Immigration Advocates Prepare For Deportations In Chicago: Reports

CHICAGO, IL — Immigration advocacy groups are reportedly preparing for raids to begin in Chicago as early as Tuesday, the day after president-elect Donald Trump takes office, according to reports.

Immigration officers have plans to target more than 300 people with histories of violent crimes after Trump takes office on Monday, and it will be concentrated in the Chicago area, an official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plans have not been made public, told The Associated Press.

Arrests are expected all next week, and Trump aides have said they will arrest others, like spouses or roommates, who are not targets but who are also in the country illegally, the outlet reported.

The plan, which is expected to begin on Tuesday, was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, according to the outlet.

Trump's administration was reconsidering enforcement raids in Chicago as of Saturday night, The Washington Post reported.

The undocumented community in Chicago is growing concerned that Trump's administration could carry out large-scale deportation plans in the region, NBC Chicago reported.

Community members and advocates braced themselves after The Journal's report, which sourced four people who are familiar with the plan, the outlet reported.

Eréndira Rendón, vice president of immigrant justice with The Resurrection Project, told NBC, "We were expecting this, and so this is the moment that our communities know what their rights are."

Illinois government officials across the state on Saturday urged residents to be calm, WBEZ reported.

At a press conference held by immigration rights advocates, Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, a Democrat, said, “the current threats are nothing new” and advocates are ready to fight for and protect the community."

“We are here today because we will be tested once again. However, we do have experience in defending and protecting our community," he added.

Any Huamani, a community organizer with the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council on the city's south side, fielded requests for "Know Your Rights" trainings and led a rapid response team via private group chat, as team members ready to be dispatched in the event ICE agents arrive in the community.

“Obviously, each scenario is different, “ Huamani told WBEZ. “If they’re there to detain someone, rapid response teams respond in a different way. We have to yell out, ‘These are your rights. You know, who can we call? Give us a phone number.’ And we’re also trying to record … ICE agents, if there’s an ICE truck or if it’s an unrecognizable truck.”

In an interview Friday with NBC News, Kristen Welker, the moderator of "Meet The Press," Trump reiterated that the mass deportations of the undocumented would remain a top priority for him when he assumes office, though he did not provide an exact date or city where they’ll start.

“It’ll begin very early, very quickly,” he told Welker. “I can’t say which cities because things are evolving. And I don’t think we want to say what city. You’ll see it firsthand.”

“We have to get the criminals out of our country. And I think you would agree with that. I don’t know how anyone could not agree," he added.

Advocacy groups told CBS they take Trump's threats seriously, after incoming "border czar" Tom Homan said Chicago would be"ground zero" for mass deportations, and that he would flood Chicago with ICE agents "looking for criminals and gang members."

Mary Meg McCarthy, executive director of the National Immigrant Justice Center, which gives legal help to the undocumented, told the outlet, "They were going to use Chicago as a model, an example of going after people, members of our community, the first couple days of this new administration."

Gov. JB Pritzker, co-chair of Governors Safeguarding Democracy, a non-partisan coalition of a number of governors across the country, previously said that he will "protect Illinoisans from the damage" Trump may cause in the state, and "it is committed to protecting the state-level institutions of democracy."

Pritzker said state officials have taken "proactive steps to protect our state from" the reach of Trump's administration and anyone feeling "unsafe and unwelcome" has an "ally" in Illinois and will always be welcome.

Homan, a former acting director of ICE, has said agents will double efforts in sanctuary cities like Chicago, a claim that received some pushback from Pritzker, who said that he would have to go "through him."

In a podcast interview with conservative political activist Charlie Kirk, Homan responded by telling the governor: "Game on."

"We've got no problem going through him," he said. "I've got 20,000 men and women in ICE, who are going to do their jobs with no apology."

He added that after Trump's inauguration, "we're in go mode" and "any governor that wants to stand in the way, go ahead and do it, we'll see what happens."