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Tag: ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)

  • DHS said a woman attempted to run over ICE officers before being shot in Minneapolis. Here’s what videos show

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    (CNN) — In the aftermath of an ICE officer shooting and killing a woman in Minneapolis on Wednesday, President Donald Trump claimed in a post online that video from the incident showed the woman “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over” the officer.

    The Department of Homeland Security, in the initial wake of the shooting, also said in a statement that the woman was attempting to run over officers with her car “to kill them.”

    US Sen. Tina Smith, a Minnesota Democrat, later identified the woman as 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good.

    DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a news conference in Texas on Wednesday that “a woman attacked” officers and “attempted to run them over and ram them with her vehicle” after the officers got stuck in the snow.

    Three videos taken of the scene and reviewed by CNN, however, show nuance. What took place prior to the shooting remains unclear.

    What the videos show

    In one video posted online of the shooting, the woman can first be seen in her car, which is still and perpendicular in the middle of a street.

    The officer who would soon shoot the woman can be seen walking behind her vehicle, toward the front of the car. Another person, who is not wearing a uniform, can be seen following that officer and appears to have been filming on their phone.

    Two federal officers in a truck then pull up to the car as the woman was waving her hand out the window. The officers exit their truck and approach the woman’s car.

    “Get out of the car,” the officers approaching the woman’s driver-side door can be heard repeatedly saying. “Get out of the f**king car.”

    One of the two officers can be seen pulling on the woman’s driver-side door as the other officer reaches the front of the car from the other side. The car then starts to move in reverse as one officer continues pulling on the car door, and the other officer is in front of part of the vehicle.

    The vehicle begins to move forward and, at the same time, the third officer who approached the car pulls out his pistol and points it at the woman while moving away from the front of the car.

    A video from a different angle, obtained and reviewed by CNN, seems to show the car making contact with the officer before he fired his gun the first time.

    The first video doesn’t capture the car making contact with the officer, but his body is seen moving out from the front of the vehicle and to the driver’s side of the car.

    The officer, who was out of the vehicle’s path, then fired two more shots.

    Video then shows the officer holster his pistol as the car drives forward before it accelerates and crashes into a car and a pole on the side of the street.

    The firing officer and the person who appeared to be filming him can be seen moving toward the woman and her car. The video shows the officer later walking away from the car and telling others to call 911.

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    Holmes Lybrand and CNN

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  • Suspect identified as 2 National Guard members remain in critical condition after targeted shooting near White House

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    (CNN) — The Department of Homeland Security has identified the suspect involved in the Wednesday shooting of two National Guard members, who remain in critical condition.

    The suspect is Rahmanullah Lakamal, who came to the US from Afghanistan in 2021, DHS said in a statement late Wednesday. Officials said earlier the suspect is in custody.

    Multiple law enforcement officials briefed on the matter told CNN the shooter’s initial identification matches a man from Washington state who applied for asylum in 2024, which was granted by the Trump administration earlier this year.

    The two guard members had been performing “high visibility patrols” near the White House before the suspect appeared, “raised his arm with a firearm and discharged at the National Guard,” said Jeffery Carroll, the executive assistant chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, during a news conference earlier Wednesday.

    Bowser and FBI Director Kash Patel said during the news conference the two guard members are in critical condition.

    DC Mayor Muriel Bowser described the attack as a “targeted shooting” in a post on X and said the two guard members shot were part of the West Virginia National Guard.

    “To the American public and the world, please send your prayers to those brave warriors who are in critical condition and their families,” Patel said during the news conference.

    Carroll added during the presser “there is no indication” that there is another suspect, adding that the suspect in custody was taken to an area hospital.

    The shooting took place near Farragut Square — a tourist-heavy area located near a busy transit center and the White House.

    A source familiar with the investigation told CNN earlier Wednesday that law enforcement officials are not tracking any other victims of the shooting beyond the two National Guard officers and the suspect.

    Three law enforcement sources told CNN that the suspect approached the guardsmen and appeared to target them, firing first at one of the guardsmen who was mere feet away.

    One source said the suspect then fired at the other guardsman, who tried to get behind a bus stop shelter. The source added that the suspect is not cooperating with investigators and had no identification on him at the time of his arrest.

    What we know about the shooting

    Video from the nearby Metro station showed the shooting as it happened, law enforcement officials told CNN.

    The gunman approached three National Guard members who appeared to not see him until he began shooting, striking one guard member and then another, the officials said.

    The gunman then stood over the first victim and appeared to try to fire another round. That’s when the third guard member returned fire at the alleged shooter, the sources said.

    A woman who was near the scene of the shooting told CNN she heard gunshots and then saw a “bunch of people” administering CPR to people who were on the ground.

    Two law enforcement sources said earlier Wednesday the suspect was detained and transported away from the scene on a stretcher.

    Authorities ran the fingerprints of the man in custody and that’s how they got the initial name, one law enforcement official told CNN.

    Investigators recovered a handgun believed to have been used in the attack on the National Guard members and are working to determine when and how the suspect obtained it, law enforcement officials told CNN.

    US law restricts firearms sales to people who aren’t citizens or legal permanent residents and it’s unclear whether the alleged gunman could have legally bought the handgun, the officials said.

    Prior to the Wednesday news conference, there were conflicting reports about the condition of the guardsman after West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey posted on social media — and later corrected — that the guardsmen were believed to be dead.

    Earlier in the day, DC Metropolitan Police said on X that the scene is secure and one suspect is in custody. They advised people to avoid the area.

    Joint Task Force — DC, the National Guard office responsible for organizing the Guard mission to Washington, DC, confirmed in a statement Wednesday afternoon that “several” of its members “were involved in a shooting near the Farragut West Metro Station,” adding that it is working with DC police and other “law enforcement agencies.”

    A police car blocks a street in Washington, DC, following a shooting on November 26. Credit: Joe Merkel / CNN via CNN Newsource

    Trump addresses nation and calls for re-examining Afghan immigrants

    President Donald Trump identified the suspect as an Afghan national in a video from Mar-a-Lago posted late Wednesday and blamed the Biden administration for allowing him into the country.

    “I can report tonight that based on the best available information, the Department of Homeland Security is confident that the suspect in custody is a foreigner who entered our country from Afghanistan — a hell hole on earth,” Trump said in the video, adding that the suspect “was flown in by the Biden administration in September 2021.”

    “We’re not going to put up with these kind of assaults on law and order by people who shouldn’t even be in our country,” Trump added. “We must now reexamine every single alien who’s entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden and we must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here or add benefit to our country.”

    Following Trump’s remarks, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a post on X that the processing of all immigration cases related to Afghan immigrants “is stopped indefinitely pending further review of security and vetting protocols.”

    The Trump administration was already in the process of re-interviewing Afghan migrants admitted to the US during the previous administration, CNN reported earlier this week. Trump officials have repeatedly argued that the previous administration didn’t sufficiently vet the people who entered the US.

    In his video, Trump also reiterated his request to deploy 500 more National Guardsmen to Washington, DC, in response to the shooting, which was shared by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth earlier in the day.

    Shortly after the shooting, Trump weighed in on Truth Social, saying, “The animal that shot the two National Guardsmen … is also severely wounded, but regardless, will pay a very steep price.”

    Vice President JD Vance, during remarks at an event in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, called for prayers for the national guardsmen, who he said were in critical condition at the time.

    The shooting is “a somber reminder that soldiers whether they’re active duty, reserve or National Guard are soldiers are the sword and the shield of the United States of America,” Vance added.

    National Guard troops in nation’s capital since August

    National Guard troops from multiple states have been in Washington, DC, for months as part of President Donald Trump’s anti-crime crackdown in the nation’s capital, which has since expanded to other cities across the country.

    Trump mobilized the National Guard in August and the troops were authorized to conduct law enforcement activities.

    CNN reported last month that National Guard troops will remain mobilized in the city at least through February.

    However, last week a federal judge halted the mobilization of the National Guard in Washington, DC, ruling that Trump and the Defense Department illegally deployed the troops.

    In her ruling, the judge said there were “more than 2,000 National Guard troops” every day in the city.

    The judge did not immediately order the National Guard to leave the city, allowing the Trump administration some time to file an appeal, which it did Tuesday.

    The administration earlier Wednesday asked a federal appeals court for an emergency stay of the judge’s order to remove the National Guard from Washington, DC.

    This story and headline have been updated with additional details.

    CNN’s John Miller contributed to this report.

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    Zachary Cohen, Kaanita Iyer, Holmes Lybrand, Gabe Cohen, Evan Perez and CNN

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  • Gregory Bovino and CBP are headed next to Charlotte, North Carolina. That was news to city officials

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    Charlotte (CNN) — Before he got a call this week from CNN about reports US Border Patrol agents might be headed to Charlotte, North Carolina, City Councilmember Malcolm Graham had no idea such a plan was even in the cards.

    None of the Charlotte officials CNN reached out to Tuesday or Wednesday about the reported move said they were aware of any plan for Gregory Bovino, the top Border Patrol official in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Democratic-led cities, and his officers to head to Charlotte, then New Orleans, according to two US officials familiar with the planning.

    As of Thursday morning, Bovino has left Chicago with his agents and is headed to Charlotte, according to a source familiar with the planning.

    “As of right now, there has been no coordination, no confirmation, no conversation from anybody. So we’re just kind of watching and waiting,” Graham, a Democrat, told CNN on Wednesday. “It’s just part and parcel of how this administration conducts itself. You learn things through tweets and media reports, no direct communication from anyone in authority. That, for me, is frustrating.”

    It wasn’t until Thursday afternoon that a Charlotte official confirmed for the first time they had spoken with federal officials about the plans.

    Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden – who initially was unaware of the operation – has been “contacted by two separate federal officials confirming US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel will be arriving in the Charlotte area as early as this Saturday or the beginning of next week,” the sheriff’s office told CNN.

    The sheriff’s office said details on the federal operation have not been shared with them and they have not been asked to assist with any enforcement actions.

    The plans have put Charlotte on edge, as local officials seek to reassure residents they will be protected, even as they hold their breath, waiting to see whether they’ll be the next target in the White House’s high-profile, visibly aggressive push to send federal agents into blue cities as part of its immigration crackdown.

    US Rep. Alma Adams, whose district includes much of Charlotte, wrote she was “extremely concerned about the deployment of U.S. Border Patrol and ICE agents to Charlotte” in a post on X.

    “Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and what we have seen border patrol and ICE agents do in places like Chicago and Los Angeles – using excessive force in their operations and tear gassing peaceful protesters – threatens the wellbeing of the communities they enter,” Adams said.

    In response, Bovino wrote, “Immigrants rest assured, we have your back like we did in Chicago and Los Angeles,” and urged undocumented immigrants to self-deport.

    “Every day, DHS enforces the laws of the nation across the country. We do not discuss future or potential operations,” Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told CNN in a statement Thursday.

    On Tuesday, McLaughlin had told CNN, “We aren’t leaving Chicago.”

    Charlotte-Mecklenburg police are not involved in planning federal operations, nor have they been in contact with federal officials regarding the reported move.

    Charlotte’s city police department doesn’t participate in federal immigration operations and would only get involved when there are warrants or criminal behavior under its jurisdiction, so “people who need local law enforcement services should feel secure calling 911,” said Mayor Vi Lyles, a Democrat, in a social media statement.

    “We still don’t know any details on where they may be operating and to what extent,” Lyles said Thursday. “I understand this news will create uncertainty and anxiety for many people in our community.”

    Lyles asked residents to refrain from sharing unverified information about enforcement activities, which create “more fear and uncertainty when we need to be standing together.”

    Residents are already on edge

    Officials in other cities have described Bovino as leading a law enforcement agency which deploys tactics that are frighteningly authoritarian and used by the president as a cudgel against Democrat-led localities and the people — citizens and noncitizens alike — who live in them.

    Heavy-handed tactics, including immigration sweeps in parking lots and smashing car windows, have fueled alarm, including some among some in the Trump administration, while also garnering praise from senior Homeland Security officials.

    Even though the federal government has not confirmed Bovino’s operation in the city, just the possibility has a community already on edge spooked.

    The Carolina Migrant Network, a nonprofit that offers legal counsel to immigrants, told CNN Wednesday it is already receiving reports from frightened residents who believe they may have spotted Border Patrol in the city, though the organization said it has not verified any of those sightings.

    “We’re getting ready. We’re retraining our ICE verifiers and uplifting our ICE verification network right now,” said Stefania Arteaga, the organization’s co-executive director.

    “The fear is there. People are seeing viral videos of children getting pepper sprayed,” said Arteaga. “These are images that are going viral in our communities. There is fear that this could come to Charlotte.”

    The sometimes violent, viral images from other cities, coupled with an increased immigration enforcement locally this year, have created a chilling effect in Charlotte, City Councilmember Dimple Ajmera said.

    North Carolina’s foreign-born population has increased eightfold since 1990, according to state data.

    “We have more than 150,000 foreign-born residents who call our city their home,” Ajmera told CNN. “Real anxiety and fear are in our communities. Bakeries and coffee shops are empty. Children are not being sent to school.”

    On Friday, North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein encouraged residents who see inappropriate behavior to record it on their phones and notify local law enforcement.

    “We should all focus on and arrest violent criminals and drug traffickers. Unfortunately, that’s not always what we have seen with ICE and Border Patrol Agents in Chicago and elsewhere around the country,” the governor said in a statement. “The vast majority of people they have detained have no criminal convictions, and some are American citizens.”

    Local officials were in the dark

    Ajmera also told CNN that federal officials hadn’t yet coordinated with the city, saying, “We are probably going to find out at the same time the community finds out.”

    Stein, a Democrat, told reporters after an unrelated event in Charlotte on Wednesday afternoon that he’d reached out to the White House after seeing reports in the media, but “we have not heard from them, so we don’t know what their plans are.”

    The governor acknowledged he was concerned by some of the images that came out of the operation in Chicago.

    “We don’t know what their plans are here for Charlotte. If they come in and they are targeted in what they do, we will thank them. If they come in and wreak havoc and cause chaos and fear, we will be very concerned,” he said.

    State Sen. Caleb Theodros, a Democrat representing Charlotte, called the potential operation in his city “political theater.”

    The lone Republican who will sit on the city council next year, after Democrats flipped a GOP seat in this month’s election, told CNN undocumented immigrants who commit crimes should be deported, and the country needs a process to identify illegal immigrants who have not committed crimes and “where appropriate, establish a legal basis for their presence in this country.”

    “CBP operations in any community should be coordinated with state and local authorities to avoid anxiety and disruption among legal residents,” Ed Driggs told CNN.

    Why would CBP head to Charlotte?

    Charlotte hasn’t been previously publicly singled out as an enhanced immigration enforcement target by the Trump administration in the same way as other cities like Chicago, Los Angeles or even New Orleans.

    And while other cities Trump has targeted with his immigration crackdown are closer to US borders, Charlotte is hundreds of miles away from both the northern and southern edges of the country.

    But it is one of the places that Trump has focused on in recent months as part of his crusade against crime in populous, Democratic-run cities.

    Intense public outrage swept across the country earlier this year after chilling surveillance video was released showing a young Ukrainian refugee, Iryna Zarutska, being stabbed to death on the city’s light rail train by a suspect who had a lengthy criminal history and documented mental health struggles.

    Trump posted about the stabbing on Truth Social, criticizing Democratic policies and promoting a Republican candidate in next year’s closely watched Senate race.

    “North Carolina, and every State, needs LAW AND ORDER, and only Republicans will deliver it!” he wrote.

    Though the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department has said data shows the city has seen a reduction in violent crime this year, three Republican members of Congress representing districts around the Charlotte area asked the governor just this month to send the National Guard to Charlotte to help curb crime, highlighting a spike in homicides in the city’s uptown area.

    And Bovino himself will be in familiar ground if he finds himself in Charlotte: He is originally from western North Carolina, graduated from Watauga High School and has degrees from Western Carolina University and Appalachian State University.

    On October 14, Bovino responded to an account on X that said they hoped Bovino’s team would visit the North Carolina city.

    “We’ll put Charlotte on the list!!!” Bovino wrote.

    Asked by CNN last month where he planned to go next, Bovino said any decision would be based on intelligence.

    “We’ve got a great leadership team that we work for that we look to for leadership and that would be President Trump, (Homeland Security Secretary) Kristi Noem, and all of those folks,” he said. “We pay attention to what they say, and we pay attention to what our intelligence says. We marry those up, and we hit it hard.”

    What have local officials said about federal immigration enforcement previously?

    State Republican leadership has long targeted Charlotte and Mecklenburg County’s approach to immigration enforcement. Though Charlotte is not a “sanctuary city,” it does claim it is a “Certified Welcoming City,” a formal designation for cities with commitments to immigrant inclusion.

    Shortly after taking office in 2018, Mecklenburg County Sheriff McFadden ended the county’s decade-long 287(g) partnership with ICE, which allows local and state law enforcement to perform some immigration enforcement duties. McFadden was also an outspoken opponent of a new state law that expanded ICE authorities over people detained in local jails and required sheriffs to work more closely with ICE officials. That law went into effect in October after the Republican-controlled General Assembly overrode Stein’s veto.

    A few weeks ago, McFadden announced that he’d had a “productive” meeting with ICE officials where they discussed how to “establish a better working relationship” and improve communications, along with courthouse procedures.

    “I don’t want to stop ICE from doing their job, but I do want them to do it safely, responsibly, and with proper coordination by notifying our agency ahead of time,” McFadden said in a statement.

    Arteaga, of the Carolina Migrant Network, said her organization has observed a significant spike in ICE activity around the Charlotte area since the start of the year and a further increase in activity since the new law went into effect last month.

    Charlotte’s local officials weren’t the only ones caught off guard

    Charlotte isn’t the only city where officials say they’ve been kept in the dark before an operation like this might begin. The situation in Charlotte right now mirrors, in a more muted manner, the reaction from local officials in Chicago before “Operation Midway Blitz” began there.

    In August, CNN reported that Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said the administration had failed to contact his office or the mayor, ahead of what was then the reported deployment, and he slammed the lack of coordination.

    The New Orleans Mayor’s Office has not responded to CNN’s outreach about possible future Border Patrol operations there.

    Stein noted that Border Patrol “has national jurisdiction so there is nothing that we could do, even if we were to want to, to stop them from coming. We’re just going to have to see what their plans are. We want to hear from them so we can plan accordingly.”

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    Dianne Gallagher, Priscilla Alvarez and CNN

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  • National Guard troops in Illinois can remain federalized but can’t be deployed, appeals court rules

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    (CNN) — A federal appeals court ruled Saturday the National Guard troops in Illinois can remain under federal control but can’t be deployed as the appeals process continues in the ongoing showdown between the Trump administration and the state.

    The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to temporarily pause part of a lower court’s order this week that halted deployments of National Guard troops in the state for two weeks – the latest in a bicoastal court saga over whether President Donald Trump is exceeding his authority by deploying troops to quell demonstrations outside ICE facilities near Democratic-led cities like Chicago and Portland.

    “Members of the National Guard do not need to return to their home states unless further ordered by a court to do so,” the order says.

    Troops in the Chicago area are now engaged in “planning and training,” but “not conducting any operational activities at this time,” US Northern Command said in a Friday update.

    There were 300 members of the Illinois National Guard and 200 members of the Texas National Guard activated under Title 10 and in the Chicago area as of Wednesday, the command previously said.

    “This is a victory for our state,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in a statement. “This is a victory for state and local law enforcement – who know their communities and who protect the right of their communities to speak truth to power.”

    In response to the ruling, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told CNN, “Amidst ongoing violent riots and lawlessness, that local leaders like Pritzker have refused to step in to quell, President Trump has exercised his lawful authority to protect federal officers and assets. President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities and we expect to be vindicated by a higher court.”

    The Trump administration had filed a notice of appeal this week against US District Court Judge April Perry’s decision Thursday to grant a temporary restraining order blocking Trump’s National Guard deployment in Illinois.

    “I have seen no credible evidence that there has been rebellion in the state of Illinois” that would justify federalizing National Guard soldiers, Perry said in her ruling, calling Department of Homeland Security assessments of the protests “unreliable.”

    Sending in troops would “only add fuel to the fire,” the judge added.

    Leaders in areas like Illinois and Oregon have emphatically disputed the Trump administration’s characterizations of their cities as “war-ravaged” and uncontrollably violent, arguing in court that the situation on the ground is not as extreme as federal officials are portraying it to be.

    Other states have rallied behind Illinois’ legal battle, as Maryland – along with 19 other states, Washington, DC, and three governors’ offices – filed an amicus brief Saturday evening calling the president’s deployment of the National Guard across the US “unlawful, unconstitutional, and undemocratic.”

    “The Trump Administration’s shifting and expanding misuse of the National Guard exemplifies the concentration of power that the Founding Generation feared,” the brief reads.

    On the West Coast, a three-judge panel with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is still weighing whether the Trump administration should be blocked from deploying the Oregon National Guard to respond to ICE protests in Portland. They have yet to release a decision, though state Attorney General Dan Rayfield on Thursday said he expects a ruling “in the coming days.”

    The appeals court ruled Wednesday to temporarily allow the federalization of the Oregon National Guard, while the block against deploying the troops remains in effect.

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    Michelle Watson, Danya Gainor and CNN

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  • Illinois and Chicago sue Trump administration over deployment of National Guard

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    (CNN) — The state of Illinois and Chicago on Monday sued the Trump administration over its move to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago as the White House targets Democrat-led cities amid weeks of protests against the federal government’s immigration enforcement campaign.

    The lawsuit opens a new front in the legal battles the White House is waging against state and local officials, coming just hours after a federal judge blocked a similar deployment of the guard to Portland, Oregon.

    “Defendants’ deployment of federalized troops to Illinois is patently unlawful,” the lawsuit says. “Plaintiffs ask this court to halt the illegal, dangerous, and unconstitutional federalization of members of the National Guard of the United States, including both the Illinois and Texas National Guard.”

    The lawsuit comes two days after the White House announced President Donald Trump authorized sending 300 members of the Illinois National Guard to Chicago to “protect federal officers and assets,” reprising a strategy he first used against anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protests in Los Angeles and Washington, DC.

    News of the deployment was condemned by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who said he refused to call up the National Guard after the Trump administration demanded he do so. On Sunday – after learning the administration also planned to send 400 members of the Texas National Guard to Illinois and Oregon, among other places – Pritzker likened the move to an “invasion.”

    The lawsuit asks the court to order the administration to stop federalizing or deploying any National Guard troops to Illinois, and to declare the federalization of National Guard troops more broadly as unlawful. Trump, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are among the defendants named.

    In a statement, a White House spokesperson said the president “will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities.”

    “Amidst ongoing violent riots and lawlessness, that local leaders like Pritzker have refused to step in to quell, President Trump has exercised his lawful authority to protect federal officers and assets,” spokesperson Abigail Jackson told CNN.

    The complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, argued the deployments are politically motivated, claiming Trump has a long history of making “threatening and derogatory” comments about Chicago and the state of Illinois, dating to at least 2013.

    Among other examples, it calls out a September 6 social media post by Trump in which he said Chicago would “find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” referring to the president’s rebranded name for the Pentagon.

    Illinois and Chicago have already seen a “surge” of federal agents, some of whom have responded to demonstrations at an ICE facility in Broadview, near Chicago, the lawsuit says. Those protests are a “flimsy pretext” to deploy National Guardsmen to the state, the lawsuit says.

    Instead, “Defendants’ provocative and arbitrary actions have threatened to undermine public safety by inciting a public outcry,” the lawsuit says, because local and state law enforcement have been sent to “maintain the peace” in Broadview while ICE continues operating the facility.

    “There is no legal or factual justification” for the National Guard federalization order, the lawsuit says.

    Illinois’ complaint follows a similar challenge to the administration’s move to assign federalized guard troops from Oregon and California to Portland.

    Officials in both states had objected, and a Trump-appointed federal judge on Sunday temporarily blocked the deployment of National Guard from anywhere in the US to Portland.

    The president, the judge said, appeared to have “exceeded his constitutional authority” by federalizing troops, because protests in Portland “did not pose a ‘danger of rebellion.’”

    This story has been updated with additional information.

    We’ve moved to Live Updates for coverage of this developing story. Follow the latest here.

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    Dakin Andone and CNN

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  • Federal immigration operations ramping up in Chicago and Boston as other sanctuary cities are on alert

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    (CNN) — Immigration enforcement operations are ramping up in Chicago and Boston, marking the latest escalation between the Trump administration and Democratic-led cities that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

    The Department of Homeland Security on Monday announced “Operation Midway Blitz” aimed at targeting “criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois because they knew Governor (JB) Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets.”

    The heightened rhetoric from President Donald Trump and his top officials aligns with how the White House plans to push forward its aggressive agenda aimed at undocumented immigrants. Ongoing arrests in Chicago are expected to expand as a federal presence builds up in a weeks-long, phased approach, according to officials familiar with the plans who stressed it’s still in flux.

    Operations in Boston and Chicago are modeled after the June immigration sweeps in Los Angeles that the Supreme Court ruled Monday can continue under certain circumstances. The Homeland Security official charged with immigration operations in Los Angeles, Gregory Bovino, was deployed to Chicago to do the same there, officials told CNN, with one describing Chicago as “Los Angeles on the road.”

    The escalating actions also follow a massive raid last week at a Hyundai plant in Georgia that, while not in a sanctuary city, previews forthcoming worksite operations, border czar Tom Homan told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday.

    “You can expect action in most sanctuary cities across the country,” Homan said, decrying as “problem areas” the next targets of the sweeping nationwide immigration enforcement agenda that helped propel Trump to a second term but Americans largely oppose.

    In tandem with those moves, more Democratic-led cities also are bracing for the Trump administration to decide — “over the next day or two,” the president said Sunday — where to further deploy National Guard troops to crack down on violent crime, a purported problem the White House sometimes has linked with immigration.

    This image from video provided by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement shows a person being handcuffed at the Hyundai Motor Group’s electric vehicle plant in Ellabell, Georgia, on Thursday. Credit: Corey Bullard / AP via CNN Newsource

    The Department of Homeland Security on Sunday blamed Boston Mayor Michelle Wu for sanctuary polices that “not only attract and harbor criminals but also place these public safety threats above the interests of law-abiding American citizens.” Crossing the border or overstaying a visa and being undocumented in the United States generally is a civil infraction, not a criminal one.

    Calling up the National Guard is “always on the table” for Chicago, Homan told CNN, even after a federal judge last week ruled Trump broke federal law by using the US military to help with law enforcement activities in and around Los Angeles — while use of the guard in Washington, DC, is unlike anywhere else.

    “We used them in Los Angeles, and we use them in Washington, DC,” Homan said. “They’re a force multiplier.”

    Sen. Dick Durbin, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, said in a statement Monday that such enforcement won’t make people feel safer.

    “They are a waste of money, stoke fear, and represent another failed attempt at a distraction,” he said.

    Cities push back against Trump threats

    In Washington, DC, where more than 2,200 armed National Guard troops have roamed for weeks, officials are suing the Trump administration, accusing the president of violating the Constitution and federal law by sending soldiers into the city without consent from local leaders.

    The lawsuit, filed Thursday by DC’s attorney general, claims the troops — many from out of state — have been deputized by the US Marshals office and are patrolling neighborhoods, conducting searches and making arrests, despite federal laws that generally bar the military from acting as local police.

    The Trump administration has touted its efforts in the capital city, pointing to a sharp drop in violent crime since ramping up federal law enforcement last month. But critics argue the National Guard deployment is unnecessary and costly, with taxpayers footing an estimated $1 million a day, while troops take photos with tourists, pick up trash and lay mulch.

    Members of the National Guard patrol inside the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, DC, on August 28. Credit: Win McNamee / Getty Images via CNN Newsource

    Trump has also repeatedly slammed nearby Baltimore for its crime, calling the city a “hellhole” and suggesting the National Guard could be deployed there next.

    “We don’t need an occupation,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott told CNN’s Manu Raju on Sunday. Scott said he’d explore all options when asked whether he would sign an order like Chicago’s that tells local police not to cooperate with federal law enforcement should they be deployed.

    On Sunday evening, Trump told reporters Chicago is a “very dangerous place,” adding to anticipation of troops there. The president said he could “solve Chicago very quickly,” but stopped short of committing to deploy the guard.

    The next morning, he lashed out at Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, questioning the Democrat’s supposed aversion to federal intervention: “WHY??? … Only the Criminals will be hurt” by any federal efforts, Trump wrote on his social media platform, adding crime is “ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE!!!”

    Pritzker denounced DHS operations in the state Monday, saying in a post on X that the operation “isn’t about fighting crime.”

    “That requires support and coordination — yet we’ve experienced nothing like that over the past several weeks,” he said, adding that the administration has chosen to focus “on scaring Illinoisians.”

    The governor’s office has still not recieved any “formal communication or information” from the Trump administration and that they are often learning of operations through social media, said Matt Hill, spokesperson for Pritzker.

    Seven people were killed in Chicago from Friday evening through Sunday, preliminary police figures show. At least six victims were men, ages 21 to 42.

    Still, fatal shootings in the city are down 34.2% this year through September 6 compared with the same period in 2024, with 237 killed in 2025, mayor’s office data shows.

    The Windy City has prepared for more than a week for looming National Guard deployments and Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, from the governor bracing for a court fight to parade planners postponing.

    Fears gripped Chicago over the weekend

    On the Lower West Side of Chicago, the start of Mexican Independence Day celebrations typically marks a raucous weekend of parties and parades drawing hundreds of thousands of attendees. While some crowds did gather Saturday waving green, white and red flags in the predominantly Latino Pilsen neighborhood, an undercurrent of caution persisted.

    As costumed performers and children with baskets of treats paraded through the community, bright orange whistles swung from their necks, each one ready to cut through the music should federal immigration agents appear.

    Keilina Zamora prepares to participate in the Mexican Independence Day parade in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood on Saturday. Credit: Scott Olson / Getty Images via CNN Newsource
    People watch the Mexican Independence Day parade in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood on Saturday. Credit: Scott Olson / Getty Images via CNN Newsource

    Elsewhere, celebrations were muted.

    In Wauconda, a village northwest of Chicago, the annual Latino Heritage Festival was canceled due in part to “immigration concerns in our area,” the Wauconda Police Department said in a Friday social media post.

    One of the largest events of the Fiestas Patrias, the parade for the Mexican Independence Day in Waukegan, has been postponed for the first time in its 30-year history to November 1 from September 14. The festival is celebrated every year in the suburb along Lake Michigan just north of the Great Lakes naval base, the facility Gov. JB Pritzker said Trump is set to use as a command center for incoming immigration agents.

    Communities throughout the nation’s third-largest city are preparing for ICE presence by handing out flyers reminding families they have the right in the face of immigration enforcement to remain silent and don’t have to consent to be searched or share their birthplace or citizenship status, among other rights.

    In Pilsen, neighbors gathered this weekend to celebrate Latino culture, choosing joy despite fear: “I think now more than ever is when we need to demonstrate that we are united and we are a community,” longtime resident Araceli Lucio said.

    CNN’s Kit Maher, Alison Main, Samantha Waldenberg, Lily Hautau, Chris Boyette and Gabe Cohen contributed to this report.

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    Priscilla Alvarez, Danya Gainor and CNN

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  • Supreme Court allows Trump to continue ‘roving’ ICE patrols in California

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    (CNN) — The Supreme Court on Monday backed President Donald Trump’s push to allow immigration enforcement officials to continue what critics describe as “roving patrols” in Southern California that lower courts said likely violated the Fourth Amendment.

    The court did not offer an explanation for its decision, which came over a sharp dissent from the three liberal justices.

    At issue were a series of incidents in which masked and heavily armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents pulled aside people who identify as Latino – including some US citizens – around Los Angeles to interrogate them about their immigration status. Lower courts found that ICE likely had not established the “reasonable suspicion” required to justify those stops.

    The decision deals with seven counties in Southern California, but it has landed during a broader crackdown on immigration by the Trump administration – and officials are likely to read it as a tacit approval of similar practices elsewhere.

    “This is a win for the safety of Californians and the rule of law,” said Tricia McLaughlin, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson. “DHS law enforcement will not be slowed down and will continue to arrest and remove the murderers, rapists, gang members, and other criminal illegal aliens.”

    A US District Court in July ordered the Department of Homeland Security to discontinue the practice if the stops were based largely on a person’s apparent ethnicity, language or their presence at a particular location, such as a farm or bus stop. The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals largely upheld that decision, which applied only to seven California counties.

    But the Supreme Court disagreed with that approach. Though the court did not provide any analysis explaining its decision, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a member of the conservative wing who sided with Trump, wrote in a concurrence that the factors the agents were considering “taken together can constitute at least reasonable suspicion of illegal presence in the United States.”

    “To be clear, apparent ethnicity alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion; under this court’s case law regarding immigration stops, however, it can be a ‘relevant factor’ when considered along with other salient factors,” Kavanaugh wrote.

    “Importantly,” Kavanaugh added, “reasonable suspicion means only that immigration officers may briefly stop the individual and inquire about immigration status.”

    ‘Freedoms are lost,’ Sotomayor warns

    The order drew a fiery dissent from Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic justice to serve on the Supreme Court.

    “We should not have to live in a country where the government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, and appears to work a low wage job,” Sotomayor wrote in a dissent joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. “Rather than stand idly by while our constitutional freedoms are lost, I dissent.”

    Sotomayor wrote in her dissent that the “on-the-ground reality” of immigration arrests cuts against the federal government’s fears that a court ruling could chill authorities’ ability to detain and deport undocumented migrants.

    “The evidence in this case, however, reveals that the government is likely to continue relying solely on those four factors because that is what agents are currently authorized and instructed to do,” Sotomayor wrote.

    Since a district court issued a ruling temporarily barring interrogations and arrests based only on a person’s apparent ethnicity, language or their presence at a particular location, members of the Trump administration have made clear they intend to proceed with their agenda as planned, the justice said.

    Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “has called the District Judge an ‘idiot’ and vowed that ‘none of [the government’s] operations are going to change,’” Sotomayor wrote. “The CBP Chief Patrol Agent in the Central District has stated that his division will ‘turn and burn’ and ‘go even harder now,’ and has posted videos on social media touting his agents’ continued efforts ‘[c]hasing, cuffing, [and] deporting’ people at car washes.”

    Referring to Kavanaugh’s concurrence, Sotomayor said that ICE agents aren’t just conducting brief or routine traffic stops. They are seizing both undocumented immigrants and US citizens “using firearms, physical violence, and warehouse detentions.”

    The case was the latest of nearly two dozen emergency appeals the administration has filed at the Supreme Court since Trump began his second term in January. Many of those have dealt with Trump’s immigration policies.

    US District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong, in her earlier ruling siding against Trump in the case, said the administration was attempting to convince the court “in the face of a mountain of evidence” that none of the plaintiffs’ claims were true.

    Frimpong, appointed by President Joe Biden, said in her ruling that the court needed to decide whether the plaintiffs could prove the Trump administration “is indeed conducting roving patrols without reasonable suspicion and denying access to lawyers.”

    The American Civil Liberties Union also condemned the ruling.

    “Today’s Supreme Court order puts people at grave risk, allowing federal agents in Southern California to target individuals because of their race, how they speak, the jobs they work, or just being at a bus stop or the car wash when ICE agents decide to raid a place,” said Cecillia Wang, national legal director of the ACLU, which was part of the legal team challenging the stops.

    “For anyone perceived as Latino by an ICE agent,” she added, “this means living in a fearful ‘papers please’ regime, with risks of violent ICE arrests and detention.”

    Kavanaugh wades into immigration

    Kavanaugh used his 10-page concurrence to launch into a broader discussion about the debate around illegal immigration.

    “To be sure, I recognize and fully appreciate that many (not all, but many) illegal immigrants come to the United States to escape poverty and the lack of freedom and opportunities in their home countries,” he wrote.

    “But the fact remains that, under the laws passed by Congress and the president, they are acting illegally by remaining in the United States – at least unless Congress and the president choose some other legislative approach to legalize some or all of those individuals now illegally present in the country,” he added.

    Sotomayor leaned into a growing criticism around how the Supreme Court has handled high-profile emergency cases dealing with Trump: That it has offered no explanation. The court itself offered only a single paragraph of boilerplate language in siding with Trump.

    The sometimes-terse orders have been a topic of discussion for several justices who have appeared at events over the summer. Kagan said earlier this year that she thought the court could often provide further explanation in its emergency decisions. But Kavanaugh and others have noted that the court is sometimes hesitant to signal which way it’s leaning in a case.

    “The court’s order is troubling for another reason: It is entirely unexplained,” Sotomayor wrote. “In the last eight months, this court’s appetite to circumvent the ordinary appellate process and weigh in on important issues has grown exponentially.”

    CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez contributed to this report.

    This story has been updated with additional information.

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    John Fritze, Hannah Rabinowitz and CNN

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  • Trump says Chicago ‘will find out why it’s called the Department of WAR’ ahead of planned crackdown

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    (CNN) — President Donald Trump posted a meme on social media Saturday saying that Chicago “will find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” as the city’s officials brace for an immigration crackdown.

    “I love the smell of deportations in the morning … Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” the post reads. Trump signed an executive order Friday to rebrand the Pentagon as the “Department of War.”

    The post includes what appears to be an artificially generated image of the president wearing a hat and sunglasses, with the Chicago skyline in the background, accompanied by text reading “Chipocalypse Now.”

    Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Saturday called Trump’s post “not normal.”

    “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,” Pritzker wrote on X. “Donald Trump isn’t a strongman, he’s a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.”

    It comes as Trump has ramped up his rhetoric against the country’s third most-populous city. CNN previously reported the Trump administration’s plans to conduct a major immigration enforcement operation in Chicago, and that officials there were bracing for it to begin as early as Friday.

    In recent days, personnel from Immigration and Border Protection as well as Customs and Border Protection have begun trickling into the city, White House officials told CNN.

    The Trump administration has also reserved the right to call in the National Guard if there is a reaction to the operation that warrants it, the officials said. The Chicago operation is being modeled off of a similar operation carried out in Los Angeles in June. A judge ruled this week that the June deployment broke federal law prohibiting the military from law enforcement activity on US soil in most cases; the Trump administration has appealed.

    White House officials have made clear the Chicago immigration crackdown is distinct from the idea the president has floated to use federal law enforcement and National Guard troops to carry out a broader crime crackdown in the city, similar to the operation in Washington, DC.

    When asked by a reporter Tuesday about sending National Guard troops into the city, Trump said, “We’re going,” adding, “I didn’t say when. We’re going in.”

    Democratic officials who represent Chicago and Illinois also condemned Trump’s post Saturday.

    “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,” wrote Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on social media. “We must defend our democracy from this authoritarianism by protecting each other and protecting Chicago from Donald Trump.”

    Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth described Trump’s post on X as “Stolen valor at its worst,” writing, “Take off that Cavalry hat, you draft dodger. You didn’t earn the right to wear it.”

    CNN’s Alayna Treene contributed to this report.

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  • Kemp sending Georgia National Guard troops to join crackdown on D.C. crime

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    ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp announced Friday that he is sending 316 members of the Georgia National Guard to Washington, D.C., to support President Donald Trump’s use of troops to crack down on crime in the nation’s capital.

    The Georgia Guard contingent heading to Washington will include 300 soldiers and 16 support staff.

    “Georgia is proud to stand with the Trump administration in its mission to ensure the security and beauty of our nation’s capital,” Kemp said. “We share a commitment to upholding public safety and are grateful to these brave Guardsmen and women, for the families that support them, and for their dedication to service above self.

    “As they have demonstrated again and again, our Georgia Guard is well equipped to fulfill both this mission and its obligations to the people of our state.”

    With Kemp’s announcement, Georgia becomes the eighth state to deploy more than 2,200 Guardsmen from around the nation to provide a visible presence in support of local law enforcement in Washington. All eight are led by Republican governors.

    Trump issued an executive order last month declaring a crime emergency in the District of Columbia, which has prompted criticism from Democrats who argue violent crime rates are higher in other cities that have not drawn the president’s attention and that using the military to police U.S. civilians is illegal.

    “The uniform should never be used to intimidate and divide but to protect and serve,” said state Sen. Kenya Wicks, D-Fayetteville, one of several military veterans in the General Assembly who spoke out against the deployment Friday at a news conference inside the state Capitol. “Not only is it unconstitutional. It is a violation of the oath Guard members are sworn to uphold.”

    “This is not about public safety,” added state Rep. Eric Bell, D-Jonesboro. “It’s an erosion of American freedom.”

    Kemp said Friday that sending Georgia National Guard troops to Washington is a separate mission from his decision late last month to deploy about 75 soldiers and airmen to help support U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations across Georgia.

    The 300 Georgia Guard troops heading to Washington will relieve service members who have been stationed in the District of Columbia from the start of the mission. They are scheduled to mobilize by the middle of this month and will be on active duty in Washington shortly thereafter, barring any changes to the schedule that may arise.

    The 16 support staff personnel were sent earlier this week to Joint Base Anacostia-Boiling in Washington where they will work with other military personnel providing support for the broader mission. They are not expected to have any direct interaction with civilians.

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    Dave Williams and Capitol Beat News Service

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  • Chicago braces for federal immigration enforcement operation while Trump criticizes local officials

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    (CNN) — Officials in Chicago are bracing for a major federal immigration enforcement operation that could begin as soon as this week, with the city’s mayor signing an order over the weekend aimed at resisting the Trump administration’s planned crackdown.

    Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said Sunday such a move would be an “invasion” and that he has had no communication with the Trump administration about reported plans to send National Guard troops to Chicago.

    “No one in the administration – the president or anybody under him – has called anyone in my administration, or me. So, it’s clear that in secret they’re planning this – well, it’s an invasion with US troops, if they in fact do that,” Pritzker said Sunday.

    The operation is expected to kick off in Chicago by this Friday and could involve agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and potentially be backed by guard forces in a peacekeeping role, according to multiple sources familiar with the planning.

    “We’ve already had ongoing operations with ICE in Chicago and throughout Illinois and other states, making sure that we’re upholding our laws, but we do intend to add more resources to those operations,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.

    An immigration operation in the city would further escalate a clash between the White House and Democratic-led cities and comes as President Donald Trump and his aides have repeatedly slammed Chicago over policies that limit cooperation between local authorities and federal immigration enforcement.

    Asked about expanding these operations beyond Chicago, Noem said that the Trump administration has “not taken anything off the table,” and specifically named San Francisco and Boston in addition to Chicago. She suggested that Republican-led cities with crime problems were “absolutely” also being evaluated.

    Chicago has been preparing to try to resist Trump’s planned immigration crackdown with Mayor Brandon Johnson signing an executive order Saturday providing guidance and directives to the city’s agencies and law enforcement “in the midst of escalating threats from the federal government.”

    The mayor’s order “affirms” that Chicago police will not “collaborate with federal agents on joint law enforcement patrols, arrest operations, or other law enforcement duties including civil immigration enforcement.” It also “urges” federal law enforcement officers to use body cameras and refrain from wearing masks.

    Exterior view of the Illinois Army National Guard building, housing a recruiting office, on August 27, in Chicago. Credit: Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu/ / Getty Images via CNN Newsource

    “We may see militarized immigration enforcement. We may also see National Guard troops. We may even see active duty military and armed vehicles in our streets. We have not called for this. Our people have not asked for this, but nevertheless, we find ourselves having to respond to this,” Johnson said before signing the executive order on Saturday.

    White House officials have made clear that these immigration enforcement plans are distinct from the idea the president has floated over the past week to use federal law enforcement and National Guard troops to carry out a broader crime crackdown in Chicago, similar to the current surge in Washington, DC.

    Trump took to social media Monday morning with a post celebrating what he called a massive victory over crime in the nation’s capital and taking sharp aim at Democratic leaders across the country for refusing his floated plans for an aggressive federal anti-crime strategy in their states as well.

    He contrasted politicians who are resisting his plans with what he sees as a more welcoming stance from Washington DC’s leadership. In the Truth Social post, Trump said DC Mayor Muriel Bowser’s “statements and actions were positive, instead of others like Pritzker, Wes Moore, Newscum, and the 5% approval rated Mayor of Chicago, who spend all of their time trying to justify violent Crime, instead of working with us to completely ELIMINATE it.”

    Trump officials have been quick to criticize the Illinois governor and defend potential federal policing in the state by pointing to crime statistics.

    Noem pointed to homicide statistics in Chicago on Sunday in a dig to the governor, saying Pritzker “can talk about what a great job he’s doing as governor, but he’s failing these families. … This seems like it’s more about Gov. Pritzker’s ego now rather than actually protecting his people.”

    In a warning to Pritzker on Saturday, Trump told the governor to quickly “straighten” out crime in Chicago or the federal government will intervene.

    “Six people were killed, and 24 people were shot, in Chicago last weekend, and JB Pritzker, the weak and pathetic Governor of Illinois, just said that he doesn’t need help in preventing CRIME. He is CRAZY!!! He better straighten it out, FAST, or we’re coming!” Trump posted on Truth Social.

    At least 54 people were shot – seven of them fatally – in Chicago over the holiday weekend. Roughly 32 shootings have been reported since Friday at 10:32 p.m., with victims ranging in age from 14 to 48, according to incident notifications published by the Chicago Police Department.

    Meanwhile, the Chicago mayor’s office last week touted a 21.6% decrease in overall violent crime and a 32.3% decrease in homicides so far this year.

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  • Trump vows to “back the blue” as he accepts the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police

    Trump vows to “back the blue” as he accepts the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police

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    Photo by Carla Peay/The Atlanta Voice

    CHARLOTTE, NC — In a statement released by Patrick Yoes, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, the FOP membership voted to endorse Donald J. Trump for President of the United States. 

    “Public safety and border security will be important issues in the last months of this campaign,” Yoes said. “Our members carefully considered the positions of the candidates on the issues and there was no doubt—zero doubt—as to who they want as our President for the next four years: Donald J. Trump.” 

    As Trump took the stage at the Hilton Charlotte University Place hotel in Charlotte, NC to accept the endorsement, he was greeted by hugs from the local FOP members who shared the stage with him, and loud cheers from the assembled audience who began chanting his name.

    “As your president, I will always back the blue,” Trump began. The cheers and ovations continued as Trump promised that unlike ‘Comrade Kamala’, referring to Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, he would never advocate for defunding the police.

    “We have to gain back the power and respect that they deserve,” Trump said, referring to the law enforcement community, adding that he would give them the all the authority they need to “get rid of crime.”

    “America’s cities and towns and suburbs are under siege,” Trump continued, at which point the former President began to attack Harris’ record on crime.

    “Kamala Harris and the communist left are responsible for crime, misery and death. She is a threat to democracy.”

    Photo by Carla Peay/The Atlanta Voice

    During his speech, Trump touched on a myriad of issues, including local crime, homelessness, illegal immigration, police funding, gang infiltration and drug trafficking. He blamed Harris, along with the entire Biden administration, for all of the above. Using his trademark phrase from the television show “The Apprentice”, Trump drew the loudest ovation of the day by saying “Kamala, you’re fired.”

    “Mothers can’t take their kids to the park,” Trump continued. “There are mobs of criminals who have absolutely no fear of punishment. You can’t even go to a pharmacy without everything being locked up.” He then gave an example of how criminals are now walking into stores with calculators to determine how much they could steal – presumably to determine the difference between a misdemeanor and a felony.

    Addressing the problem of illegal immigration, Trump attacked Harris’ record as attorney general in California and her effectiveness, or lack thereof, as America’s “Border Czar.”

    “With her in charge, we have become a nation of fear and freeloading,” Trump stated. “We are being conquered. When I am president, we will take back every inch of land taken over by migrants.”

    Trump also promised to bring ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents to handle the illegal immigration problem, begin mass deportation efforts, and impose mandatory minimum sentences for crimes committed by gangs.

    “I will stop the invasion,” Trump continued, returning to his law and order theme. “I will seal the border. I will impose the death penalty for crimes committed by drug cartels and institute a Naval blockade.”

    As he closed out his speech, he promised a room full of FOP members that while he might overfund the police, but he would never defund the police.

    “When I am president, I will make America safe again.”

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    Carla Peay

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