CBP Boats Patrol Chicago River during operation Midway Blitz

Customs and border protection in the United States now have boats along the Chicago river in the middle of “Midway Blitz operation” of immigration and customs in the region.

“Operation Midway Blitz” began last month in the Chicago region despite the opposition of local Democrats. The operation caused more than 500 arrests, including those with serious previous convictions and criminal accusations.

“Lakes and rivers are also borders. Chicago is just a few hundred kilometers from Canada, and the river connects to the Great Lakes, especially Lake Michigan.

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Customs and the protection of the United States borders sent boats to the Chicago river in the middle of “Operation Midway Blitz” on Thursday, September 25, 2025. (Chicago Tribune / Getty Images)

“Where the streets end, our maritime unit begins. On the Chicago river, the CBP management remains vigilant. Our ability to patrol the water extends the scope of the application,” published USBP chief Michael Banks on Thursday.

The executive assistant commissioner of CBP Air and Marine Operations, Jonathan Miller, published on Thursday a video of one of the boats, writing that “Operation Midway Blitz here in Chicago is as vital as everywhere else in the country! We will not back down”.

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Democrats continue to rail against the wave of federal immigration to Chicago, notably the representative Chuy Garcia, D-Illinois, who declared in a recent article that President Donald Trump “has terrorized immigrant communities” in the past eight months when mass deportations are continuing nationally.

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The demonstrators protest outside Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago on September 9, 2025, opposing the deployment of federal agents. (Talia Sprague / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Trump wanted to go further and deploy national guard troops in Chicago in the hope of repressing the crime.

However, Democratic Governor JB Pritzker recently told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that politics “would impose its authoritarian domination on major cities through the United States” when it continues to reduce cooperation with the federal government on the issue.

Meanwhile, Trump said that the next city on the deployment of the National Guard is Memphis, Tennessee.

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President Donald Trump visits the US police center Anacostia on August 21, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images)

Washington, DC, the first city where the strategy of the National Guard was tried, continues to have a strong presence of federal troops and forces, which praised the Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser due to the drop in crime despite the initial criticisms concerning politics.

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“We are going to clean our cities. We will clean them so that they do not kill five people every weekend,” said the president earlier this month. “It’s not war. It’s common sense.”