Nearly 3,000 arrests made in Chicago since start of Operation Midway Blitz: Border Patrol

Border Control Cmdr. Greg Bovino said on Monday that nearly 3,000 people have been arrested in the Chicago area since the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown began in September.

Operation Midway Blitz was launched in early September, with the Department of Homeland Security announcing at the time, "DHS is launching Operation Midway Blitz in honor of Katie Abraham who was killed in a drunk driving hit-and-run car wreck caused by criminal illegal alien Julio Cucul-Bol in Illinois. This ICE operation will target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois because they knew Governor Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets. President Trump and Secretary Noem stand with the victims of illegal alien crime while Governor Pritzker stands with criminal illegal aliens."

Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a recent interview that she is launching the ICE Accountability Project, through which a "centralized archive of all the purported criminal actions of ICE and CBP agents" will be created. She said that the database would include identifying features such as height, weight, hair color, clothing details, and the cars they drive. "We have a right to compile that information and put together a profile of each of these agents that’s alleged to have committed crime."

She claimed that the effort "is not about doxing them, it’s not about putting them in danger, and I’m sure we’re going to hear that, but as residents of this city and the metropolitan area, we have a right to know who’s doing what in, supposedly in our name, but we believe they are committing crime and it needs to be investigated, and then let a grand jury, let the prosecutor make a determination."

Bovino’s comment to ABC News comes as he is set to appear in federal court on Tuesday in Chicago after tear gas was deployed over the weekend. A judge is set to look at whether Bovino had his body camera on and if he gave two audible warnings before deploying tear gas.

Bovino told ABC News, "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 affect an arrest or to affect the successful outcome of any given mission that we're on. 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 affect the outcome of that mission. And that's what we do here in Chicago."

The DHS said in a statement, "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."