New Chicago immigration campaign prompts confusion as city braces for federal intervention

CHICAGO (AP) — The Department of Homeland Security trumpeted the start of a new immigration operation Monday in Chicago, stirring up fresh confusion and anxiety as the city remained on alert for a federal intervention President Donald Trump has touted for days.

Blasting so-called sanctuary laws in Chicago and Illinois, the latest effort targets people without legal permission to live in the U.S. who have criminal records. Like other Trump administration plans, it was stamped with a splashy name, “Operation Midway Blitz,” and circulated on social media with the mugshots of 11 foreign-born men it said should be deported.

“This ICE operation will target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois because they knew Governor (JB) Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets,” said a statement from DHS.

Pritzker, who has been locked in a back-and-forth with Trump for days, criticized the move. He and Mayor Brandon Johnson have defended the state and city's extensive sanctuary laws which bar coordination between local police and immigration agents. They’ve accused the Trump administration of using scare tactics, particularly with Latino residents in the nation’s third-largest city.

“Once again, this isn’t about fighting crime. That requires support and coordination — yet we’ve experienced nothing like that over the past several weeks,” Pritzker said in a statement. “Instead of taking steps to work with us on public safety, the Trump administration’s focused on scaring Illinoisians.”

Chicago has been bracing for an influx of immigration agents and possibly the National Guard for two weeks. Numerous protests have cropped up downtown, outside a suburban military base DHS plans to use and at an immigration processing center that’s expected to be a hub of activity.

Trump deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles over the summer and as part of his unprecedented law enforcement takeover in Washington, D.C., where he has direct legal control. For the federal intervention in Los Angeles, a judge deemed the National Guard deployment illegal, but the Trump administration got a victory related to immigration enforcement there when the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a restraining order barring agents there from stopping people solely based on their race, language, job or location.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, rejected the latest operation announced in Chicago.

“These actions don’t make us safer," he said in a statement. “They are a waste of money, stoke fear, and represent another failed attempt at a distraction.”

It remained unclear what role Monday’s announced program would play in a Chicago surge.

Adding to the confusion was a handful of immigration arrests over the weekend in Chicago, which galvanized the city’s vocal activist network and worries that it was the start of something bigger.

“This is about terrorizing our communities,” said Chicago City Council member Jeylú Gutiérrez said. “But we will not be intimidated.”

She and immigrant rights activists said that five people arrested were “beloved community members.” Some were on their way to work when arrested Sunday. Another works as a flower vendor.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed four arrests but gave sparse information, noting criminal histories with previous arrests and one conviction for driving under the influence.

“ICE has always operated in Chicago,” the agency said in a statement. “We will continue our law enforcement and public safety mission, undeterred, as we surge ICE resources in the city in coordination with our federal partners.”

DHS said the operation announced Monday would be in honor of Katie Abraham, one of two Illinois women killed in a January fatal car crash. A grand jury indicted a 29-year-old man in the hit-and-run. The Guatemalan national also faces federal false identification crimes.

This story has been corrected to show that the person the operation will be in honor of is Katie Abraham, not Katie Abram.

Associated Press writer Christine Fernando contributed to this report.

Security barriers are seen at the Everett McKinley Dirksen United States Courthouse, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

A person walks in to the entrance adjacent to an immigration processing center Monday, Sept. 8, 2025, in Broadview, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Masked people leave an immigration processing center Monday, Sept. 8, 2025, in Broadview, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

A person talks to a masked guard at the entrance of an immigration processing center Monday, Sept. 8, 2025, in Broadview, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

A person talks to a masked guard at the entrance of an immigration processing center Monday, Sept. 8, 2025, in Broadview, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to five years in prison Friday in the first verdict from eight criminal trials over the martial law debacle that forced him out of office and other allegations.

Yoon was impeached, arrested and dismissed as president after his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024 triggered huge public protests calling for his ouster.

The most significant criminal charge against him alleges that his martial law enforcement amounted to a rebellion, and the independent counsel has requested the death sentence in the case that is to be decided in a ruling next month.

Yoon has maintained he didn’t intend to place the country under military rule for an extended period, saying his decree was only meant to inform the people about the danger of the liberal-controlled parliament obstructing his agenda. But investigators have viewed Yoon’s decree as an attempt to bolster and prolong his rule, charging him with rebellion, abuse of power and other criminal offenses.

In Friday’s case, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Yoon for defying attempts to detain him, fabricating the martial law proclamation, and sidestepping a legally mandated full Cabinet meeting and thus depriving some Cabinet members who were not convened of their due rights to deliberate on his decree.

Judge Baek Dae-hyun said in the televised ruling that imposing “a grave punishment” was necessary because Yoon hasn’t shown remorse and has only repeated “hard-to-comprehend excuses.” The judge also restoring legal systems damaged by Yoon’s action was necessary.

Yoon’s defense team said they will appeal the ruling, which they believe was “politicized” and reflected “the unliberal arguments by the independent counsel.” Yoon’s defense team argued the ruling “oversimplified the boundary between the exercise of the president’s constitutional powers and criminal liability.”

Prison sentences in the multiple, smaller trials Yoon faces would matter if he is spared the death penalty or life imprisonment at the rebellion trial.

Park SungBae, a lawyer who specializes in criminal law, said there is little chance the court would decide Yoon should face the death penalty in the rebellion case. He said the court will likely issue a life sentence or a sentence of 30 years or more in prison.

South Korea has maintained a de facto moratorium on executions since 1997 and courts rarely hand down death sentences. Park said the court would take into account that Yoon’s decree didn’t cause casualties and didn’t last long, although Yoon hasn’t shown genuine remorse for his action.

South Korea has a history of pardoning former presidents who were jailed over diverse crimes in the name of promoting national unity. Those pardoned include strongman Chun Doo-hwan, who received the death penalty at a district court over his 1979 coup, the bloody 1980 crackdowns of pro-democracy protests that killed about 200 people, and other crimes.

Some observers say Yoon will likely retain a defiant attitude in the ongoing trials to maintain his support base in the belief that he cannot avoid a lengthy sentence but could be pardoned in the future.

On the night of Dec. 3, 2024, Yoon abruptly declared martial law in a televised speech, saying he would eliminate “anti-state forces” and protect “the constitutional democratic order.” Yoon sent troops and police officers to encircle the National Assembly, but many apparently didn’t aggressively cordon off the area, allowing enough lawmakers to get into an assembly hall to vote down Yoon’s decree.

No major violence occurred, but Yoon's stunt caused the biggest political crisis in South Korea and rattled its diplomacy and financial markets. For many, his decree, the first of its kind in more than four decades in South Korea, brought back harrowing memories of past dictatorships in the 1970s and 1980s, when military-backed leaders used martial law and emergency measures to deploy soldiers and tanks on the streets to suppress demonstrations.

After Yoon's ouster, his liberal rival Lee Jae Myung became president via a snap election last June. After taking office, Lee appointed three independent counsels to look into allegations involving Yoon, his wife and associates.

Yoon's other trials deal with charges like ordering drone flights over North Korea to deliberately inflame animosities to look for a pretext to declare martial law. Other charges accuse Yoon of manipulating the investigation into a marine’s drowning in 2023 and receiving free opinion surveys from an election broker in return for a political favor.

A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shouts slogans outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol waits for a bus carrying former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs as police officers stand guard outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A picture of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is placed on a board as supporters gather outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)