The Trump administration is sending border patrol agents right into the heart of some of America's biggest cities.

Instead of policing America's rugged frontiers, these border agents are being deployed to Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Charlotte, and as of this morning, New Orleans.

They're joining other immigration agents from the Department of Homeland Security in these urban operations.

We're seeing a really aggressive approach to immigration enforcement in these blue cities.

We're seeing the rise of Border Patrol agents taking on a more prominent role in conducting

these mass arrests.

Marianne covers immigration for the post, and she says a clear pattern has emerged.

We're really seeing the lengths to which the administration is willing to go

when it comes to reaching President Trump's deportation goals.

The Trump administration claims to be going after, quote, violent offenders.

And in each city, they're touting big arrest numbers.

But verifying all this and who is even being deported is more complicated.

So Marianne and our colleagues on the immigration team decided to go deep in one city, Chicago.

One of the challenges in writing about DHS's efforts, and especially in a big city like

Chicago, is often we're really reliant on bystanders to record what's happening because

Chicago is obviously a sprawling city, and oftentimes these arrests take place in a matter

of minutes.

Marianne has been going through court documents and talking with agency officials, families, lawyers, residents, to really understand how this aggressive immigration enforcement is playing out on the ground.

Chicago made it clear there's a new leader out front.

Will you state your name, sir, please?

My name is Gregory Bovino.

And your title?

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