Chicago Mayor Johnson suggests ICE operations ruined city’s safest summer

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson faced harsh criticism from the Department of Homeland Security after suggesting a federal immigration operation would be conducted under Border Patrol Command. It disrupted what Gregory Bovino said was the safest summer the city has experienced in decades.

Johnson touts recent analysis that 2025 is Chicago’s safest summer for violent crime in 60 years. the city’s NPR affiliate It was determined that a total of 123 murders were committed between June and August last year.

University of Chicago Crime Lab It found that violent crime decreased across the country, including the city, through 2025, but still had high numbers compared to other major cities globally.

Johnson said last week that those numbers were accurate before DHS launched “Operation Midway Blitz” in the first week of September.

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Johnson said crime is on the rise again with the emergence of ICE and Border Patrol.

“Chicago had its safest summer since 1965, before Bovino walked into our city,” Johnson said. “Crime increased where ICE was most active.”

When asked for a response, DHS Deputy Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Johnson continues to “demonize our law enforcement agencies who are facing a 1,300% increase in attacks against them.”

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“Compared to jurisdictions like Florida, the danger and violence our law enforcement faces in sanctuary cities like Chicago is night and day,” he said after video emerged showing the immediate detention and arrest of a woman who allegedly interfered with a Jacksonville immigration enforcement operation.

McLaughlin stated that DHS has arrested more than 4,500 illegal immigrants with criminal records, and said, “We must reject this narrative and work with DHS to prevent the deaths of more innocent Americans at the hands of gang members, murderers, drug traffickers and rapists who have no right to be in this country.” many are violent; During operation Midway Blitz.

Johnson countered that the statistics and timing showed his administration had “reduced violence in Chicago despite ICE.”

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Johnson noted the case of Silverio Gonzalez, a Mexican national who was shot and killed by agents last year. An account by the Chicago Sun-Times reported that ICE found that Gonzalez allegedly resisted arrest and drove his car into officers, injuring someone.

Rep. Jesus Garcia, D-Ill., who represents the district, later called for a federal investigation.

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Johnson himself was responding to Bovino’s comments on X, while Bovino disputed the claim made by Obama confidant David Axelrod.

“In Chicago, the trail of misrepresentations by DHS was so long that an exasperated federal judge declared that ‘it had become difficult, if not impossible, to believe almost anything’ they presented as fact. This pattern continues in Minneapolis,” Axelrod wrote, citing and linking to a New York Times report about a man shot and wounded by a federal agent in Minneapolis just days after Renee Good’s death.

In response, Bovino said, “Double-digit declines in violent crime in Chicago reflect reality.”[e] after.”

“Clearing thousands of violent illegal aliens off the streets appears to offend those who choose illegal aliens over American citizens.”

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This comment prompted Johnson to cite violent crime figures between 1965 and 2025.

“Abolish ICE,” Johnson later wrote on Facebook, posting the content of his earlier comments.