'If You Can Keep It': ICE Crackdowns In Chicago And Portland

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🗓️ 13 October 2025

⏱️ 44 minutes

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Summary

President Donald Trump promised to crackdown on immigration in Democratic-led cities using aggressive tactics like detaining people based on their race and deploying the National Guard to support Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

He deployed the National Guard in Los Angeles and Washington D.C. this summer. He launched an ICE operation in Boston.

Now, he’s escalating his crackdowns in Chicago and Portland.ICE has made more than 1,000 arrests in Chicago according to the Department of Homeland Security since it began what it’s calling “Operation Midway Blitz” last month.

Nearly half of the FBI agents working in major U.S. offices have been reassigned to immigration enforcement, according to newly released bureau data . What does this radical shift in law enforcement priorities mean for the cities at the center of the president’s crackdown — and for the country more broadly?

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0:00.0	Support for NPR and the following message comes from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
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0:12.1	Learn more at RWJF.org.
0:25.6	You're listening to the 1A podcast. I'm Jen White.
0:26.5	And I'm Todd's Willey.
0:37.5	President Trump promised to crack down on immigration and democratic-led cities using aggressive tactics like detaining people based on their race and language and deploying the National Guard to support immigration and customs enforcement or ice.
0:40.1	He deployed the National Guard in Los Angeles
0:42.1	and Washington, D.C. this summer,
0:44.2	where a number of service members still remain.
0:46.7	He launched an ice operation in Boston.
0:48.6	And now, the president is escalating his crackdown
0:51.9	in Chicago and Portland.
0:54.9	Yeah, I got to do you guys. Yeah, that's your guess.
0:57.0	They hit us at the car.
0:58.3	They shot me a bunch of the leg with the pepper rolls.
1:00.2	What country do we live in?
1:02.3	He has constitutional rights.
1:04.0	Do you have a sign?
1:04.9	No.
1:05.1	No, you need to leave for me.
1:06.7	Turn around here.
1:08.0	Turn around.
	...

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