Arrest warrant, fate: Behind the scenes of Trump’s dawn deportation operation

Arrest  warrant, fate: Behind the scenes of Trump's dawn deportation operation.

An immigration raid targeted hundreds  of people in Chicago  on Sunday, involving multiple agencies and  broadcast live on Dr.  Phil.
The beatings began before  dawn. Across Chicago, dozens of  officers lit up in the pre-dawn darkness. At  a home in the Hermosa neighborhood, they  knocked on the door,  shouting "Come  here" and "Please open the door." No one  answered. The same  thing happened in several  other locations, but by late  morning the team's fortunes had  changed. A 28-year-old Mexican man they were  looking for had just returned home in a silver  pickup truck after picking up  some tamales. As unmarked cars surrounded him,  officers stopped him and took him into custody  for possible deportation.
A former deportee with a criminal record that included assault, he was one of 260 people targeted in Sunday's immigration sweep, the first of its kind under the Trump administration.
The arrest was one of dozens  in a day that  marked an escalation  in President Donald Trump's  efforts to control immigration  into the  United States. The operation  was notable for its  scale, as a multi-agency effort, and  took on a showlike air, with  the media in tow and television personality Dr. Phil McGraw — better known as Dr. Phil — joining Trump's border  czar, Tom  Homan, to  broadcast the  action live.
Trump has  taken sweeping  action on immigration after  vowing to carry out the largest mass deportation in  U.S. history. He declared a national emergency at the southern border, ordering thousands of additional troops to  help with  law enforcement. Through executive  orders, he has cut off access to  asylum while indefinitely freezing the  U.S. refugee resettlement program and other humanitarian pathways, halting the arrival of tens of thousands of displaced  people.
ICE said in an X-rated article on Sunday that it  had made 956 arrests in the  United States, citing  one-day statistics. The Chicago raids  came amid growing resistance at home and abroad. Colombia  has blocked the arrival of  U.S. military planes  carrying deportees, prompting Trump to retaliate by imposing emergency  tariffs of 25% and sanctions on the Latin American nation.  In the United States, sanctuary cities like Chicago have said  they will limit their cooperation with ICE and  will abide by local  laws.
"We have to secure our border. We need to get rid of violent criminals, but we also need to protect  the people, at least residents of Illinois and across the  country, who are just doing what we hope immigrants will do," Illinois  Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in an interview with CNN on  Sunday. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)  agents and other  federal law enforcement  agencies hold a pre-enforcement  briefing in Chicago, Illinois,  U.S., Sunday, January 26, 2025
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a multi-agency targeted enforcement operation in Chicago, Illinois,  U.S., Sunday,  January 26,  2025. An ICE agent waits for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)  officers in a car during a  Targeted Enforcement Operation in Chicago, Illinois,  U.S., Sunday,  January 26,  2025. Putra waits in his vehicle in the early hours of  Sunday morning.
ICE has long  conducted similar arrest operations, targeting criminals and  people accused of posing a threat to public or national security. Sunday's  operations, however,  were notable for the number of  officers involved and the  involvement of  multiple law enforcement agencies,  including the Federal Bureau of Investigation,  the U.S. Drug Enforcement  Administration and  the U.S. Marshals  Service.
Assistant Attorney General Emil Bove was also in Chicago Sunday morning,  where he met with agents and Homan before the raids  began.
As the day  progressed, agents on the ground faced familiar challenges. Many immigrants  know that ICE agents  do not have  a warrant and  cannot enter a home without  one. Social media alerts and  verbal warnings also  encourage migrants to stay out of  sight.
"It usually only takes the first arrest  for the calls  to start," said Matthew Putra,  ICE's field director in St.  Louis. Paul, Minnesota, describing how Facebook posts and tweets often  alert communities. "Nobody  was moving, nobody  opened a door,  the lights  were off."
Putra said ICE expects the number of criminal  arrest warrants to increase as federal prosecutors begin accepting more cases.  Most of those warrants  are likely for illegal  reentry, he said.  As of Sunday, officers had seven  arrest warrants in  hand.
"This is  completely uncharted territory for us," Putra said of  the expanded warrant efforts. "It's been about five  days. We'll see how  it goes."
During a stop around noon Sunday, a passerby stopped on a busy  street to record  officers' cellphone calls from an apartment building as they searched for a Polish  citizen on their  arrest list. Despite the  hesitation, Putra said ICE  was determined to  complete its  mission. "We've always done this  work," Putra  said.

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