Thursday afternoon, Oct. 30, United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem held a press conference in Gary, IN to address questions about “Operation Midway Blitz”, the ongoing immigration enforcement operation in the Chicagoland area.
Noem brazenly stated that the operation was responsible for more than 200 crackdowns and arrests of people without legal status; Many of which were accused of driving trucks without a valid license. Noem then emphasized the need to “destroy terrorists and address the issue of illegal aliens obtaining commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs).”
“If you are here driving on our streets illegally and our highways, you are endangering our citizens, and your days are numbered,” she went on to say.
Since the operation began in September, approximately 3,000 arrests have been made, according to Homeland Security.
Indiana Governor Mike Braun expressed his gratitude to the Trump Administration for recognizing the impact of the issue on Indiana and praised the efforts to address it.
“ ‘Operation Midway Blitz’ is working to make our highways safer,” Braun said. “You heard some of the stats since September 17, 200 ill illegal aliens arrested, 22 truck drivers without a valid license here in Indiana, most of them with criminal records including drug possession, assault and drunk driving.
Braun then closed out his portion of the conference sharing that Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) will continue to work with Indiana State Police to expand the program, with the goal to have the operation move across the state.
“We are going to work with DHS. We're going to work with ice to keep our communities and our highways safe, even though other places are making them the opposite.”
In a separate press conference, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker was addressing ICE to pause their raids and arrests for Halloween, due to prior incidents that impacted safety.
"I've sent a letter to Kristi Noem and to the Department of Homeland Security leadership, asking them to pause all of their federal agent operations for the entirety of the Halloween weekend," Pritzker said.
Secretary Noem denied Pritzker’s requests and statements in regards to halting ICE operations.
The press conference ended with Noem being asked about the longevity of ‘Operation Midway Blitz’ in which Noem did not offer a response to the deadline of the operation.
