Department of Homeland Security to reportedly deploy 150 federal agents to Chicago

President Trump is promising "more federal law enforcement" in the U.S., and in Chicago, more than 100 federal agents are reportedly set to be deployed.

The Department of Homeland Security plans to deploy about 150 federal agents to Chicago this week, the Chicago Tribune reported on Monday, with the Homeland Security Investigations agents expected to "assist other federal law enforcement and Chicago police in crime-fighting efforts." According to the report, it still hasn't been made clear "the chain of command they would fall under," though the agents "would not be involved in immigration or deportation matters," the Tribune writes.

This comes after reports last week out of Portland, Oregon, of unidentified federal agents detaining protesters "who aren't near federal property" without explaining who they are and when it isn't "clear that all of the people being arrested have engaged in criminal activity," as OPB reported. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler (D) has called this a "blatant abuse of police tactics by the federal government" and a "direct threat to our democracy," per The Hill.

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Following these reports, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) said on Monday that, "We don’t need federal agents without any insignia taking people off the streets and holding them, I think, unlawfully," per the Tribune. She also said she has "great concerns" about the idea of federal agents being sent to Chicago "given the track record in the city of Portland."

But speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, Trump suggested federal law enforcement may be deployed to cities like New York and Chicago, saying, "I'm going to do something ... We're going to have more federal law enforcement, that I can tell you. In Portland, they've done a fantastic job." The executive director of the ACLU of Illinois in a statement on Monday said, "Make no mistake: Trump’s federal troops will not be a constructive force in Chicago."