OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
9:57 AM – Wednesday, November 12, 2025
President Donald Trump announced a dramatic drop in crime since the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched “Operation Midway Blitz,” a crackdown on illegal immigrants who were previously protected under Illinois’ sanctuary status.
“I am proud to announce that Chicago, Illinois, despite all of the radical opposition and obstruction we have from the Mayor and the Governor, has seen Car Theft, Shootings, Robberies, Violent Crime, and everything else, drop dramatically,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Referencing new DHS data, the president stated, “Since the launch of the DHS operation ‘Midway Blitz’ in Chicago only weeks ago, Shootings are down 35%, Robberies are down 41%, and Carjackings are down almost 50%.”
“As we ramp up more assets, these numbers will continue to drop,” he added. “This has been achieved despite the extraordinary resistance from Chicago and Illinois Radical Democrat ‘Leadership,’ and the constant Violent Leftwing Terrorism against ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) Officers and Federal Agents that Insurrectionist Democrat Officials refuse to stop or prosecute, including constant physical assault and attempted assassination.”
The operation launched in September as part of a DHS initiative to protect against “criminal illegal aliens terrorizing Americans in sanctuary Illinois,” according to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, who assured suspects who attacked agents “will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” It was also in honor of Katie Abraham, a woman from Illinois who was killed in a hit-and-run accident caused by an illegal alien.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has continually opposed the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts, upholding sanctuary policies in his state to protect undocumented individuals from deportation.
Pritzker said in August, “Mr. President, do not come to Chicago. You are neither wanted here nor needed here.”
Among those arrested during the operation was Radule Bojovic of Montenegro, who overstayed his visa by 10 years serving as a police officer in Illinois, though it’s a felony for an illegal immigrant to possess a firearm. Another offender was identified as Leyter Arauz-Medina of Nicaragua, who beat and raped a 54-year-old woman in an alleyway in Chicago and is now on an ICE detainer.
Secretary Noem reported in late October that 146 illegal aliens were arrested near the Illinois border while driving commercial vehicles like semitrucks. Many had received licenses to drive such vehicles in California and New York, which Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy is currently cracking down on.
“For decades, sanctuary policies exasperated the crime crisis in Chicago,” said DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin. “Now, thanks to our brave DHS law enforcement, Chicago is experiencing a historic drop in violent crime. It’s common sense — when you remove the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from our country, crime rates plummet.”
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