President Donald Trump vowed at the start of his second term to deport thousands of immigrants he accused of being criminals.
The Trump administration ramped up immigration enforcement in his first several months in office before launching Operation Midway Blitz in the Chicago area last September. It was a sweeping deportation campaign that brought hundreds of federal immigration agents into the region and upended communities.
The charge led to the shooting death of an immigrant father, the mobilization of thousands of protesters and growing calls for elected officials to protect residents from federal authorities.
Chicago and Illinois have seen resulting policy changes, the prosecution of immigrants and federal agents, and continued investigations into alleged prosecutorial misconduct.
This is a timeline of events on the one-year anniversary of Operation Midway Blitz:
The build-up
Jan. 20, 2025 – On Inauguration Day, Trump promises to lock down the border, allows arrests at schools and churches
Trump signs a flurry of executive orders on his first day in office that increase enforcement on the southern border by declaring a national emergency, limit the number of refugees entering the United States and deploy the military. He also plans to end birthright citizenship for people born in the United States.
The Department of Homeland Security rescinds guidelines that limit immigration arrests in sensitive locations such as schools and churches.
April 28, 2025 – Trump signs executive orders that target sanctuary cities and grant local authorities more access to military force
This administration already has it in for us.
A show of force
Sept. 8 – Trump launches Operation Midway Blitz
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announces on social media that it will target immigrants living in Illinois and Chicago without legal status who have been protected by the “sanctuary policies” of Gov. JB Pritzker, one of Trump’s most prominent political opponents.
DHS claims the campaign is in honor of Illinois native Katie Abraham, who was killed in a drunk driving hit-and-run crash.
Sept. 9 – First day of Blitz
Hundreds of federal agents move into the area, and videos surface of masked officers taking people into custody. Tension grows in Chicago’s Latino communities, and many residents stay home.
Sept. 12 – Agents kill Silverio Villegas Gonzalez
Federal immigration agents fatally shoot the father of two in suburban Franklin Park.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials claim Silverio Gonzalez attempted to flee a traffic stop and struck an officer with his car. They say the officer was “seriously injured” when he was “dragged a significant distance.” Video obtained by the Sun-Times later shows the officer saying moments after the incident that his injuries were “ ‘nothing major.’ “
Sept. 16 – Kristi Noem joins Elgin raid
Kristi Noem, then-U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, joins federal officers in a raid at a suburban Elgin home where six men, including a U.S. citizen, are arrested.
Agents use helicopters, spotlights and smoke bombs to carry out the military-style operation.
Noem shares a video of the raid on social media where she is seen riding in the back of a militarized vehicle. In the video, rock music plays as four men are seen being led out of the home in handcuffs.
Sept. 19 – First major use of tear gas and less-lethal munitions at Broadview
Federal agents target protesters outside the ICE facility in Broadview.
Demonstrations begin about 5 a.m. and again at 7 p.m. and last for hours, drawing dozens to the facility in protest of the intensifying federal operations in the Chicago area.
Agents fire several rounds of tear gas and pepper balls into the crowd. They are seen using physical force against protesters and make several arrests.
Sept. 28 – Feds patrol Downtown
Led by Gregory Bovino, the commander-at-large of the Border Patrol, dozens of federal agents, clad in military-style fatigues, roam past some of Chicago’s most well-known landmarks and take several individuals into custody.
Bovino contrasts the people being arrested with a white WBEZ reporter, saying agents consider a person’s appearance before taking them into custody.
“Obviously, the particular characteristics of an individual, how they look. How do they look compared to, say, you?” Bovino says to the reporter.
Sept. 30 – South Shore raid
Armed federal agents in camouflage and masks carry out a massive immigration enforcement operation at a South Shore apartment building.
Residents in the building, including U.S. citizens, are forced out of their apartments and detained. The Department of Homeland Security claims the building was allegedly frequented by Tren de Aragua members, a Venezuelan gang and agents made dozens of arrests. The Sun-Times and WBEZ later find little evidence of that, but learn the building had long suffered in squalor.
The next day, residents return home to find their apartments emptied of their belongings and say they received little help from authorities.
Oct. 3 – Federal agent launches tear gas near Logan Square grade school
A 6-year-old should not have to know what a tear gas canister is. And a sixth grader should not be too afraid to come to school because she believes that [ICE] will bust down our doors.
Oct. 4 – Border Patrol shoots Marimar Martinez in Brighton Park
Martinez is shot five times. Federal officials claim she was allegedly tailing a Chevrolet Tahoe driven by Border Patrol agent Charles Exum and boxed in the agents, ultimately colliding with their vehicle. Body-camera footage of the incident later showed Exum appearing to turn his steering wheel to the left, toward Martinez’s car, while another agent was heard saying “it’s time to get aggressive” and “we’re going to make contact, we’re boxed in.”
Protesters clash with agents, who shoot tear gas and pepper balls that hit Chicago Police officers.
Oct. 23 – High school student detained, Bovino launches tear gas in Little Village despite judge’s orders
I told him not to throw it because all he was going to do was rile people up, but he just smirked at me and threw it anyway.
Oct. 29 – Feds charge Broadview Six with conspiracy
Federal prosecutors in Chicago unseal a grand jury indictment that charges six people, including congressional candidate and social media influencer Kat Abughazaleh, with conspiring to impede a federal officer in Broadview.
Nov. 8 – Shots fired near feds in Little Village
Tensions rise as agents carry out arrests and shots are fired nearby.
Hector Gomez, an immigrant from Mexico, is arrested hours later when Chicago Police officers find him with a handgun in his lap in a black Jeep Wrangler, according to an arrest report.
Gomez later admits to firing “at least two rounds” near U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents.
Nov. 11 – Bovino to leave Chicago
Law enforcement sources tell the Sun-Times a key command post will be shutting down and Bovino and many of his agents will soon leave Chicago, signaling a downshift in Operation Midway Blitz.
A source with the Department of Homeland Security warns 1,000 agents could return and hit the streets in March.
Nov. 20 – Feds drop case against Marimar Martinez
[Her] only crime was warning her fellow community members that ICE was in the neighborhood acting in the way that multiple judges in this building have said is unlawful, and that is not a crime. She didn’t deserve to be shot.
Dec. 16 – Bovino returns
Bovino and fellow agents allegedly roam neighborhoods asking residents for identification on the Southwest Side and in the western suburbs a month after their first efforts came to a chaotic end.
At least 15 people are detained, including day laborers and a tamale vendor.
The next phase
Feb. 19 – State’s attorney unveils new guidance for prosecuting feds
Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke says law enforcement agencies will lead criminal investigations by collecting and preserving evidence, but her office can step in and impanel a grand jury if an agency needs assistance getting sworn testimony or additional evidence that’s not volunteered.
May 5 – State investigates Silverio Villegas Gonzalez death
Illinois State Police opens an investigation into the fatal shooting nearly eight months after he was killed.
Franklin Park police asked ISP to investigate after a state commission released a damning report detailing the actions of federal agents during the deportation campaign.
May 21 – Feds dismiss case against Broadview Six in stunning hearing that reveals apparent prosecutorial misconduct
I have never seen the types of prosecutorial behavior before a grand jury that I saw in those transcripts.
Aug. 6 – First Midway Blitz sentencing
A federal judge sentences Hector Gomez to 30 months in prison for firing a gun “in proximity of” U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents during the final days of Operation Midway Blitz.
Aug. 12 – ICE agent pleads guilty for attacking protester
ICE agent Adam Saracco pleads guilty to an off-duty attack late last year at a gas station in west suburban Brookfield.
Saracco, 41, is sentenced to a year of court supervision on a single misdemeanor count of battery.
Saracco was charged in January after attacking attorney and activist Robert Held last December. Held followed Saracco from the ICE processing facility in Broadview and filmed him as he stopped at a gas station in Brookfield. Held said Saracco eventually approached him and pushed him to the ground.
Aug. 24 – ICE agents arrest man in McKinley Park
Federal immigration agents crash into a truck on Interstate 55 before placing a man in custody in McKinley Park.
It was unclear why agents arrested the man. However, a reporter heard an ICE officer at the scene tell protesters the person arrested had a prior DUI.
At least a dozen federal agents arrived in the 3300 block of South Wolcott Avenue to protect a crashed federal vehicle, while dozens of residents shouted at agents to “get out of our city.”
Aug. 25 – Elite Chicago police unit investigates shooting of Marimar
“We patiently waited for nearly a year for the FBI or the [Justice Department’s] Civil Rights Division to do their job and investigate the attempted murder of Ms. Martinez by Border Patrol Agent Charles Exum,” says Christopher Parente, Martinez’s attorney.
“After learning they are unwilling to do their job, or even investigate the facts, we now turn to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office for help ensuring that the concepts of justice and accountability still exist in the United States of America.”