Overview
- Homeland Security says more than 2.1 million people have left the U.S. this year, including about 1.6 million voluntary departures with $1,000 payments and plane tickets.
- Sources say the White House is weighing reassignments of at least a dozen ICE field office directors and considering Border Patrol leaders for key posts to drive more arrests.
- DHS reports over 3,000 arrests in Chicago and across Illinois since Operation Midway Blitz began on September 8, reflecting intensified interior enforcement in major cities.
- Four Democratic House members say they were blocked from inspecting a San Diego ICE detention site, a claim DHS disputes while asserting detainees have adequate food and access.
- Chicago operations drew legal scrutiny after reports of tear gas in residential areas despite a federal restraining order, as DHS defends agents’ actions and cites crowd-control needs, and a 24-year-old Honduran man died on October 23 after fleeing an ICE stop onto a Virginia highway.