Operation Midway Blitz escalates with Border Patrol return to Chicago

A top Border Patrol commander who became the face of the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown returned to Chicago on Tuesday, sparking protests as agents fired pepper balls and arrested several people.

Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino’s appearance in Chicago marks the most visible escalation of Operation Midway Blitz since early fall, drawing backlash from immigrant advocates and state leaders who said the Trump administration failed to warn them that the commander or additional agents were being redeployed to the region.

Border agents were filmed Tuesday in the predominantly Mexican-American neighborhood of Little Village deploying pepper balls and arresting a man, according to the Associated Press.

Bovino’s arrival in Chicago came a month after he was reassigned to law enforcement missions in New Orleans and North Carolina.

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Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino, right, reappeared in Chicago on December 16. (Scott Olson/Getty Images; John Rudoff/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Operation Midway Blitz was launched in September in honor of Katie Abraham, who was killed in a drunken-driving hit-and-run allegedly caused by Julio Cucul-Bol, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the goal of the operation was to “target criminal illegal aliens who are terrorizing Americans in safe haven Illinois.”

“As we said a month ago, we are not leaving Chicago and operations continue,” DHS Deputy Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, according to the Associated Press.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker told reporters Tuesday that he had not been informed about Bovino and other Border Patrol agents returning to Chicago, adding that he did not know how long the agents would stay.

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Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino walks alongside his agents after arresting an individual in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood on December 16. (Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

“I’m very proud of the people of Illinois who did what they did, which was protect their neighborhoods and their neighbors, do the right thing,” Pritzker said. “And so, I think we’re in a much better position.”

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said he knew Bovino had returned to Chicago.

“We have learned that once again, federal agents are targeting individuals indiscriminately – without a warrant – and intentionally showing up in public spaces to intimidate and sow fear, including at a Teamsters picket and a Little Village community organization,” Johnson wrote on X, adding that “these tactics are destabilizing, wrong and must be condemned.”

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Federal immigration agents arrest an individual in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood on December 16. (Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

Last week, Pritzker signed a bill to protect the state’s illegal immigrants from deportation by creating new safeguards at several locations, including courthouses, hospitals, college campuses and other public buildings.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.