Incoming White House “border czar” Tom Homan speaks during Turning Point’s annual AmericaFest 2024 in Phoenix on Dec. 22.
Jos Edelson/AFP via Getty Images
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Jos Edelson/AFP via Getty Images
Incoming “border czar” Tom Homan said large-scale raids as part of President-elect Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration are set to begin as soon as Tuesday.
In an interview with Fox News on Friday night, Homan did not offer further details, but he did confirm that Chicago will be one of the cities targeted.
An estimated 11 million immigrants live in the U.S. without legal status.
Both Homan and Trump have vowed to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. But the plan is expected to face legal and logistical hurdles, including where to house millions of people once they are detained.
In Chicago, community organizers and elected officials scramble to encourage residents to not panic
On the city’s Southwest Side, Any Huamani, a community organizer with the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, was fielding requests for Know Your Rights Trainings and leading a rapid response team via private group chat. Team members are ready to be dispatched in case ICE agents arrive in her community.
“Obviously each scenario is different,” Huamani said. “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.”
Meanwhile, 20 requests for trainings had come in.
The biggest fear among immigrants who don’t have a legal status in the U.S., Huamani said, is leaving their children behind.
During Trump’s first administration, his “zero tolerance” policy separated more than 5,000 children from parents who crossed the border, without systems to track and reunite families. Some also fear being detained or held in cities or states unfamiliar to them. Huamani has been advising people at risk of being detained by ICE to memorize at least three phone numbers so that they can be located if tak…
