A Chicago suburb has warned its residents that federal immigration agents may be present in the coming days as the Trump administration continues to threaten a national guard deployment and an immigration enforcement crackdown in Chicago. The city of Evanston issued a statement urging residents to report sightings of federal agents after local officials were informed that there was a high likelihood of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in the area. Within hours of this statement, Trump repeated his desire to send federal enforcement and National Guard troops to “straighten” Chicago out. According to The Guardian, the Trump-led Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said this was “launching Operation Midway Blitz”. The operation invokes a term associated with intense, sudden military attacks waged by the Nazis during World War II. It was named in honor of an Illinois woman, Katie Abraham, who was “killed in a drunk driving hit-and-run car wreck caused by criminal illegal alien Julio Cucul-Bol in Illinois.” Trump’s use of Nazi mission names plays right into the ICE-Gestapo similarities The DHS post claimed the operation would target those who “flocked” to Chicago. The woman, Lucy Campbell, was killed in the January drunk-driving crash alongside a 21-year-old woman named Chloe Polzin. Evanston’s mayor, Daniel Biss, told the local outlet Evanston Now that the governor’s office provided him with information suggesting that ICE agents could be deployed there “in the coming days”. The statement from Evanston’s mayor read, “In Evanston, we welcome our immigrant and refugee neighbors and protect each other. We will do all we can to safeguard our community and keep Evanston families together.” DHS is launching Operation Midway Blitz in honor of Katie Abraham who was killed in a drunk driving hit-and-run car wreck caused by criminal illegal alien Julio Cucul-Bol in Illinois.This ICE operation will target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois… pic.twitter.com/OjbgtTE1Au— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) September 8, 2025 The statement also encouraged community members to know their rights and noted that local police officers would continue to wear clearly marked uniforms to distinguish themselves from federal agents. This is the latest indication that federal intervention in Illinois is imminent. Last week, an advance team of at least 30 agents was reportedly undergoing crowd-control training at Naval Station Great Lakes, just north of Chicago. The Chicago Sun-Times also reported that 230 agents, most of whom work for Customs and Border Protection, were being sent to Chicago from Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker expressed concern that ICE agents would target Mexican Independence Day events in the middle of September. In fact, the El Grito Chicago Mexican Independence Day festival was postponed due to these concerns. Trump has repeatedly suggested he wants to deploy the National Guard to Chicago over what he has called a “national crime emergency”. This is even though violent crime in Chicago is at its lowest in decades, similar to Washington, D.C.. Calling Chicago a “hellhole”, Trump has boasted: “We’re going in. I didn’t say when, but we’re going in”. He has also verbally attacked Pritzker, saying that the governor was reckless for not asking for the president’s help. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he wants to “help the people of Chicago, not hurt them,” but derided the Democratic leaders, saying “the city and state have not been able to do the job”. Trump insisted that “People of Illinois should band together and DEMAND PROTECTION. IT IS ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE!!! ACT NOW, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!!!”.