ICE has announced it has launched “Operation Midway Blitz” targeting illegal immigrants in the Chicago area in honor of a Glenview woman who was killed in a hit-and-run crash that also left her Deerfield friend dead.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Operation Midway Blitz on Monday.
The ICE operation will target “criminal illegal aliens” who “flocked” to Chicago and Illinois, DHS said.
Hundreds of ICE agents are operating out of Naval Station Great Lakes in Lake County for the operation.
DHS said the illegal immigrants came to the area because they knew Governor JB Pritzker and “his sanctuary policies” would “protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets.”
The DHS said Pritzker’s sanctuary policies have led to “TdA gang members, rapists, kidnappers, and drug traffickers” being released onto Chicago’s streets.
The operation is in honor of Katie Abraham, who was killed in a drunk driving hit-and-run crash caused by a Guatemalan national who was in Illinois illegally.
“DHS is launching Operation Midway Blitz in honor of Katie Abraham who was killed in Illinois by a criminal illegal alien who should have never been in our country. This operation will target the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens in Chicago,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.
“For years, Governor Pritzker and his fellow sanctuary politicians released Tren de Aragua gang members, rapists, kidnappers, and drug traffickers on Chicago’s streets—putting American lives at risk and making Chicago a magnet for criminals,” McLaughlin said.
“President Trump and Secretary Noem have a clear message: no city is a safe haven for criminal illegal aliens. If you come to our country illegally and break our laws, we will hunt you down, arrest you, deport you, and you will never return,” she said.
Abraham, 20, of Glenview, and her friend, Chloe Polzin, 21, of Deerfield, died on January 19 after they were involved in a two-vehicle crash at University Avenue and Coler Avenue in Urbana.
The two were passengers in a Honda Civic that was stopped for a red traffic light when a Mitsubishi SUV, driven by Julio Cucul Bol, a 29-year-old Guatemalan citizen, was traveling in the same direction behind the Honda at a high rate of speed, police said.
The Mitsubishi struck the Honda, causing severe damage to both vehicles and injuries.
The Urbana Fire Department extricated the passengers in the Honda and provided life-saving measures.
A total of five occupants were in the Honda and all were transported to the hospital for their injuries.
Polzin and Abraham both died in the hospital. Abraham’s father said his daughter and Polzin were friends.
The two were at the University of Illinois visiting friends while on break from school.
Cucul Bol fled southbound on Coler Avenue on foot and was not located by officers.
Cucul Bol was charged with two counts of aggravated driving under the influence causing death, two counts of leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death and two counts of reckless homicide.
The U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force (GLRFTF), in conjunction with the USMS Northern District of Texas (N/TX) North Texas Fugitive Task Force (NTFTF), arrested Cucul Bol in Milford, Texas.
Police said the man was riding an El Expreso bus destined for Matamoros, Mexico.
The USMS said Cucul Bol had previously been deported once from the United States.