An ICE agent monitors hundreds of asylum seekers being processed upon entering the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building on June 6, 2023 in New York City.
David Dee Delgado | Getty Images
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are planning a major enforcement operation that will target immigrants for several days following the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, according to a document reviewed by NBC News and a person familiar with the planning.
The person, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the operation, said multiple locations across Chicago will be targeted.
According to the document, the operation is expected to start as early as Tuesday and end by the following Monday, but the dates could change.
ICE officials referred NBC News to the Trump transition team for comment, and the transition team did not respond. In an exclusive interview with NBC News’ Kristen Welker on Saturday, Trump declined to describe any details of the operation but said mass deportations would begin “very early, very quickly.”
“We’re already geared up and it will begin,” he said. “We have to get the criminals that have come here illegally out of our country.”
A briefing for agents who plan to participate in the operation, called “Operation Safeguard,” was scheduled for Friday afternoon in Chicago, according to the document. It also says the operation will involve agents who were asked to volunteer and that more agents than needed have volunteered.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that the operation is expected to occur in Chicago.
Operations in other cities are also possible. Before NBC News reviewed the document, several sources familiar with the planning said major metropolitan areas that could see early enforcement actions include the Washington, D.C., area, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Denver and Chicago.
As a candidate, Trump promised the largest deportation operation in American history. A 2022 federal estimate said that as many as 11 million undocumented migrants lived in the U.S., but the exact number today is unknown.
The American Immigration Council, a pro-immigration group, estimates that it could cost at least $315 billion to deport all of them. In addition to the costs, experts have warned that mass deportations could increase the price of some goods in the U.S. The federal government estimates that 40% of agricultural workers are undocumented immigrants.
ICE currently has a $230 million budget shortfall and does not have the funding to carry out Trump’s plans on a prolonged and widespread scale. Congress must first appropriate additional funds for enforcement operations and detention facilities.
After arrest, migrants are held in detention before they are deported. According to ICE’s website, there are currently no beds available in its detention facilities in Chicago.
Tom Homan, Trump’s incoming border czar, has said he would like at least 100,000 detention beds across the U.S.; currently, the U.S. has approximately 34,000. And the highest number of people deported in a single year during Trump’s first term was 267,000 in fiscal 2019.
The Biden administration deported more people annually than the first Trump administration did in his first term. The highest number of people deported from the U.S. in a single year was 438,000 in fiscal 2013 during the Obama administration.
Trump’s apparent plans to target Democratic-run cities will also likely be met with political pushback. Responding to reports that the new administration could start deportation operations in Chicago, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said Friday that he will protect migrants if they are arrested unlawfully.
“We have laws that protect people that are undocumented,” Pritzker said. “I am going to make sure to follow the law. I am concerned that the Trump administration and his lackeys aren’t going to follow the law.”
Homan has told NBC News that the new administration is willing to take on the political fight and the fiscal costs of mass deportations. “I think mass deportation and results of mass deportation are more important to this country than anything,” he said. “I don’t put a price on our national security.”
