DOJ Officials Visit FBI Chicago Office Amid Operation Midway Blitz Pushback

CHICAGO- Top Justice Department officials this week urged FBI personnel in northeastern Illinois to remain focused on a major federal immigration enforcement operation, as ongoing civil unrest and feuding politicians threaten to interfere with President Donald Trump’s crackdown on crime.

During a tour of the Chicago field office and an interview with Fox News Digital, FBI Director Kash Patel and Assistant Attorney General Todd Blanche discussed “Operation Midway Blitz,” the federal effort facing fierce resistance from protesters and local leaders.

Speaking in a command post the size of a large classroom, Blanche told staff that it had become “obvious” that Chicago was “for now, sort of ground zero in an escalating attack on law enforcement.”

“I don’t say that to be flippant or political,” Blanche said. “I say that because what we saw was a tremendous effort, an organized effort, by domestic terrorists to harm and harm the people in this room, the men and women on the street who were just doing their jobs.”

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FBI Director Kash Patel and Assistant Attorney General Todd Blanche speak at the FBI Chicago Field Office, October 7, 2025. (Fox News Digital/Screenshot)

Patel is redesigning his office to ‘put American citizens first’

Patel and Blanche met with officials from several Illinois-based agencies, including the FBI; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The agencies support DHS, which launched Midway Blitz a month ago as part of the Trump administration’s nationwide fight against illegal immigration.

Patel has been criticized for shifting the FBI’s focus on immigration, which is normally overseen by DHS, as former FBI officials worry about valuable agents being pulled away from their areas of expertise in counterterrorism and national security.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., revealed this week that 25 percent of agents had been, in his words, “taken off the job” and reassigned to support DHS. Patel defended the change.

“It’s a priority of this administration, not only to deport (illegal immigrants), but also to prioritize American citizens, and also to prioritize protecting our neighborhoods for American citizens and everyone who is here legally,” Patel said. “And so the partnership is fantastic.”

Feds track Chicago guns in real time

The ATF, which also reports to the DOJ, handles weapons recovered in the Midway Blitz.

Jonathan Maniff, assistant special agent in charge of ATF Chicago, told Fox News Digital that his team tested “every weapon” that law enforcement recovered during the operation.

Agents fire guns in a small cubicle inside the ATF’s mobile command center, a one-of-a-kind bus currently stationed in Chicago.

WATCH:

After test firing the weapon, ATF agents enter the unique markings of the shell casings into a national database and retrieve any immediate matches to other shell casings and weapons, quickly generating valuable leads for criminal investigators.

ATF agents use a database to compare bullet casings in their mobile command center. (Fox News Digital)

Pritzker’s reaction

Midway Blitz was not without complications. Viral reports of ICE agents allegedly hitting a priest in the head, two controversial vehicle-ramming incidents, and the detention of a US citizen children are subject to careful scrutiny. DHS defended its actions, disputing claims that ICE acted inappropriately.

Broadview Mayor Katrina Johnson imposed a curfew on protesters after skirmishes took place outside ICE detention facilities in her suburb. Some protesters there were arrested for allegedly shoving federal agents and blocking ICE vehicles, although grand juries declined to indict them in some cases, according to local authorities. reports.

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Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel speak with Fox News Digital in Chicago, October 7, 2025. (Fox News Digital/Screenshot)

The disputes have also obscured the work of the authorities.

Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson are the leading voices accusing the Trump administration of needlessly inciting chaos. Trump inflamed matters by calling for the imprisonment of both men and describing Chicago as a “war zone.”

Democratic leaders have filed lawsuits challenging Trump’s decision to deploy National Guard troops, about 500 of whom arrived this week in the Greater Chicago area with the mission of guarding federal assets and personnel.

An Illinois judge has so far authorized the deployment of the soldiers, but the litigation remains ongoing.

“The speech of local politicians, of the mayor, of the governor, is completely wrong compared to the reality on the street, and we see a massive number of domestic terrorists,” Blanche said. “They are not demonstrators. They are not exercising their freedom of expression when they come together to crush cars, when they unite to block the intervention of the police. Many of them are armed.”

It’s “laughable,” Blanche said.

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“They have access to the same television that I do, and of course we need the National Guard,” Blanche said.

Another judge ruled this week that ICE violated a years-old consent decree by making warrantless arrests of immigrants. The judge ordered authorities to correct the arrests and extended the agreement until February 2026.