There is only doubling down
There was no way the Trump-Miller axis was going to sit by after Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker challenged its “authoritah” earlier this week: If you hurt my people, nothing will stop me, not time or political circumstance, from making sure that you face justice under our constitutional rule of law.
Here we go. They’re coming to Chicago (NBC News):
Federal authorities plan to surge agents to Chicago starting next week to scale up operations to arrest unauthorized immigrants, two federal law enforcement officials told NBC News on Thursday.
The plans involve Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Border Patrol and other federal agencies, the officials said.
And then what? (WTTW):
Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling on Thursday said the Chicago Police Department was preparing for President Donald Trump to make good on his threats to send the National Guard and a strike team of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to Chicago.
Tom Homan, the former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Trump’s pick to serve as his “border czar,” told reporters at the White House that the Trump administration was considering using Naval Station Great Lakes, which is about 35 miles outside Chicago, to house federal immigration agents or National Guard troops who could be deployed in Chicago, confirming news first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.
If Trump federalizes the National Guard or sends additional ICE agents to the city, all Chicago police officers will be required to wear their uniforms so “they can be clearly identified,” Snelling said during a virtual news conference.
In addition, Chicago police officers will not be dispatched immediately to reported immigration enforcement operations, Snelling said.
But CPD will not interfere with the duties of National Guard troops or federal agents involved, Snelling added.
Is that a good thing or bad? Since masked, undertrained agents began carrying out Tom Homan’s and Kristi Noem’s thuggish sweeps of people who don’t look “American” enough, many victims have called local police to intervene in attempted kidnappings and ICE harassment.
Snelling responded that concern. WTTW reported that “undocumented Chicagoans and their families should not fear calling the Chicago police for help.”
Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago issued a blistering response to reports of the crackdown.
“This plan seems to be a rerun of their tactics in Los Angeles, where ICE agents were used as a pretext to justify further escalation by federal agents and National Guard troops,” he said in a statement. “We reject any attempts that put Chicagoans in danger as a means of furthering the president’s political ends.”
He said the city would “ensure that Chicagoans know their rights” and help families learn what to do if detained.
The plans for the operation also dovetail with Mr. Trump’s promise to take his crackdown on crime beyond Washington.
Except Trump’s aggression against blue cities is not about crime. Even countering that there are cities in red states with worse crime rates is having a debate on ground Trump sets. Don’t.
The historically unpopular Trump-Miller axis wants to expand and consolidate authoritarian control over more of the country before the 2026 elections can weaken its grip. Trump thinks crime is his ticket the way he thought scaremongering over migrant “caravans” would help him in 2018. (It didn’t.)
But the showman thinks National Guard in the streets and high-visibility arrests of undocumented immigrants … and harrassment of nonwhite legal residents … and naturalized U.S. citizens … will intimidate immigrants, tamp down protests, and further his aspirations to dictatorship and a third unconstitutional term. We cannot let that happen.
Trump has declared war on anyone and any state standing in the way of his thirst for power. He’s itching for a fight. He wants to provoke one that comes to bloodshed. Someone else’s, of course.
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