GARY, IN – The official tasked with directing President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign came to the Chicago area on Oct. 30 to tout the impact of the Operation Midway Blitz immigration crackdown.
At the same time, across the border, the Illinois governor delivered an address asking federal officials to suspend operations through the holiday weekend after their agents deployed tear gas and interrupted a Chicago grammar school’s Halloween festivities.
"We’re absolutely not willing to put on pause any work we do to keep communities safe," Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said of Gov. JB Pritzker’s request. "The fact that he’s asking for that is shameful."
Noem’s address to reporters inside an Indiana National Guard aircraft hangar in Gary, Indiana, comes nearly two months into the White House blitz on the Chicago area. The Homeland Security secretary said over 3,000 people had been arrested in connection with the blitz, including in Indiana. She described them as "criminal illegal aliens" and the "worst of the worst" although federal officials have not provided information on the people they have arrested aside from a small number.
The secretary said her agency would provide information on the people arrested. Officials have not yet shared information in response to multiple requests.
