centennial.

>> First off tonight, Homeland Security officials are announcing a new immigration operation in Illinois.

The agency says Operation Midway Blitz will target, quote, criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago.

The action comes after weeks of President Donald Trump promising to send ICE agents and possibly the National Guard to the city.

Here's the president earlier today.

>> I don't know why Chicago us and calling us saying, please, give us help.

When you have over just a short period of time, 50 murders and hundreds of people shot.

And then you have a government that stands up and says how crime is just fine.

It's a it's really crazy.

>> Joining us, our Congressman Jonathan Jackson, a Democrat representing parts of Chicago's South side and south suburbs, Congressman Jesus Chuy Garcia, a Democrat representing parts of Chicago's southwest side and southwest suburbs.

And Congresswoman Delia Ramirez, Democrat representing parts of Chicago's West Side.

We also invited the Republican Congress members from Illinois, but they either declined or did not reply.

We think the 3 of you for filling us in because I know there are votes happening as well.

Congresswoman Ramirez, I want to come to you first because this new operation Midway Blitz.

It is clearly aimed at Chicago.

Dhs says that it is targeting specific people, but it has I deed as, quote, gang members, drug traffickers rapists, sharing mugshots of these folks saying that they have been released back onto the streets of Illinois under Governor JB Pritzker's sanctuary policies.

What do you make of this new efforts from DHS?

think it's very clear for at what he's trying He's trying to stoke fear at every corner, every possibility.

>> And so he goes on in first pictures of people to be able to justify his tariff or shouldn't swarming.

just think about He's not talking about using us.

Yes, the department that's supposed to processing basis to create a police force that they're not going to be carrying guns to go after people.

This is not about safety.

It's about freaking everyone out putting people in such positions so they don't come out and protest or demand community safety.

Representative Jackson, the White House and DHS, they claim that 11 undocumented men have been released back into the city by local law enforcement despite having criminal records.

>> Who's responsible there?

Should ice be waiting outside of prisons and jails or should Cook County or the state communicate with ice since it sounds like Democrats and Republicans can agree that immigrants who commit crime should be deported.

>> Well, anyone the brakes on as a violent offender should be dealt with in a proper Minnesota.

We have public safety, Democrats, Republicans, we all agree on that when the president trying to target Chicago calling people illegal and talking about immigration.

We know that this is hi.

We know that even his facts that affects the wrong.

They want 50 people killed this past weekend with 54 shot and that number way too high.

It's not acceptable.

One person is shot one person is killed.

That's longer than what the people killed was to was a half a block from our house from my office where there were 2 of those mass shooting.

So we live in this violent.

We understand if the president wants to be helpful, he should coordinate with the governor with the mayor and also have the respect of the local police, 4th of the so that we can do do better and we need the aid that was already promised to the city that not retracted.

He cut the funding to enhance violence prevention.

>> Congressman Garcia also today, the Supreme Court in a 6 to 3 decision cleared the way for ICE agents to conduct sweeping immigration operation, saying that while ethnicity is not a reason on its own for reasonable suspicion, it is a quote, relevant factor when taken with other factors that ICE agents are considering to stop someone.

What is your reaction to that decision by the Supreme Court?

>> This is a radical departure by the highest court for decisions that have been made at the district level at the appellate level and as well.

This regarding all of the circumstances and whites, those decisions at the lower court level were made.

They the extent they basically given the green light to ice to continue to racially profile ethnically profile where people work where people live, where people are catching public transportation to profound them and then to interrogate them to handcuff them.

And then to 14th over the weekend, know of 13 people who are apprehended either in Chicago, mostly in the southwest side or suburban communities and they do fit the profile of the press release that was put out today by DHS.

There is an effort to paint.

Everyone has a criminal.

It is rooted in the false narrative that Donald Trump has been riding since he first declared for the presidency.

And right now they're picking on like the noles taking on the Mexican American community.

As we approach the celebration of annual Independence Day celebrations, this is to intimidate and to control.

>> The president has been threatening to send in the National Guard for some weeks now, but he hasn't confirmed when it would happen on the reports here locally are that there were 3 arrested by ICE over this weekend.

Representative Ramirez, what does this tell you?

This continued uncertainty about the deployment of troops to troops and ICE agents to Chicago.

>> Yeah, I mean, look, he is saying that he's in the from the National Guard today and he says he's going to fashion a Orleans.

He she uses a National Guard, as if they work indispensable were to be discarded in many ways.

But the reality is we do know that the broad view processing centers being prepared to expand immigration enforcement.

And we do is that they're preparing to send a substantial number of ICE agents more than they already have here to Chicago to continue this.

campaign of terror it has to be able to create a violent confrontation that feeds the vision and justifies their tactics.

And so I want to make sure that people understand The weather's a national guard's getting more agents here.

about creating fear for innocent families.

And that's why we have to continue to organize to make sure that people know their rights.

>> The president posted on truth Social over the weekend.

Of course, everybody.

A lot of people saw this referring to Chicago as, quote, Chi paca lips now saying, quote, I love the smell of deportations in the morning, Chicago about to find out why it's called the Department of War.

Trump has used this imagery in the past, of course, calling the city, quote, a hellhole, quote, a war zone.

Representative Jackson, what do you make of an American president referring to another American city that way?

>> Well, that's beneath the dignity of the office that was quite insulting and very disgusting.

This isn't a game.

This isn't a joke.

There are some people that might overstayed their their visas.

We can deal with and humane going away and there are other people, the violent criminals that we can have.

Law enforcement continue to enforce the law who should be focused on is 30,000 deaths from handguns across the United States every year we can clean up these guns across America.

America has a violence problem.

If he wants to be of whom I would also recommend he sends in the Center for Disease Control.

This violence ought to be called.

The disease is nationwide.

We know 8 of the 10 states that have the most per capita violins or a Republican state.

not polarize this racial lines he started with DUI with African-Americans and he went on to Hispanics, the Mexicans that he went on to Koreans the of the day and the Asian community.

This is the big heat, administration.

And we know that Secretary Hegseth is not qualified to be secretary of defense, secretary of war.

We need a peace on the war Department American citizens.

So you do have the Department of Homeland Security and it announced this operation Midway Blitz on X today in honor of a woman named Katie Abraham.

She was >> killed by an undocumented immigrant.

Here's a bit of what her family said.

>> Why do these people who break these laws who are not U.S. citizens deserve due process because again, got nothing.

She got that.

>> They these are not the productive folks we want to bring in the country.

You want to build a country on migrants?

Probably not the guy you want stand behind to to build.

>> To build a country.

>> Congressman Garcia backers of Trump's efforts say that's Chicago's sanctuary city laws.

It it prevents law enforcement from responding to victims of or incidents of violence that are carried out by people who are undocumented.

And there are folks who support President offering to send in the National Guard.

What do you say to those folks who believe that?

But there is a problem here.

People who've been victimized by crime and and think that more needs to be done here in that current policy isn't doing enough.

>> first of all, my heart goes out to the victim of incident that took all her life and to her and to her family.

Secondly, with respect the effort to try to justify the Sunday in of these agents or on the National Guard, if you want to fight crime, you have to collaborate.

You have to work with local law enforcement.

That would be Chicago police, other law enforcement in the state of Illinois and the people who have been driving the crime rate down Chicago for the past 2 plus years.

Those violence, prevention of violence, intervention workers.

That's why crime in Chicago to a great degree is going down is a post the pandemic era as wealth to trying to scapegoat a city because people in the vote for you don't like your policies is a terrible effort to try to intimidate to sow fear and yes, carry out an authoritarian move to have people succumb to every wish that you wish take, whether it violates the Constitution due process and the rule of law.

>> 30 seconds left, Representative Ramirez and I know you've got to go vote.

If the president were to send troops to Chicago, what if anything, can lawmakers in in Washington due to respond?

>> I have an amendment and the NBA now, amendment that prohibits president from using armed forces, including the National Guard to be able to do ice and Thorsten unless Congress authorizes I want that amendment to come to the floor and 41 struggle for it.

This is than National Guard's mission is not for this.

All right.

That's where we'll have to leave it.

Best of luck to all of you.

Representatives