Donald Trump sending 200 cops into city, major raid

Donald Trump is reportedly planning mass deportations and a huge, week-long immigration raid within hours of taking over.

Incoming US President Donald Trump will launch a “large-scale immigration raid” in Chicago within hours of his inauguration, according to US media.

Citing “four people familiar with the planning” of the raid, The Wall Street Journal reports that Mr Trump will kick off his mass deportation campaign on Tuesday morning US time – a day after he officially takes over the top job.

The raid is expected to last all week, and up to 200 officers will be deployed to carry out the mission.

The drastic move comes after Mr Trump promised to kick off the biggest deportation program in US history during the election campaign.

“On Day One, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history to get the criminals out,” Mr Trump said during an October 2024 New York rally.

“I will rescue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered, and we will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail, then kick them the hell out of our country as fast as possible.”

Mr Trump will begin deportations on day one.

In fact, Mr Trump has long vowed to take action against illegal immigrants in the US, and will allegedly target those with criminal records – including minor offences such as driving infringements.

As far back as 2023, Mr Trump vowed to end “every open borders policy of the Biden administration” on the first day of his second term.

“I’ll also use Title 42 to end the child trafficking crisis by returning all trafficked children to their families and their home countries. We’ll do that immediately,” he said at the time.

Aerial view as migrants wait outside the regional office of the National Migration Institute to transit through Mexican territory on their way to the US in Tapachula, Chiapas state, Mexico on January 13, 2025. Picture: Alfredo Estrella/AFP

According to the WSJ, Mr Trump’s team “had been contemplating cities to target in a day-one operation as a way of making an example of so-called sanctuary cities, which adopt policies limiting co-operation with federal immigration authorities”.

Chicago was selected for two reasons – the high number of immigrant targets living there, as well as Mr Trump’s well-known stoush with mayor Brandon Johnson.

The raid will last all week.

According to the WSJ, Mr Trump’s border boss Tom Homan dropped unsubtle hints about the raid while visiting Chicago in December, proclaiming the city would be “ground zero” and that it would soon be filled with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents “looking for criminals and gang members”.

“We’re going to start right here in Chicago, Illinois,” Mr Homan reportedly said.

“And if the Chicago mayor doesn’t want to help, he can step aside.

“But if he impedes us, if he knowingly harbours or conceals an illegal alien, I will prosecute him.”

As US President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office next week with a vow to crack down hard on illegal migration, gangs are using threats and extortion to exploit those trying to arrive in time. Picture: Alfredo Estrella/AFP

According to CBS News, Chicago’s immigrant advocacy groups had been scrambling to warn undocumented migrants ahead of the likely raid.

“They were going to use Chicago as a model, an example of going after people, members of our community, the first couple days of this new administration,” Mary Meg McCarthy, executive director of the National Immigrant Justice Center, told the outlet.

It is understood other major US cities including New York, Los Angeles, Denver and Miami are also in the Trump administration’s firing line, with the Chicago raid simply “phase one” of his plan.

A sign with information for migrants is pictured in Ciudad Hidalgo, Chiapas state, Mexico on January 11, 2025. Picture: Alfredo Estrella/AFP

Immigration has been a huge issue in US of late, with debates over border security, asylum policies, and pathways to citizenship for undocumented immigrants taking centre stage again during the 2024 election campaign.

Since President Biden took office in January 2021, there have been over 7.2 million migrant encounters at the US-Mexico border and 1.5 million “gotaways”— individuals detected but not apprehended by authorities.

This has led to tensions in communities that have been inundated with migrants and Mr Trump has vowed to tackle the issue head-on.

He plans to launch a mass deportation operation targeting millions of immigrants living in the US illegally and with temporary protections.

There were roughly 11 million immigrants in the US illegally or with a temporary status at the start of 2022, a figure that some analysts say has increased to 13-14 million.

Originally published as Donald Trump sending 200 cops into city, major raid