How Chicago, Boston officials and advocates are readying for Trump’s promise of more immigration raids

While residents of Chicago are preparing to mark Mexican independence day with parades and events from this weekend, immigration defenders, as well as state and city officials, are preparing for celebrations that potentially coincide with a wave of immigration application.

“We have reasons to believe that Stephen Miller chose the month of September to come to Chicago because of celebrations around the Mexican independence day that occur here each year,” the governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker, said on Tuesday at a press conference, referring to the Senior White House assistant who was credited for the conference of President Donald Trump. The governor added that he was “deeply worried” that civil servants specifically target Latin American celebrations and communities.

Boston officials and defenders are also preparing for any Trump attempt to strengthen immigration application after Politico has published a report on Friday indicating that Trump was preparing to repression of immigration to the city. NBC News did not independently verify the report, which cites an anonymous current and a former administration official.

The governor of Massachusetts, Maura Healey, told NBC News in a statement on Wednesday that “what we see of Donald Trump through the country did not concern public security – it is political intimidation”.

Although there are not yet concrete indications exactly when additional security forces could be expected in these cities, the application of immigration went hand in hand with the Trump National Guard troops in Los Angeles and in the Federal takeover of Washington, DC Trump said late Tuesday that it would be “entered” and that it had the right to “protect this country”.

The Trump administration said operations were necessary to reduce crime, although statistics show that crime was down in cities, including Los Angeles, Washington and now Chicago and Boston.

The Ministry of Internal Security said in a statement that he “would go in part where these foreigners and illegal are found, notably Chicago and Boston. Under President Trump and secretary [Kristi] Noem, nowhere is a refuge for criminal illegal foreigners. If you come to our country illegally and violate our laws, we will track you down, stop, expel and you will never come back.

Pritzker, a democrat, said Trump positioned armed federal agents on federal goods in the Chicago region and warned that he would send masked agents with immigration and customs’ application “planning Latin American communities”.

“In the coming days, we expect to see what was played in Los Angeles and Washington, DC, to perform here in Chicago, Illinois,” he said on Tuesday.

“None of this is to fight crime or make Chicago safer. For Trump, it is a question of testing his power and producing a political drama to cover his corruption,” said Pritzker. “We are ready to fight the deployments of troops before the courts, and we will do everything possible to ensure that the agents operating within the limits of this State do so in a legal and ethical way.”

Brandon Lee, director of communications for the Illinois coalition for immigrant rights and refugees, said the advocacy group focused on the guarantee of its rapid response teams, increasing the hours and staff of its ice application, providing information to people on their rights and connecting them to legal and social services.

“We use this moment to promote the hotline, to make sure that rapid response teams are prepared, and when the time has just made sure that there is a joint decline against the overtaking of the Trump administration,” he said. “They used new tactics to disturb our communities and separate families. We are just ready to be agile. ”

The mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson, said Tuesday alongside Pritzker that violence in the city “is not because we have too many immigrants, it is because we have too many firearms.”

Johnson signed a decree on Saturday to limit the power of federal agents of the application of the laws and troops of the National Guard if Trump sends them to Chicago. One of the main points of the order, said Johnson, was to ask the city’s law service to use “each legal mechanism” to try to stop Trump’s potential plan.

The executive decree also clarifies the actions that the police can take to help the federal police and affirms that the police service will not collaborate with military personnel or the application of the civil immigration law.

Sophia Zaman, executive director of the Raising The Floor Alliance, said that her members had checked with managers and steering wheel work sites, raising awareness of peers and an “arm” with other plea groups to prepare. Returning the Floor Alliance is a coalition of workers’ centers, including in immigrant communities where people are “deeply affected by administration policies,” she said.

“We know that the city is faced with historical stockings with regard to violence in the city, and what we really need are investments in health care and a decent salary and all kinds of advantages that really help to stabilize our communities, not to this kind of militarization,” she said.

“We are going to equip our people and we will be ready,” she said.

The Trump administration said that other democratic cities may also appear on the list.

Noem told CBS News on Sunday that she “would encourage each big city, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, whatever they are, if they want to help make their city safer, more prosperous, to allow people to walk in freedom like the inhabitants of Washington, DC, and now appreciate eating at night and not having to worry.

The office of the mayor of Boston, Michelle Wu, said that he had heard nothing ice about a possible wave of application in the city.

“Unfortunately, at the moment of our country, where we see this federal administration willing to take measures which postpone the limits of law or even beyond the limits of law and our constitution, I imagine that each mayor of each big city must make a kind of preparations,” Boston told NBC Boston on Monday.

Sarang Sekhavat, the chief of staff of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, said that there are still questions about the calendar of what any increase in immigration officials would like, the defenders of Boston followed what happened in Los Angeles and Washington and will do the same with a potential operation in Chicago.

“We are in constant communication with field organizations in these cities and across the country anyway,” he said. “It gives us a kind of idea what we can expect.”

“There is an attempt to provide a unified response on this subject across the country,” he said.

Healey, the Governor of Massachusetts and a Democrat, pushed Trump’s declared objective to fight crime.

“He said he was going to take the worst of the worst, but instead, he would continue farmers, construction workers, landscapers, nannies, health aids and catering workers,” she said in a statement. “It makes us all less safe, and it does not help our economy or does not reduce costs. This is what the president tries to avoid talking about. “