The Department of Homeland Security asked the Pentagon to accommodate roughly 250 federal agents and 140 vehicles at a military base in Illinois ahead of an expected increase in immigration roundups in the Chicago area, according to an internal government memo obtained by CBS News.
In a request for assistance to the Department of Defense, a top Homeland Security official indicated the Naval Station Great Lakes — the largest military base in Illinois and the Navy’s largest training station — would be used as a staging area to oversee “removal operations” in the metropolitan Chicago area targeting immigrants suspected of being in the U.S. illegally.
The memo called for portions of the naval station to be used by Homeland Security agents as a command post and tactical operations center, citing the infrastructure at the base and its location near a highway. It also requested storage for medical supplies and less lethal munitions.
The request was officially made last week, and Homeland Security personnel and equipment began arriving at the naval station earlier this week, a U.S. official familiar with the operation told CBS News. The naval station is located about 50 miles north of Chicago on Lake Michigan.
CBS News and other news outlets reported late last month the Trump administration had made internal preparations to soon mount a major immigration enforcement campaign in the Chicago area, mirroring the operations that triggered massive protests in Southern California earlier this year. Officials said the operations could start as early as Friday.
The internal memo said Homeland Security officials would need the base for 30 days, suggesting the immigration crackdown in Chicago could last for weeks.
It’s unclear where exactly in Chicago the immigration sweeps could take place, but the campaign is expected to be spearheaded by agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. CBP played a major role in the immigration roundups in the Los Angeles region earlier this year, dispatching agents to raid Home Depot parking lots, workplaces and other locations.
In a statement to CBS News, DHS said it will “go to wherever these criminal illegal aliens are — including Chicago, Boston, and other cities.”
“Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, nowhere is a safe haven for criminal illegal aliens,” the department said. “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.”
Representatives for the Department of Defense did not respond to requests for comment on DHS’ use of the Great Lakes naval station.
Before President Trump took office for a second time, the military’s role in supporting immigration enforcement was limited. Democratic and Republican administrations both deployed some troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, for example, to support Border Patrol agents.
But the second Trump administration has used the American military in unprecedented ways to assist its mass deportation efforts, deploying thousands of additional troops to the southern border, using military planes for deportations and tasking National Guard units with supporting ICE detention centers. It has also converted parts of military installations — including the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and Fort Bliss in Texas — into detention facilities for those awaiting deportation.
In June, Mr. Trump deployed thousands of National Guardsmen and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles, citing instances of violence in protests against immigration sweeps in the area. He directed the guardsmen and marines to protect federal buildings and agents.
The deployment of the California National Guard — against the wishes of Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat — was recently ruled illegal by a federal judge who said the Trump administration had “willfully” violated federal law generally prohibiting the use of the military for civilian law enforcement.
Mr. Trump also recently deployed National Guard soldiers and federal agents to Washington, D.C., as part of a crackdown on crime that has also involved immigration operations. D.C.’s attorney general this week filed a lawsuit challenging the deployment of those National Guard units, which originated from D.C. as well as some Republican-led states.
