In its latest assault on migrant workers, the bourgeois state has ordered ICE and elements of the Texas and Illinois national guard into Chicago, Illinois, brazenly calling this attack “Operation Midwest Blitz”. The Department of Homeland Security claims that it has detained at least 1500 migrants since the beginning of the operation in early September. No doubt, this number has increased since that report. Across Chicago ranks of masked ICE agents marching down city streets have been deployed in order to provoke a conflict with locals to serve as justification for further militarization. The assault peaked when ICE conducted a televised helicopter raid, broadcast live on a high rise apartment complex, pulling dozens of women and children out of their homes in the night for mass arrest. Silverio Villegas González, an immigrant worker, was shot and killed by ICE agents on September 12, and Marimar Martinez was shot multiple times by Border Patrol agents on October 4 in Chicago. This wielding of bourgeois state power follows the short-lived proletarian revolt against ICE raids in Los Angeles (as covered in TICP 64) and the deployment of the National Guard in Washington D.C. and Memphis.

The terror being perpetrated by the state is accomplished with or without legal precedence, with or without pitiful “resistance” from the Democratic Party that now cries “law and order”. Of the thousands of people arrested by ICE, many in Illinois were sent to the Broadview ICE facility, a prison that is stated to only house detainees for short-term sentences until they are sent elsewhere. In this hell trap, there are no beds, no medical staff or supplies, no kitchens, no sanitary supplies, open toilets, and barely any space to breathe. Like cattle, undocumented proletarians are shuffled into facilities like these, which don’t even pass the bare minimum legal standards of sanitation or safety. Even before Trump’s Midway Blitz, the facility had imprisoned 143 people for two days or more since the beginning of 2025. Little data has since been provided, and there remains a lot of secrecy around the operations of this facility, but suffice to say, it likely has more people being held as the operation continues to reign terror.

In response to the federal government’s assault, the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago filed lawsuits against the federal government for its deployment of National Guard troops on October 6, citing a lack of emergency warranting their deployment. Amidst this legal battle, 500 national guardsmen from Texas and Illinois have been stationed 55 miles southwest of Chicago, awaiting clearance to enter the city. Despite Chicago’s status as a “Sanctuary City” and a bastion of the Democratic Party in Illinois, the Democratic Party once again leaves the proletariat to fend for itself while espousing itself to be a party that defends migrant workers. The state’s governor, J.B. Pritzker, and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have done little besides voice their “strong condemnation”, appeal to the country’s “humanity”, and channel discontent into ineffective legal disputes and bureaucratic state agencies. While it may seem commendable that the progressive Johnson has enacted executive orders to spread “Know Your Rights” resources and set legal limits on ICE’s use of city property, it is being done in service of Capital in order to stifle the proletariat and tie them to interclass movements dominated by the bourgeoisie.

On October 18, 2025, Mayor Brandon Johnson stood before over 100,000 people at the "No Kings" rally and called for a general strike, invoking his enslaved ancestors who "lead the greatest general strike in the history of this country". Likewise, Johnson has recently been discussing the Democratic Party “popular front” with activist groups, unions and NGO’s as the primary tool to combat fascism in the United States. When Johnson invokes American mythology and Pritzker wraps resistance in “defending Chicago", when mobilization centers on "our city" rather than international working-class interests, class struggle is subordinated to national struggle. Pritzker told crowds: "We will never surrender! Black and Brown people are being targeted for the color of their skin. Children are being zip-tied and separated from their families". The oppression is real. But the response, "protect our city", "defend our democracy", support "good" Democrats, leads not just to a dead end, but a reinforcement and defense of the very system which is used to persecute these sections of the proletariat. Thus the American liberal, the wolf in sheep’s clothing once again plays its part. This is the classic Popular Front formula devised first under Stalin, to unite all "democratic" forces against the "fascist" threat, subordinating independent class struggle to preservation of bourgeois democracy. These coalitions compromise and subordinate the workers’ movement, catering to those who would forever tie workers to capitalist state sufferings. Johnson may appear like an ally, but as soon as the situation gets out of control and the interests of his faction of the bourgeoisie are threatened, the true face of progressivism will show to be yet another defender of capitalism.

Our prior analysis of the Democrats’ response to ICE raids in Los Angeles rings true in Chicago. The policies of “Sanctuary Cities” don’t do nearly enough to truly defend migrant workers from ICE, which has the facilities and authority to circumvent any legal fiction and act with the full power of the federal government. Appeals to morality amount to nothing when confronted with the faceless necessity of Capital to exploit the most vulnerable of workers backed by its monopoly on violence exercised through its state. The supposed pro-immigrant rhetoric of the Democrats is also laughable, considering their silent participation in the exploitation and heavy deportations of migrant workers during the Obama administration on the heels of the 2008 economic crash. They defend their participation in the detention and deportation of migrant workers by heeding the call of “realistic reform”, promising easier routes to citizenship and leniency for those with criminal records. However, such promises are seemingly forgotten about with increased funding for ICE seen during the Biden administration and a calculated regulation of immigration to satisfy the demands of the petty bourgeoisie and the bourgeois donors who rely on the ability to exploit migrant workers for lower wages.

Protests against the treatment in the Broadview facility and against ICE in general have erupted in Chicago with attempts to block ICE vehicles, generating intense state retaliation. We, of course, celebrate the willingness to struggle, but condemn the inter-classist coalitional nature of the anti-ICE movement across the country which is increasingly coming under the leadership of the Democratic Party. Spontaneous inter-class organizations have also emerged to assist those hunted by ICE, but only in ineffectual ways that focus on awareness of state activity and legal defense. The proletariat doesn’t need the institutions of the bourgeoisie to defend itself nor does it need so-called allies within the government. Only the real contest of forces between classes is the deciding factor. What is needed in defence of immigrant proletarians is the resumption of class struggle, of combative class unionism within workers’ organizations, the leadership of the proletariat with its class party in general and particular struggles, and ultimately the proletarian dictatorship which alone can truly abolish ICE and end the reign of terror against those deemed illegal by capital.