Local officials confirmed Sunday that DHS has closed its immigration enforcement command center at Naval Station Great Lakes in North Chicago as a surge of agents have left the area.
North Chicago Mayor Leon Rockingham said Sunday that he was “pleased to report” that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has left its command center at Naval Station Great Lakes in North Chicago.
The City of North Chicago was informed of the closure late Friday afternoon, according to North Chicago Chief of Staff Gregory Jackson.
The departure comes two months after DHS first secured the property to support “Operation Midway Blitz,” part of President Donald Trump’s escalation in deportation efforts.
The federal operation was targeting “criminal illegal aliens” who “flocked” to Chicago and Illinois, DHS previously said.
Hundreds of ICE agents were 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 was 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.
The temporary command center at Naval Station Great Lakes provided office space, parking spots and portable laundry units to the federal agents. It has also functioned as a training and storage facility.
DHS officials said last month that it planned to use the North Chicago command center through “at least December.”
The early departure ends weeks of “turmoil and disruption to daily life,” North Chicago officials said.
Rockingham and the city council said they wish to thank and acknowledge the “heroic efforts” of the entire North Chicago community, who worked together tirelessly to keep everyone safe and informed about the federal immigration agents’ actions in the community.
“The spirit of neighbor helping neighbor sustains all of us in times of need. WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER,” the city said in a statement.
DHS recently said there had been more than 3,000 arrests since the start of Operation Midway Blitz in September in the Chicagoland area.
U.S. Border Patrol agents, which were the primary immigration agents seen conducting arrests in the Lake County area in recent weeks, departed the state for North Carolina.