,” she said on X.

For weeks, President Donald Trump has promised — with threats of apocalyptic force — that Chicago would see a surge in immigration enforcement and National Guard troops over the repeated objections of local leaders and residents. Immigration advocates and Illinois lawmakers said there has been an uptick in immigration enforcement agents in recent days as Trump targets Democratic strongholds.

However, Trump has seesawed on sending a military deployment to Chicago. After saying he would focus on other cities, Trump again said Tuesday that Chicago would see a deployment soon.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat and frequent Trump critic, dismissed the Republican president's latest statements on a military intervention.

“It's hard to believe anything he says,” Pritzker told reporters.

Neither the focus nor size of the Border Patrol operation that Bovino referenced Tuesday was immediately clear. Officials did not answer questions about the scope of immigration enforcement in Chicago. Neither did a spokesman for a military base outside Chicago that has agreed to provide limited logistical support to federal agents.

“Teams have spread across Chicago to go after targets,” Bovino told The Associated Press.

He said Noem observed a 5:30 a.m. raid that resulted in five arrests.

Increased enforcement in recent days has renewed fears among Chicago’s immigrant communities, leading to the cancellation and delay of some celebrations for Mexican Independence Day, which was Tuesday. Tensions have been especially high since an ICE officer fatally shot a man who was allegedly evading arrest last week.

Pritzker, who has objected to any federal intervention, criticized Bovino's tactics, calling them violent and discriminatory.

“They are grabbing people who have brown skin or who speak with an accent or who speak another language and not people who are guilty of or are accused of perpetrating a crime,” Pritzker said.

Pritzker, often floated as a 2028 presidential contender, accused the administration of sending federal agents to agitate and inflame tensions as a justification for Trump to send the National Guard to the city.

In Los Angeles, Bovino’s self-described “turn and burn” operation led to thousands of arrests. Agents smashed car windows, blew open a door to a house and patrolled MacArthur Park on horseback. The operation in California began June 6 without any hints before it was launched.

On social media, Bovino amped up his Chicago-related content, pointing out favorable media coverage, snapping back at members of Pritzker's staff and using a popular musical refrain from Djo’s “End of Beginning” as background music for his arrival video. The line “and when I’m back in Chicago, I feel it” is often used on social media in odes to the city.

Mayor Brandon Johnson said he has had no direct conversations with federal officials and reaffirmed that Chicago police would not collaborate with immigration agents. As a largely symbolic measure, he also signed an executive order aimed at protecting the right to protest.

“In the event that the federal government tramples on the Constitution, our police department has a responsibility to make sure we’re protecting our democracy,” he said.

Johnson and Pritzker have vowed to sue over a federal intervention.

Noem said DHS would not back down.

Ahead of Bovino's arrival, DHS offered few details about immigration enforcement in Chicago, aside from noting roughly two dozen arrests since ICE began an operation earlier this month. Immigration activists have said the number of arrests is much higher, with more than 15 alone in one suburb on Monday. Officials with ICE did not return messages Tuesday.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood of Illinois, a Democratic member of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Appropriations, said Monday that arrests began Sept. 6, two days earlier than the ICE program touted as “Operation Midway Blitz” was publicly announced, and has taken 250 people into custody in the Chicago area.

Underwood said she requested more information from ICE and was briefed, including details that the program would include the entire state of Illinois and Lake County, Indiana, which is part of the Chicago metropolitan area.

“Everyone deserves to feel safe in their community. Like all Illinoisans, I’ve been concerned and alarmed by reporting about ICE’s conduct and operations in our state under Donald Trump,” Underwood said in a statement.

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Associated Press writer Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.