CHICAGO: The sight of armed, camouflaged and masked Border Patrol agents making arrests near famous downtown Chicago landmarks has amplified concerns about the Trump administration’s growing federal intervention across US cities.
As Illinois leaders warned Monday of a National Guard deployment, residents in the nation’s third-largest city met a brazen weekend escalation of immigration enforcement tactics with anger, fear and fresh claims of discrimination.
“It looks un-American,” said Chicago Alderman Brandon Reilly, who represents downtown on the City Council. He deemed the Sunday display a “photo opp” for President Donald Trump, echoing other leaders.
Memphis, Tennessee, and Portland, Oregon, also braced for a federal law enforcement surge. Meanwhile, Louisiana’s governor asked for a National Guard deployment to New Orleans and other cities.
Trump has called the expansion of federal immigration agents and National Guard troops into American cities necessary, blasting Democrats for crime and lax immigration policies. Following a crime crackdown in the District of Columbia and immigration enforcement in Los Angeles, he’s referred to Portland as “war-ravaged” and threatened apocalyptic force in Chicago.
“Whether it takes place here in the city or the suburbs, it’s all the same to us,” Border Patrol agent Gregory Bovino said in Chicago.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has issued a memo that also directs component agencies within the Justice Department, including the FBI, to help protect US Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, including in Chicago and Portland.
Here’s a snapshot of where things stand with federal law enforcement activity in Chicago, Portland, Memphis and New Orleans.
Chicago raises alarm about racial profiling
Many Chicagoans were already uneasy after an immigration crackdown began earlier this month. Agents have targeted immigrant-heavy and largely Latino areas.
Trump has waffled on sending the military, but Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker said Monday it appeared the federal government would deploy 100 troops. Pritzker said the Illinois National Guard received word that the Department of Homeland Security sent a memo to the Defense Department requesting troops to protect ICE personnel and facilities.
An immigration processing center outside Chicago has been the site of frequent protests and aggressive tactics by federal agents.
The enforcement recently escalated, with agents using boats on the Chicago River and marching Sunday on Michigan Avenue and in upscale neighborhoods.
Activists and elected leaders are concerned about discriminatory stops, particularly after the US Supreme Court lifted restrictions on roving patrols in LA. The court cleared the way for immigration agents to stop people based on race, language, job or location.
“ICE is running around the Loop, harassing people for not being white,” Pritzker said, describing the city’s core business district.
Activists said a Latino family of four was led away by federal agents Sunday near the popular “Cloud Gate” sculpture, commonly called “The Bean.” Construction workers and bicyclists were also targeted.
“The downtown operation of being racially profiled and kidnapped by immigration in broad daylight represents a major escalation by the Trump administration,” said Veronica Castro with Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
Bovino told The Associated Press that agents will go after “anyone who is here illegally,” an approach that fell under immigration authority, known as Title 8. He told the Chicago Sun-Times that a person’s appearance goes into the calculation.
“It would be agent experience, intelligence that indicates there’s illegal aliens in a particular place or location,” he told the newspaper. “Then, obviously, the particular characteristics of an individual, how they look.”
DHS did not return messages Monday.
Chicagoans trail Border Patrol
As Border Patrol agents marched near downtown, a few onlookers nodded in approval and shouted praise while a trail of activists and others urged agents to leave.
Shirley Zuniga was celebrating her 24th birthday when she saw agents. Still wearing a pink birthday sash, she left brunch to follow them.
Zuniga, among the first in her family of Honduran immigrants to be born in the United States, said she forgot all about her birthday plans as she yelled at the agents to go home.
“This is much more important to me,” she said as she grew emotional. “I’m celebrating my people.”
Portland goes to court
In Oregon, Democratic Attorney General Dan Rayfield filed a motion in federal court Monday seeking to temporarily block the Trump administration from deploying the National Guard.
The motion is part of a lawsuit Rayfield filed Sunday, after state leaders received a Defense Department memo that said 200 members of the state’s National Guard will be placed under federal control for 60 days to “protect Federal property, at locations where protests against these functions are occurring or are likely to occur.”
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson and Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek are among local leaders who object to the deployment.
“Putting our own military on our streets is an abuse of power and a disservice to our communities and our service members,” Rayfield said in a statement Monday.
The ICE building outside of Portland’s downtown has been the site of nightly protests that peaked in June, with smaller clashes occurring since then.
A larger crowd demonstrated at the building Sunday. Two people were arrested for assault, according to authorities. That followed a peaceful march earlier in the day that drew thousands to the city’s downtown and saw no arrests, police said.
Some residents are already frustrated.
The building manager of the affordable housing complex adjacent to the ICE building said “the impacts of violent tactics, including tear gas and late-night altercations, are traumatizing for residents,” including the veterans who live there.
“Sending federal troops will only escalate the situation. The last thing we need is an escalation,” Reach Community Development said in statement.
Meanwhile, federal agents on Monday searched a home associated with someone who allegedly aimed a laser at a US Customs and Border Protection helicopter as it flew over Portland on Saturday evening, the FBI said. Four people, who were found to be in the country illegally, were detained and placed under the custody of ICE, according to the FBI, which did not specify the charges they face.
Memphis residents worry
Memphis was in wait-and-see mode Monday, the first day of a planned federal law enforcement surge ordered by Trump to fight crime. There were no immediate reports of large-scale federal law enforcement operations.
Still some residents, including Latinos, expressed concerns that immigration agents will detain people regardless of immigration status.
“We know the presence of the National Guard will lead to our neighbors being afraid to seek help when they need medical care, need to report crimes, or require social services, because of this military presence,” said Sandra Pita, a community organizer.
The city has experienced high numbers of violent crimes such as carjackings and homicides in recent years, but both Democratic and Republican officials have noted that the majority-Black city is seeing decreases this year in some categories.
Louisiana’s governor asks for National Guard
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry on Monday asked for a National Guard deployment to New Orleans and other cities to help his state fight crime.
In a letter sent to to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Landry also praised the president’s decision to send troops to Washington and Memphis.
Landry said there has been “elevated violent crime rates” in Shreveport, Baton Rouge and New Orleans as well as shortages in local law enforcement.
But crime in some of the state’s biggest cities has actually decreased recently, with New Orleans, seeing a particularly steep drop in 2025 that has put it on pace to have its lowest number of killings in more than five decades.
