Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino confirmed on Monday that President Donald Trump’s administration has arrested roughly 3,000 illegal immigrants in Chicago and the surrounding area since the start of Operation Midway Blitz in September.
In early September, the Department of Homeland Security announced that the Trump administration was launching Operation Midway Blitz in honor of Katie Abraham, who was killed in a major car crash caused by a criminal illegal immigrant in Illinois. Bovino told ABC News that nearly 3,000 illegal immigrants have been arrested as part of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation.
USA Today reported that Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin noted on Monday that over “3,000 illegal aliens including rapists, murderers, and gang members,” have been arrested as part of Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago and the surrounding area.
READ MORE: Trump admin launches ‘Operation Midway Blitz’ in Chicago
ABC News reported that Bovino’s comment came ahead of the Border Patrol commander’s Tuesday appearance in federal court over the use of tear gas in Chicago. The outlet noted that the judge was expected to determine whether Bovino’s body camera was operational at the time the tear gas was used last week and whether he gave two audible warnings before deploying the tear gas against a crowd of protesters.
“When we utilize force in law enforcement, this is in law enforcement in general: As we use force, it’s the least amount of force necessary to effect an arrest or to effect the successful outcome of any given mission that we’re on,” Bovino told ABC News. “So, whether it’s the use of tear gas, or the use of hand techniques or any use of force by law enforcement, that’s that least amount of force necessary to positively effect the outcome of that mission. And that’s what we do here in Chicago.”
In a statement addressing the recent use of tear gas during Border Patrol operations in Chicago, McLaughlin said, “During the operations Border Patrol agents were surrounded and boxed in by a group of agitators. Federal law enforcement issued multiple lawful commands and verbal warnings, all of which were ignored. During the operation, two U.S. citizens were arrested for assaulting and impeding a federal officer. To safely clear the area after multiple warnings and the crowd continuing to advance on them, Border Patrol had to deploy crowd control measures.”
McLaughlin noted that federal officials are facing a “1000% increase in assaults” as they work to “arrest murderers, rapists, abusers, and gang members.”
