Trump Orders ICE To Expand Deportations In Chicago

CHICAGO — President Donald Trump on Sunday in a social media post ordered immigration authorities to expand deportation efforts in Chicago and other Democrat-controlled cities.

“ICE Officers are herewith ordered, by notice of this TRUTH, to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History,” Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social.

“In order to achieve this, we must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside.”

Trump described the cities as “the core of the Democrat Power Center” and called on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol and other law enforcement “to FOCUS on our crime ridden and deadly Inner Cities, and those places where Sanctuary Cities play such a big role.”

“… I have directed my entire Administration to put every resource possible behind this effort,” Trump wrote, adding the federal government will focus on “REMIGRATION of Aliens to the places from where they came.”

Trump's declaration comes after weeks of increased enforcement, and after Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff and main architect of Trump's immigration policies, said ICE officers would target at least 3,000 arrests a day, up from about 650 a day during the first five months of Trump's second term.

At the same time, the Trump administration has directed immigration officers to pause arrests at farms, restaurants and hotels, after Trump expressed alarm about the impact aggressive enforcement is having on those industries, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter who spoke only on condition of anonymity.

Opponents of Trump's immigration policies took to the streets as part of the "no kings" demonstrations Saturday that came as Trump held a massive parade in Washington for the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army.

Saturday's protests were mostly peaceful, although police in Los Angeles and Portland used tear gas and projectiles to clear demonstrators.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.