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A spokesperson is disputing reporting from multiple outlets that U.S. Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino and numerous federal agents are preparing to leave Chicago in coming days. Those reports emerged late Monday and early Tuesday, with multiple outlets including NBC News citing sources indicating Bovino and other agents would be moving on to other cities for immigration enforcement actions. The reports indicated that “Operation Midway Blitz,” which has been ongoing since September, could be starting to wind down. A senior DHS official told NBC News that Border Patrol agents are expected to begin operations in Charlotte, North Carolina next. While the timing of the operation is unknown, it will follow Bovino’s exit from Chicago, which could occur this week. According to NBC News reporting, Charlotte will be the first city where Border Patrol has spearheaded an operation without Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents also patrolling the same areas. Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for Homeland Security, disputed reports that operations would be wound down in Chicago in a social media post. “We aren’t leaving Chicago,” she said. Chicago Politics McLaughlin cited statistics showing crime had decreased in the city during the stepped-up federal intervention, but it was unclear how those statistics were calculated. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office blasted the statistics cited by McLaughlin in her social media post, calling the assertion that DHS has helped lower crime rates “a slap in the face” to Chicago police. “It is a slap in the face to our Chicago Police Department officers who have worked hard over the past two years to drive down crime and violence throughout Chicago for DHS to attempt to ‘take credit’ for the reduction after two months,” Johnson’s office said in a statement. “It's also an insult to the Community Violence Intervention workers who put their lives on the line to de-escalate conflicts on the most challenging blocks in Chicago, and to the countless community organizations that have been doing the steady work to reduce violence in their neighborhoods for decades.” According to data provided by Chicago police, homicides are down 29% year-over-year in the city. Robberies are down 35% year-over-year, motor vehicle theft has declined by 23%, and shootings have decreased by 36%. The week before Operation Midway Blitz began in Chicago, data from Chicago police showed similar numbers, with homicides down 29%, robberies down 33%, motor vehicle theft down 26%, and shootings down 34%. As reports of Bovino’s departure ramped up, President Donald Trump sent out a note on his TruthSocial platform late Monday calling for Gov. J.B. Pritzker and other officials to request federal troops to help combat crime in Chicago. He cited vacancy rates on the Magnificent Mile, though he referred to it as a the “Miracle Mile Shopping Center” in his post. “The Miracle Mile Shopping Center in Chicago, once considered our nation’s BEST, now has a more than 28% vacancy factor, and is ready to call it quits unless something is done about the murder and crime, which is prevalent throughout the city,” the president said. “CALL IN THE TROOPS, FAST, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!” The reports of a potential Bovino departure and Trump’s call for military assets to be summoned to the city were criticized by a spokesperson for Pritzker. "On the same day Bovino is reportedly leaving Chicago, Trump is yet again threatening to send military troops into an American city against our own citizens,” a statement read. “This doesn't mark an end to federal overreach — it marks an expansion. Illinois is remaining clear-eyed that Donald Trump’s power-grabbing efforts to undermine American rights and freedoms are continuing with full force. This has never been about improving immigration enforcement or public safety — this is about normalizing military tanks and armed troops on American streets.” Johnson issued a statement saying Bovino would “not be missed in Chicago,” and criticized his actions while overseeing federal operations in the area. “Greg Bovino’s legacy in Chicago is chaos, criminality, and terror,” Johnson said. “While he was in Chicago, his agents have: disappeared beloved community members, tear gassed our police officers on two separate occasions, bragged about shooting a US citizen five times, shot protestors, faith leaders, and journalists with pepper balls, lied repeatedly to the courts and to the public, and pepper sprayed a one-year-old child. The Chicagoans who stood up to this petty tyrant are the reason why he has been recalled by Trump. It is the grassroots resistance to Bovino that has forced them to retreat. Bovino did nothing to make our city safer. He will not be missed in Chicago.” Pritzker’s office also took issued with Trump’s assertions about vacancy rates in the city’s main shopping corridor. According to Accounting Solutions Limited, the vacancy rate on the Magnificent Mile stands at 29.3% as of July 2025, which represents a drop from the 34% vacancy rate in 2023. In a new report earlier this year, the Chicago Loop Alliance published data showing foot traffic numbers exceeding pre-pandemic levels on weekends. “The rhetoric is not true about Chicago and the things that we see with our own eyes as Chicagoans on a daily basis are statistically proven to be more accurate and positive than what the media is portraying nationally and what the administration is portraying nationally,” Ariella Gibson of the Chicago Loop Alliance said. Thousands of arrests have been reported during the ongoing federal operation in Chicago, which has sparked a slew of court challenges. Trump’s attempt to federalize the National Guard for deployment in the city has been blocked by federal judges, and Circuit Court Judge Sara Ellis has issued a series of rulings aimed at curtailing the use of chemical agents by federal officers, though those restrictions are still being appealed. She also had ordered Bovino to report daily on use-of-force incidents involving federal agents, but that order was paused by an appeals court, citing concerns over separation of powers.
