U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently arrested several individuals in Chicago as part of Operation Midway Blitz. The operation targeted people described by ICE as criminal illegal aliens, accused or convicted of crimes including sexual assault of a child, rape, armed robbery, domestic battery, and other offenses.
The arrests took place in Chicago, which is identified by ICE as a sanctuary city. According to Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, “In just the last few days in Chicago, ICE has arrested pedophiles, rapists, abusers, armed robbers, and other violent thugs. These are the criminal illegal aliens Governor Pritzker, Mayor Johnson, and their fellow sanctuary politicians protect over the law-abiding American citizens,” said McLaughlin. “These criminal illegal aliens flocked to Illinois because sanctuary policies allow them to roam free and terrorize innocent Americans without consequence. 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.”
Operation Midway Blitz was carried out in honor of Katie Abraham who died in a drunk driving incident involving an undocumented immigrant.
Among those arrested were Carlos Roman-Berrera from Mexico for aggravated sexual assault of a child family member; Marcelino Ramos Crus from Mexico for DUI and vehicular burglary; Juan Armenta from Mexico for armed robbery; Hector Palomar-Flores from Mexico for domestic battery; Bernardino Perez-Arrevillaga from Mexico for sex offender registration violation; Bolotbek Dzhenutbaev from Kyrgyzstan previously charged with domestic battery; Varinderpal Singh from India convicted of strongarm rape; Juan Manuel Gaspar-Nochebuena from Mexico convicted of sexual abuse of a child; Pascual Lucas-Baltazar from Guatemala convicted of DUI with pending hit-and-run charges; Brandon Riquelmer Gonzalez-Salazar from Guatemala with pending weapon charges; Jose Luis Amador-Bonilla from Guatemala convicted of forgery with pending domestic violence charges; Ignacio Santiago-Garcia from Mexico arrested for DUI and possession of stolen property; Francisco Tziquin-Balux from Guatemala with pending hit-and-run charges.
DHS stated that it would continue its law enforcement mission in Chicago and increase ICE resources in cooperation with federal partners within the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice.
