One of the DOJ’s top dogs was on the ground in Chicago during deportation raids this weekend to look for possible interference by officials in the sanctuary city, a DOJ official tells The Post.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove traveled to the Windy City over the weekend after threatening to investigate and potentially prosecute sanctuary leaders who “obstruct” ICE operations.
ICE, alongside other federal agencies including the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), arrested illegal migrant criminals in pre-dawn raids Sunday, which were also observed by border czar Tom Homan.
The operation yielded 100 arrests. The feds only notified local cops of the general areas of their raids, Chicago Police Department Superintendent Larry Snelling said Tuesday.
Chicago’s sanctuary laws prohibits cops from arresting people because they’re in the country illegally, and blocks them from sharing information with feds about known illegal immigrants in most cases.
Bove previously issued a memo ordering federal prosecutors to investigate officials from sanctuary jurisdictions if they suspect interference with the deportation raids.
He recently formed the Sanctuary Cities Working Group that will “work on the ground to collect evidence” of possible violations of federal law by sanctuary cities — while also looking into federal funding for the cities, the DOJ official said.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has been defiant in the face of the Trump administration’s efforts to carry out deportations.
“Regardless of who is in the White House, Chicago is a city that opens its arms to people from around the globe,” Johnson told reporters Tuesday.
“We will continue to protect civil and human rights, and we welcome all individuals and families who want to work, live and thrive here in our beloved city,” he added.
Chicago first became a sanctuary city in 1985 and has since reaffirmed its status preventing local cops from cooperating with ICE through its “Welcoming City Ordinance.” Illinois became a sanctuary state in 2017.
“The Welcoming City Ordinance is a law, and it is the law of the land here in Chicago. We will uphold it, along with the complementary Illinois Trust Act to ensure that our immigrant communities are safe,” Johnson said.
Johnson, along with the mayors of New York City, Boston and Denver, is also being probed by the House Oversight Committee for implementing “misguided and obstructionist policies” that “hinder” ICE’s ability to remove criminal illegal migrants from the streets.
A spokesperson for Johnson’s office didn’t immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
In a recent interview with CNN, Homan criticized Chicago for its “well educated” illegal migrant population, which he said has been coached by aid organizations “on how to defy ICE, how to hide from ICE.”
“They call it know your rights. I call it how to escape from ICE,” said Homan.