Category: illinois
BACK ON THE STREETS: Illinois Cuts Loose Criminal Illegals, ICE Says Public Safety on the Line
This is a dangerous game, Illinois is playing.
Illinois, Gov. Pritzker have released almost 1,800 violent illegal aliens back onto the streets in defiance of ICE, DHS says
Sanctuary politicians have apparently been ignoring orders from Immigration and Customs Enforcement for months, effectively allowing criminal illegal aliens to be released back onto the streets — and the Department of Homeland Security is not happy about it.
The DHS reported on Monday in a press release that Democrat politicians have repeatedly defied ICE by ignoring arrest detainers.
‘We are calling on Governor Pritzker and his administration to stop this dangerous derangement and commit to honoring the ICE arrest detainers of the more than 4,000 criminal illegal aliens in Illinois’ custody.’
The press release singled out Illinois and Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker, one of the most vocal political opponents of ICE operations under President Trump.
The press release stated that 1,768 criminal illegal aliens have been released in Illinois alone since January 20, 2025.
RELATED: Sec. Noem fires back after Gov. Pritzker begs to pause ICE and CBP operations for Halloween
Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
The crimes committed by these illegal aliens include homicide, assault, burglary, robbery, dangerous drug offenses, weapons offenses, and sexual offenses, according to the press release.
There are currently 4,015 aliens in Illinois’ custody, the majority of whom have committed crimes such as those listed above.
“Governor Pritzker and his fellow Illinois sanctuary politicians are releasing murderers, pedophiles, and kidnappers back into our neighborhoods and putting American lives at risk,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.
“We are calling on Governor Pritzker and his administration to stop this dangerous derangement and commit to honoring the ICE arrest detainers of the more than 4,000 criminal illegal aliens in Illinois’ custody,” McLaughlin continued. “It is common sense. Criminal illegal aliens should not be released back onto our streets to terrorize more innocent Americans.”
In September, ICE demanded that leaders in sanctuary states like California, New York, and Illinois cooperate with the federal agency to keep criminals off the streets.
ICE also warned these states that it would “engage with the Department of Justice and other federal partners to pursue all appropriate measures to end their inadvisable and irresponsible obstruction of the apprehension and removal of criminal illegal aliens.”
Previously, Illinois and New York sent ICE responses that “underscored their refusal to honor ICE detainers.” California did not respond, according to ICE.
According to its website, ICE issues immigration detainers to law enforcement to ask them to hold suspects for up to 48 hours longer than their scheduled release.
ICE issues these arrest detainers after it has already established probable cause that suspects are removable, usually on account of convictions for other crimes such as homicide, sexual assault, burglaries and robberies, and drug and human trafficking.
ICE makes it clear that honoring arrest detainers helps guarantee safety for both the public and law enforcement officers: “When jails, prisons, or other confinement facilities agree to honor immigration detainers, ICE officers can take custody of removable aliens in a safe, controlled environment instead of at-large in the community.”
DHS’ Monday press release included nine mug shots of the “worst of the worst” criminals who had previously been released in Illinois after their detainer requests were ignored by state officials.
The criminal illegal aliens either are now in ICE custody or have been removed from the United States.
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Repeat offender allegedly strikes again — this time beating up female doctor in hospital parking garage in unprovoked attack
A rampant repeat offender who reportedly was arrested a dozen times this year alone is accused of beating up a female doctor in a Chicago hospital parking garage elevator in an unprovoked attack.
According to a Sunday CWB Chicago report, prosecutors said 39-year-old Sean Popps followed a 42-year-old cardiologist into the elevator in the parking garage at Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Streeterville campus just after 1:30 p.m. Nov. 2 and began repeatedly punching her in the head as she stumbled backward and covered her face with her hands.
Popps also was arrested seven times in 2024, again in almost every case mostly on or near the hospital grounds, the outlet said.
A Chicago police report said the victim suffered multiple bruises, scrapes, and hematomas to her face, head, arm, and hand, the outlet reported.
What’s more, officials said she had no prior contact with Popps and that the attack was completely unprovoked, according to CWB Chicago.
More from the outlet:
A Northwestern security officer instantly recognized Popps from surveillance video, citing “approximately 30 plus prior incidents at the hospital where [Popps] had to be removed,” a detention petition stated. Another Northwestern officer reported having “incidents with [Popps] approximately two times a day over the last 19 months.”
At the time of the attack, Popps was on pretrial release for allegedly trespassing at a Streeterville residential building in October and attempting to escape from the police station lockup afterward.
Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images
CWB Chicago reported that police have arrested Popps a dozen times this year — and in almost every case for allegedly trespassing or damaging property on or near the hospital.
Popps also was arrested seven times in 2024, again in almost every case mostly on or near the hospital grounds, the outlet said. He also was arrested at the hospital two times in 2020, twice in 2021, once in 2022, and once in 2023, CWB Chicago added.
Judge Anthony Calabrese ordered Popps detained on a charge of aggravated battery in a public place, the outlet said. Jail records indicate his next court date is Dec. 30 and he has no bond.
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Anti-ICE mob turns hostile, breaching barriers outside detention facility — several officers injured
An anti-immigration enforcement protest outside an ICE facility in Chicago resulted in multiple officer injuries and nearly a dozen arrests as some attempted to breach security barriers, according to local reports.
Leftist protesters have been regularly gathering outside the ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois, since the Trump administration launched its immigration crackdown, Operation Midway Blitz.
‘Womp womp, cry all you want. These criminal illegal aliens aren’t getting released.’
On Friday, activists once again demonstrated outside the facility, protesting against ICE’s enforcement efforts. Local reports indicated that this particular demonstration was more tense and volatile than those in recent weeks.
Local law enforcement officers worked to keep the road leading to the facility clear, confining protesters to designated areas. However, when some activists became violent and attempted to force their way into the street, officers began making arrests.
Videos captured by independent journalist Brendan Gutenschwager showed a line of Cook County sheriff’s deputies attempting to keep protesters off the road. Several skirmishes between officers and protesters broke out, resulting in multiple detainments.
Photo by Jamie Kelter Davis/Getty Images
“Who do you protect? Who do you serve?” the crowd chanted.
Twenty-one protesters were arrested and four officers were injured, WLS-TV reported on Friday morning. Of those injured, two were police officers, one a state trooper, and the other a Cook County sheriff’s deputy.
The local news outlet stated that Friday’s protest was the largest one in recent weeks, noting that counter-protesters were also present.
“I have repeatedly pleaded to protesters to raise their voices, not their fists. They have chosen their fists. These out-of-towners have chosen to brutalize police officers who have been protecting their free speech and protecting them against assaults by ICE agents. We will see them in court,” Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson stated.
RELATED: ‘He’s not that smart’: Homan lampoons Chicago mayor for pleading with UN to intervene against ICE
Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images
Border czar Tom Homan reacted to the Broadview protest.
“I was watching the videos before I came out here. When they put hands on law enforcement officers, they’re getting arrested and going to jail,” Homan told White House reporters on Friday. “You have a right to protest, but don’t cross the line.”
The crowd was estimated to be roughly 200-300 protesters.
The Department of Homeland Security posted about the protest on X, writing, “Womp womp, cry all you want. These criminal illegal aliens aren’t getting released.”
“Like clockwork, violent rioters have arrived at the Broadview ICE facility to demand the release of some of the worst human beings on planet earth,” the DHS continued. “Get a job you imbecilic morons.”
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DHS blasts ‘ACTIVIST’ Biden judge’s order to cut loose hundreds of illegal aliens in Chicago, pause deportations
Despite the ongoing obstructionism by Chicago’s deeply unpopular mayor, Brandon Johnson (D), and other open-borders activists, federal immigration agents continue to risk life and limb with the aim of unburdening the crime-ridden sanctuary city of some of the roughly 150,000 illegal aliens who have sapped its resources, strained its systems, and endangered its people.
‘An ACTIVIST JUDGE is putting the lives of Americans directly at risk.’
A Biden judge decided on Wednesday to undo some of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s hard work, ordering the Trump administration to free hundreds of the illegal aliens recently apprehended in the Chicago area, including some of those captured during the Department of Homeland Security’s Operation Midway Blitz.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Blaze News in a statement. “At every turn, activist judges, sanctuary politicians, and violent rioters have actively tried to prevent our law enforcement officers from arresting and removing the worst of the worst.”
“Now an ACTIVIST JUDGE is putting the lives of Americans directly at risk by ordering 615 illegal aliens be released into the community,” added McLaughlin.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings, a Biden appointee, ruled last month that ICE had violated a 2022 consent decree settlement that barred federal immigration agents from conducting warrantless arrests unless they have cause to suspect an individual is both an illegal alien and a flight risk.
The settlement, which was the result of a lawsuit filed by the open-borders advocacy organization National Immigrant Justice Center and the ACLU of Illinois, was set to expire on May 12, 2025. However, the NIJC filed a motion to continue enforcing the settlement earlier this year after ICE made a series of warrantless illegal alien arrests.
RELATED: Federal judge wildly oversteps her bounds with Border Patrol commander in Chicago
Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images
Cummings, who previously claimed that NIJC’s pending motion kept the settlement alive, decided on Oct. 7 to extend the consent decree until Feb. 2, 2026, and ordered ICE to apply it to all agents nationwide.
On Wednesday, Cummings went even farther to appease the open-borders activists, ordering ICE to free 13 illegal aliens by Friday and to release another 615 illegal aliens on bond into a monitoring program by Nov. 21, unless the Trump administration appeals and/or demonstrates that the arrests were in keeping with the consent decree.
Lawyers for the government are considering an appeal, indicating that at least 12 of the 615 illegal aliens arrested in Chicago between June and early October are considered high flight risks, reported Axios.
The activist judge also ordered the Trump administration to pause deportation and voluntary departure procedures for all those illegal aliens who are pending release and to provide additional information concerning all arrests that have taken place since his October ruling.
Michelle Garcia, deputy legal director at the ACLU of Illinois, suggested that by committing to enforcing the consent decree, Cummings has set the stage for “even more of the hundreds of people illegally arrested and detained during Operation Midway Blitz to be released.”
Mark Fleming, associate director of litigation at NIJC, also celebrated Cummings’ apparent judicial activism, stating, “We are grateful that Judge Cummings sees the urgency of this moment and has ordered the Trump administration to allow hundreds to leave the inhumane detention centers where they are being unlawfully held and to have a chance at the due process our laws require.”
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‘He’s not that smart’: Homan lampoons Chicago mayor for pleading with UN to intervene against ICE
Brandon Johnson, Chicago’s Democratic mayor whose disapproval rating is over 60%, joined Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner and other American leftists in complaining to foreign bureaucrats on Friday about the Trump administration’s faithful enforcement of federal immigration law.
After detailing some of the ways that his “sanctuary city” has worked to undermine federal law enforcement initiatives, Johnson stressed to members of the United Nations Human Rights Council, “We cannot do this alone.”
The ‘United Nations is not going to tell President Trump what to do.’
“That is why I call on this council to hold the federal government of the United States to the same standards of accountability you apply elsewhere in the world,” said Johnson, whose city has seen at least 368 homicides already this year. “No country should be above international law. Human rights are universal or they are meaningless.”
When asked about Johnson’s request that foreigners meddle in American politics, White House border czar Tom Homan told “The Big Weekend Show” that it “just proves he’s not that smart.”
RELATED: Trump celebrates historic crime drop in hostile sanctuary city after federal ‘blitz’: DHS
Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images
“Asking the United Nations to, you know, interfere with ICE enforcing U.S. law is like asking an arsonist how to stop a fire,” said Homan. “The [International Organization for Migration], part of the U.N., helped fund the mass migration during the Biden administration’s four years, spending millions upon millions of dollars helping that … international migration coming to the United States.”
Homan underscored that the “United Nations is not going to tell President Trump what to do. President Trump was put into office on the promise of making this country safe again, on the promise of having the historic deportation operation — that’s exactly what America’s getting.”
‘We live with the consequences of that moral failure every day.’
The border czar noted that in addition to making Americans safer by giving the boot to criminal noncitizens and securing the border, the Trump administration’s clear messaging to would-be invaders that they’re not welcome has also saved the lives of thousands of migrants who might have joined the multitudes who previously died trying to reach America.
In their campaign to protect the people of Chicago from the illegal aliens Johnson is apparently keen to harbor, ICE has caught numerous dangerous criminal noncitizens.
For instance, two days before Johnson’s appeal to the U.N., ICE officers captured Alan Eduardo Garcia, an illegal alien from Mexico whose rap sheet includes arrests and convictions for felony strangulation, domestic battery, disorderly conduct, battery causing bodily injury, aggravated battery against a handicapped or pregnant woman, and unlawful use of a firearm, the agency claimed.
Among the other apparently dangerous foreigners ICE has captured in recent weeks was an illegal alien from Somalia who has convictions for multiple domestic assaults, rape, and multiple DUIs; a convicted murderer from Mexico; and multiple members of the terrorist gang Tren de Aragua.
Johnson suggested that the Trump administration’s refusal to let the U.N. police its actions amounts to a “moral failure,” adding that “we live with the consequences of that moral failure every day.”
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Border Patrol agents dodge bullets and bricks from leftist rioters in sanctuary city: DHS
Leftist activists in Chicago engaged in a series of violent attacks against federal agents who were conducting immigration enforcement operations over the weekend, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Around 9:30 a.m. on Saturday in a neighborhood of Little Village, a “hostile crowd” allegedly boxed Border Patrol agents into a street and alleyway.
‘This incident is not isolated and reflects a growing and dangerous trend of violence and obstruction.’
An individual driving a black Jeep Wrangler fired multiple rounds at the agents while they were apprehending a suspect, the DHS reported. The shooter fled the scene.
Some in the crowd reportedly hurled objects, including bricks, at the officers’ vehicles.
The DHS credited the Chicago Police Department for helping agents evacuate the area.
As agents left the scene, another driver allegedly attempted to ram into the agents’ convoy, but the attack was thwarted when federal officials deployed a controlled tire deflation device.
RELATED: Masked anti-ICE agitators are in for a rude awakening as new DHS policy goes into effect
Image source: Department of Homeland Security
The DHS explained that the convoy proceeded to an FBI facility, where agents encountered two additional drivers who tried to “impede operations.” When agents issued a warning, one of the drivers allegedly attempted to ram the convoy. That driver was arrested.
“Border Patrol reached the FBI facility when rioters attempted to breach security there. Chicago Police responded to help secure the perimeter,” the DHS stated.
Border Patrol agents left the FBI facility but again encountered a group of protesters who were attempting to obstruct traffic by lying in the street. Agents deployed crowd-control measures after the activists began throwing objects, the DHS said.
Once the road was cleared, agents proceeded to a Sam’s Club parking lot where they were allegedly “stalked and followed” by protesters. Another driver allegedly rammed a federal vehicle. Officials arrested three individuals for assault.
A fourth vehicle ramming occurred when agents attempted to leave the grocery store parking lot. The suspect driving the vehicle fled the scene and remains at large.
While no Border Patrol agents were harmed, photographs shared by the DHS show damage to two federal vehicles.
The series of attacks resulted in the arrest of eight U.S. citizens and one illegal alien.
Photo by Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images
The DHS blamed the incidents on “sanctuary politicians and the media.”
“A criminal illegal alien from Mexico has been arrested in relation to Saturday’s shooting targeting Border Patrol agents in Chicago. The suspect has previously been convicted for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon/vehicle, felony possession of a weapon, and illegal entry,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement provided to Blaze News. “He is currently marked as a violator of the Laken Riley Act, pending charges related to assaulting officers.”
“This incident is not isolated and reflects a growing and dangerous trend of violence and obstruction,” she continued. “Over the past two months, we’ve seen an increase in assaults and obstruction targeting federal law enforcement during operations. These confrontations highlight the dangers our agents face daily and the escalating aggression toward law enforcement.”
The Latin Kings allegedly issued a “shoot on sight” order targeting federal agents, NewsNation reported. It is currently unclear whether Saturday’s shooting is tied to the street gang.
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Mother chaperoned junior high dance — then had a baby with her daughter’s teen date: Court docs
An Illinois mother has been charged with criminal sexual assault and possession of child porn after she allegedly had a baby with her daughter’s teen friend, according to multiple reports.
The Washington Police Department arrested Robyn Polston, 43, on Nov. 3. Polston is being detained without bail while her case is pending, according to the New York Post.
‘Officers were able to get search warrants for the boy’s phone and found several images, allegedly showing him and Polston engaged in sexual activity.’
Polston was charged with two counts of criminal sexual assault with a victim between the ages of 13 and 17 and two counts of possession of child pornography, according to a court filing People magazine obtained. If convicted on all charges, Polston faces up to 60 years in prison.
Local law enforcement said officers launched an investigation in February after Polston gave birth to a baby in January, WMBD-TV reported.
A probable cause affidavit stated that Polston told investigators that the father was a man in his 20s, who she claimed hadn’t seen the baby since the child was born.
However, investigators noticed that the baby’s middle and last name on the birth certificate and other records matched the name of a teen, according to court documents filed last week in Tazewell County Circuit Court.
Investigators said the 14-year-old victim attended a junior high dance with Polston’s daughter in May 2023, according to the affidavit. Polston served as a chaperone at the dance, court documents said.
The probable cause affidavit also said the boy moved out of state but returned to the Central Illinois area for a visit in April 2024 — approximately 40 weeks before Polston gave birth to the baby.
In August 2024, the teen moved back to live with the family of a “friend,” according to the affidavit.
Citing the affidavit, WKRC-TV reported that law enforcement officers discovered “a large number of sexually explicit images and videos depicting [the alleged victim] and Polston.”
WMBD reported, “Officers were able to get search warrants for the boy’s phone and found several images, allegedly showing him and Polston engaged in sexual activity. Some of the pictures were clearly taken by her, the affidavit stated.”
Citing prosecutors, WEEK-TV reported that Polston and the alleged victim “used burner phones under fake names to protect their identities, and she allegedly tried to get the minor to participate in a cover-up.”
A DNA test confirmed that Polston and the alleged victim are the parents of the newborn baby, according to the affidavit.
Polston is scheduled to appear in court Dec. 4.
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Supreme Court Battle for PA Voter Rolls
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