'War from within': ICE agents descend from helicopters to nab suspected TDA gangsters in Chicago apartment
Operation Midway Blitz, the immigration enforcement surge underway in Chicago since the beginning of September, continued with a large show of force targeting gang members. Tensions are running high among different leaders as Trump continues to execute on his deportation mandate.
On Tuesday, federal agents descended on a building in Chicago in a raid targeting illegal aliens, some with suspected ties to Tren de Aragua. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents surrounded a building, with some agents rappelling down from Black Hawk helicopters.
'If you come to our country illegally and break our laws, we will hunt you down, arrest you, deport you, and you will never return.'
Nearly 300 federal agents from FBI, Border Patrol, ICE, and the ATF assisted in the operation in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood. Newsweek reported that roughly 30 illegal aliens were detained, some with suspected Tren de Aragua affiliation.
President Trump designated Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization at the beginning of his second term.
On Tuesday morning, Trump called out the largest of the infamous sanctuary cities, describing the deportation operations as a "war from within": "What they've done to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles, they're very unsafe places. And we're going to straighten them out one by one."
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) fired back at Trump's message on X. "To Donald Trump: Stop using military troops and ICE to invade and disrupt American cities. Stop calling your political opponents 'enemies' of the U.S. Stop attacking the 1st Amendment. Our troops and our nation deserve better than you acting as a petty tyrant."
Operation Midway Blitz was announced on September 8, 2025, in honor of Katie Abraham, a young woman killed by an illegal alien in Illinois.
“For years, Governor Pritzker and his fellow sanctuary politicians released Tren de Aragua gang members, rapists, kidnappers, and drug traffickers on Chicago’s streets — putting American lives at risk and making Chicago a magnet for criminals," said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin at the beginning of Operation Midway Blitz. "President Trump and Secretary Noem have a clear message: No city is a safe haven for criminal illegal aliens. If you come to our country illegally and break our laws, we will hunt you down, arrest you, deport you, and you will never return.”
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Democrats’ Relentless Demonizing Paves Way For The Next Political Assassination
U.S. politics is a tinder box right now, and leftists like California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker keep striking matches.Trump reveals the next 'deeply troubled' city for National Guard intervention
President Donald Trump is continuing his crime crackdown in blue cities across the country after a successful 30-day run in the nation's capital.
Trump announced he will be deploying the National Guard to Memphis, Tennessee, a crime-ridden, Democrat-run city in a deep-red state. Despite the often partisan divide on Trump's crime crackdown, the president said that both Republican Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee and Democratic Mayor Paul Young were on board with his decision.
'I would have preferred going to Chicago.'
"We're going to Memphis," Trump said on "Fox & Friends" on Friday. "Memphis is deeply troubled."
"The mayor is happy, he's a Democrat ..." Trump added. "The governor's happy. Deeply troubled. We're going to fix that just like we did Washington."
RELATED: Mainstream media turns a blind eye to vicious stabbing of young Ukrainian woman
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As Trump noted, both Lee and Young seemed open to ameliorating crime in Memphis and have vowed to work alongside federal law enforcement to ensure that safety improves.
"Earlier this week, I was informed that the governor and the president were considering deploying the National Guard and other resources to Memphis," Young said in a statement. "I am committed to working to ensure any efforts strengthen our community and build on our progress."
"For months, I have been in constant communication with the Trump administration to develop a multi-phased, strategic plan to combat crime in Memphis, leveraging the full extent of both federal and state resources," Lee said in a statement.
Lee outlined the changes that will be enacted by Trump's crime crackdown with Young's support. At the same time, Young said additional funding is the most pressing issue for the crime-ridden city.
"The next phase will include a comprehensive mission with the Tennessee National Guard, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Tennessee Highway Patrol, Memphis Police Department, and other law enforcement agencies, and we are working closely with the Trump administration to determine the most effective role for each of these agencies to best serve Memphians," Lee added.
"We agree with Governor Lee that effective support for Memphis comes through focused initiatives that deliver results like we have seen with the FBI, state troopers, and other law enforcement partnerships," Young said. "What we need most are financial resources for intervention and prevention, additional patrol officers, and case support to strengthen MPD's investigations."
RELATED: Jasmine Crockett's jaw-dropping defense of criminals: 'They literally are trying to survive'
The crime crackdown was originally expected to take aim at Chicago, Illinois, which boasts some of the highest crime rates in the country. Trump himself admitted that Chicago would have been his first pick.
"I would have preferred going to Chicago," Trump said.
Despite Trump's willingness to reach across the aisle and help crime-ridden Chicago, Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois repeatedly refused the offer.
"It’s disturbing that the President is hellbent [sic] on sending troops onto America’s streets," Pritzker said in response to Trump sending the National Guard to Memphis. "Using those who serve in uniform as political props is insulting. None of this is normal."
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‘A Ticking Time Bomb’: Charlie Kirk Warned Us Of The Growing Violence Of The Left
A report earlier this year found 55 percent of leftist-identifying respondents believed it justifiable to assassinate President Donald Trump.The Democrat Party Is A Domestic Terrorist Organization
In the world we live in now, there is no time to try to convince the left to 'tone down' their extreme rhetoric. They need to be treated like the domestic terrorists they are.‘Operation Midway Blitz’: Trump administration launches Chicago ICE surge
President Donald Trump launched a law enforcement surge in Illinois this week to crack down on illegal immigration.
The Department of Homeland Security explained that “Operation Midway Blitz” was named in honor of Katie Abraham, a 20-year-old who was killed in January in a hit-and-run drunk driving accident caused by a criminal illegal alien from Guatemala.
‘That’s not war; that’s common sense.’
“This ICE operation will target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois because they knew Governor Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets,” the DHS wrote in a social media post. “President Trump and Secretary Noem stand with the victims of illegal alien crime while Governor Pritzker stands with criminal illegal aliens.”
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The Trump administration’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement has focused its efforts on clamping down on sanctuary jurisdictions that protect criminal illegal aliens. This new option targets individuals in Illinois, including Chicago, a sanctuary city.
“In an ICE-led operation, we are here to remove these dangerous public safety threats from American communities,” ICE remarked.
Trump slammed Pritzker for stating he does not want help from the federal government to end violent crime in Chicago.
“6 people were murdered in Chicago this weekend, 12 others were shot, and in serious condition. This would mean that over the past number of weeks, approximately 50 people were killed, and hundreds were shot, many expected to die. Governor Pritzker just stated that he doesn’t want Federal Government HELP! WHY???” Trump questioned. “I want to help the people of Chicago, not hurt them. Only the Criminals will be hurt! We can move fast and stop this madness. The City and State have not been able to do the job. People of Illinois should band together and DEMAND PROTECTION. IT IS ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE!!! ACT NOW, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!!!”
Trump posted an apparent AI-generated photo on Truth Social showing himself, the Chicago skyline, a fire in the background, and helicopters overhead, with the words “Chipocalypse Now.”
“‘I love the smell of deportations in the morning,’” Trump wrote. “Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR.”
Pritzker pushed back on Trump’s claim that he wants to help the people of Chicago, citing the Truth Social post.
“‘I want to help people, not hurt them,’ says the guy who just threatened an American city with the Department of War,” the governor said.
RELATED: SCOTUS overrules lower court giving ICE a big win
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has also rejected Trump’s offers to help the city.
“The President’s threats are beneath the honor of our nation, but the reality is that he wants to occupy our city and break our Constitution,” Johnson said. “We must defend our democracy from this authoritarianism by protecting each other and protecting Chicago from Donald Trump.”
When a reporter over the weekend asked Trump whether he was seeking to go to war with Chicago, the president corrected the record.
“We’re not going to war. We’re going to clean up our cities. We’re going to clean them up so they don’t kill five people every weekend. That’s not war; that’s common sense,” Trump declared.
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Pritzker and other libs melt down over Trump's 'Chipocalypse Now' meme, prompting a badly needed reality check
JB Pritzker, the Democratic governor of Illinois, had an ugly meltdown on Saturday about a meme shared by President Donald Trump. When a member of the liberal press took a page out of Pritzker's book and treated the meme as a threat, Trump leaned in with a reality check.
How it started
Days after Pritzker claimed that Trump is "neither wanted here nor needed here," Chicago suffered another bloody Labor Day weekend with at least eight killed and 58 wounded. According to police, America's rattiest city suffered 278 homicides as of Aug. 31.
Trump condemned the violence, warning Pritzker: "Better straighten it out, FAST, or we're coming."
Pritzker and other Democratic officials instead channeled their energies last week into condemning a possible federal intervention rather than meaningfully tackling the underlying issues.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, for instance, kicked things off by signing an executive order "denouncing any attempts to deploy the United States Armed Forces and/or the National Guard and/or militarized civil immigration enforcement in Chicago."
RELATED: This is what Brandon Johnson is blaming for Chicago's violent Labor Day weekend
Pritzker then concern-mongered on MSNBC, telling former Biden White House press secretary Jen Psaki that Trump's plan is "one that's been repeated over and over again by ... tyrannical dictatorships across history where you try to incite local population into some mayhem by sending in police or other disruptors, and then claim that there's too much mayhem on the ground, and therefore there must be troops that are sent in."
The Democratic governor, who held on tightly to emergency powers through the pandemic and well into 2023, suggested further that the aim of the plan, which has already neutralized most street crime in Washington, D.C., was to "convert a democracy into something other than that."
The meme
At the outset of another weekend marked by numerous fatal shootings in Chicago, Trump shared a meme titled "Chipocalypse Now" that features an AI image of himself as Colonel Bill Kilgore, the fictional commander of the 1st Cavalry Division in "Apocalypse Now," with the Chicago skyline as his backdrop.
Whereas Kilgore, played by Robert Duvall, states in film following an airstrike on potential enemy combatants along a nearby tree line, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning," Trump's meme is captioned, "I love the smell of deportations in the morning."
Trump added, "Chicago about to find out why it's called the Department of WAR."
Pritzker characterized Trump's post as a legitimate threat, writing, "The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city. This is not a joke. This is not normal."
"Donald Trump isn't a strongman, he's a scared man," continued Pritzker. "Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator."
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Pritzker subsequently disseminated guidance on how to handle encounters with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for the apparent benefit of illegal aliens in his state, recommended that residents film federal operatives, and advanced the suggestion that the Trump administration's efforts to restore law and order constituted "atrocities."
Mayor Johnson also decided to interpret Trump's humorous post as a threat, noting, "The President’s threats are beneath the honor of our nation, but the reality is that he wants to occupy our city and break our Constitution. We must defend our democracy from this authoritarianism by protecting each other and protecting Chicago from Donald Trump."
NBC News' Yamiche Alcindor joined Pritzker and Johnson in spinning the president's meme as a declaration of intent, asking Trump whether he was indeed "going to war with Chicago."
"Darling, that's fake news," said Trump.
When Alcindor began to argue the point, the president responded, "Be quiet. Listen. You don't listen. You never listen. That's why you're second rate."
"We're not going to war. We're going to clean up our cities," said Trump. We're going to clean them up so they don't kill five people every weekend. That's not war. That's common sense."
Trump further underscored on Sunday that he is simply keen on making American cities safe and beautiful.
"Chicago is a very dangerous place, and we have a governor who doesn't care about crime," Trump told reporters on Sunday. "We could solve Chicago very quickly."
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Blaze News in a statement, “Eight people were killed and over 50 people were wounded over Labor Day weekend in Chicago, but local Democrat leaders are more upset about a post from the president — that tells you everything you need to know about the Democrats' twisted priorities."
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