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CHICAGO – Top Justice Department officials urged FBI staff in northeastern Illinois to stay focused on a major federal immigration enforcement operation this week, as persistent civil unrest and feuding politicians threaten to interfere with President Donald Trump’s crackdown on crime.
During a tour of the Chicago field office and an interview with Fox News Digital, FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche discussed “Operation Midway Blitz,” the federal effort facing fierce resistance from protesters and local leaders.
Speaking inside a command post the size of a large classroom, Blanche told personnel it had become “obvious” that Chicago is “for now, a kind of ground zero in an escalating assault on law enforcement.”
“I don’t say that to be to be flippant or to be political,” Blanche said. “I say that because what we were seeing is a tremendous effort, an organized effort, by domestic terrorists to actually injure and hurt folks in this room, the men and women on the streets that were just doing their jobs.”
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Patel reshapes bureau to ‘prioritize American citizens’
Patel and Blanche met with Illinois-based officials from several agencies, including the FBI; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and Drug Enforcement Administration. The agencies are supporting DHS, which launched Midway Blitz a month ago as part of the Trump administration’s national crackdown on illegal immigration.
Patel has faced criticism for lurching the FBI’s focus toward immigration, which is normally overseen by DHS, as former FBI officials raise concerns that valuable agents are being moved away from their areas of expertise in counterterrorism and national security.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., revealed this week 25% of agents were, in his words, “pulled from their jobs,” and reassigned to support DHS with immigration. Patel defended the shift.
“That’s a priority of this administration, not just to remove [illegal immigrants], but to prioritize American citizens over them, and also to prioritize safeguarding our neighborhoods for American citizens and everyone else that’s here lawfully,” Patel said. “And so the partnership is fantastic.”
Feds trace Chicago firearms in real time
The ATF, which also falls under the DOJ, handles guns recovered as part of Midway Blitz.
Jonathan Maniff, assistant special agent in charge at ATF Chicago, told Fox News Digital his team is test-firing “every single gun” law enforcement recovers during the operation.
Agents shoot the firearms in a small booth inside the ATF’s mobile command center, a one-of-a-kind bus currently stationed in Chicago.
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After test-firing the weapon, ATF agents enter the shell casings’ unique markings into a national database and get back any immediate matches to other casings and guns, quickly generating valuable leads for criminal investigators.
Pushback from Pritzker
Midway Blitz has not been without complications. Viral reports of ICE agents allegedly pelting a priest in the head, two controversial vehicle-ramming incidents and the detainment of U.S. citizen children are drawing scrutiny. DHS has defended its actions, disputing claims that ICE acted improperly.
Broadview Mayor Katrina Johnson imposed a curfew on protesters after skirmishes cropped up outside ICE’s holding facility in her suburb. Some demonstrators have been arrested there for allegedly pushing federal agents and blocking ICE vehicles, though grand juries have declined to indict them in some cases, according to local reports.
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Litigation has also clouded authorities’ work.
Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson accused the Trump administration of needlessly inciting chaos. Trump inflamed matters by calling for the pair to be jailed and describing Chicago as a “war zone.”
The Democratic leaders also brought lawsuits challenging Trump’s decision to deploy National Guard troops, about 500 of whom arrived in the Greater Chicago Area this week with the mission of guarding federal property and personnel.
One judge in Illinois has, for now, allowed the soldiers’ deployment, but litigation remains pending.
“The rhetoric that’s coming out of local politicians, from the mayor, from the governor, is completely misguided compared to the reality on the streets, and you see mass numbers of domestic terrorists,” Blanche said. “They are not protesters. They are not exercising their freedom of speech when they band together to ram cars, when they band together to block in law enforcement officers. Many of them are armed.”
It’s “laughable,” Blanche said.
“They have access to the same TV that I have access to, and of course, we need the National Guard,” Blanche said.
A separate judge this week found ICE violated a years-old consent decree by conducting warrantless arrests of immigrants. The judge ordered authorities to correct the arrests and extended the agreement until February 2026.
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