Chicago Officials Dispute Federal Claims of Impact on Crime Reduction
Chicago city officials are challenging recent assertions by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that federal operations contributed to a decline in crime within the city. While DHS has highlighted the results of “Operation Midway Blitz,” local leaders and police officials maintain the reduction is a result of long-term, collaborative efforts predating the federal initiative.
According to data cited by DHS in launching ”Operation Midway Blitz” in September 2025,the operation aimed to “target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois” due to the state’s sanctuary policies. Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons stated in october that over 3,000 arrests had been made during the operation,though he acknowledged a smaller number occurred within Chicago itself. The department claimed to be focusing on individuals accused of violent crimes, including “pedophiles, rapists, abusers, and armed robbers.” However, DHS and ICE have released limited details regarding the arrests, hindering independent verification of the alleged crimes and the total number of individuals apprehended.
Chicago officials strongly disagree with the implication that federal intervention played a significant role in improving public safety. “I didn’t see any federal agents at 4 a.m.responding to mass shootings or tender-age children being shot. I was out there with the Chicago Police Department and our partners in victim services and our teams,” stated a city representative. “I didn’t see them helping drive violence down, so you don’t get to put your name on the project at the end and act like you’ve been here.”
The city attributes the recent crime reduction to a sustained, two-and-a-half-year partnership between the Chicago Police Department, community violence intervention groups, and victim services organizations. CPD spokesperson Gatewood emphasized that meaningful progress requires years of dedicated work, stating, “It doesn’t. That’s just not the reality… You can have a media blitz [in that time] … but the work that we’ve done has been years in the making.” He also noted that CPD typically observes a seasonal decline in crime from September through November.
Concerns have also been raised about the way DHS presented crime statistics. Ed Yohnka, director of communications and public policy at the ACLU of Illinois, expressed skepticism, saying the lack of context and citation “raises a fundamental question about whether or not they can believe anything that the federal government says” and suggested the governance might be “concoct[ing] whatever narrative they need in order to justify their actions.”
Chicago Deputy Mayor for Immigrant, Migrant, and Refugee Rights Beatriz Ponce de Leon echoed this sentiment, stating definitively, “ICE has not made our city safer. They have caused fear, chaos, and confusion in our communities and they have put people in harm’s way. That’s not safety.”
City leaders maintain that the federal operations have fostered an atmosphere of fear within the community, rather than contributing to genuine public safety improvements.
