ICE Chicago field office director Sam Olson praised the Trump administration for breaking down barriers to apprehending illegal migrant criminals in the Windy City.
A Chicago Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official praised the Trump administration for taking the “handcuffs off” the agency as officers continue to search for those with violent criminal histories.
“We’re not targeting people in schools. We’re not targeting people in churches. We’re targeting people who are the worst,” Chicago ICE field office director Sam Olson told “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday.
“There’s a chance they’re going to go some of those places, and this administration has kind of taken some of the handcuffs off of us in a way. We’re leaving the discretion to our officers and our officers are trained to make good decisions out there, and we support them.”
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Olson has been on the ground directly working with Trump border czar Tom Homan, who visited the Windy City over the weekend with acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove to address the “national emergency” allegedly created by the Biden administration’s immigration policies.
Homan told Fox News that targeted enforcements took “national security threats” off the streets of Chicago, including aggravated sex offenders, convicted murderers and Tren de Aragua gang members.
Olson lauded the Trump administration’s “whole-of-government” approach to immigration enforcement as “amazing” and “unprecedented” so far, adding that other agencies – the ATF, DEA, U.S. Marshals and the FBI – also have boots on the ground.
“Some things that have been difficult to coordinate before, because there’s so many different agencies, we’ve been able to get everybody in the same room and get kind of real-time updates, real-time intelligence and real-time advice to make sure that we’re doing this the right way,” he said.
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Before taking office, President Trump and border czar Homan warned that mass deportations would be high on the priority list to help mitigate national security concerns caused by open border policies.
DHS sources confirmed to Fox News that New York City is the next target for ICE raids as deportation efforts continue in Chicago. This as over 1,200 illegal immigrants who were charged or convicted with committing crimes on American soil are detained nationwide.
Fox News’ Greg Wehner, David Spunt and Matt Finn contributed to this report.
