Immigration Raid Blitz Underway - Amplified by Federal PR Machine
Producing the "shock & awe" Trump's Border Czar promised
Immigration Raids are underway across America - following a weekend of what one Border Patrol official called "non-stop" deportations. These immigration actions are amplified by a flood of coordinated federal news releases to generate "Border Czar" Tom Homan's promised campaign of "shock and awe" during the opening weeks of the second Trump Administration.
Homan took the unusual step of inviting "Dr. Phil" McGraw's "Merit TV" network to witness an immigration enforcement operation as it unfolded in Chicago Sunday. Dr. Phil interviewed the Trump "Border Czar" while a detained man looked on, and Dinesh D'Souza (who produced the controversial documentary "2000 Mules" about the "2020 steal") recorded it.
D'Souza - who was pardoned by Trump for a felony campaign finance conviction- called the meet-up of McGraw and Homan "the crossover of the century."
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said Dr. Phil's presence at the raid was "ridiculous" and a "mockery" of law enforcement.
Homan was joined for the Chicago raids by US Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove - whose presence was covered by the Fox News Channel.
The choreography of media coverage by the Trump Administration for maximum impact was noted by NBC News Justice and Intelligence Correspondent Ken Dilanian, who said "the political messaging component of this is fascinating."
The highly-publicized Chicago raids involved a half-dozen federal agencies:
"U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with federal partners, including the FBI, ATF, DEA, CBP and the U.S. Marshals Service, began conducting enhanced targeted operations today in Chicago to enforce U.S. immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities." US Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) Statement (January 26, 2025)
NBC News reported at least 100 federal agents were involved in the Chicago operation. They also cited reports from federal social media accounts of other weekend immigration raids in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Nebraska, and Texas.
ICE has also begun posting daily reports about its immigration arrests:
Other immigration enforcement actions around the country include the raid of a "makeshift nightclub ... connected with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA)" in the metro Denver, Colorado area. Nearly 50 illegal aliens (a description now being used government-wide by the feds in the second Trump Administration) were arrested in that operation which also resulted in the seizure of drugs, guns, and cash.
Large-scale immigration enforcement operations were reported in Austin, Houston, and San Antonio. Texas Governor Greg Abbott says state law enforcement officers are assisting federal agents in operations he says will continue in his state:
"Texas Dept. of Public Safety Troopers & Special Agents are deployed to assist President Trump’s Homeland Security Investigations in targeting and removing illegal immigrants. These DPS operations are expected to expand in the coming days." -Texas Governor Greg Abbott (January 26, 2025)
The US Military's Northern Command also issued social media posts showing Marines and Soldiers continuing to deploy along the border to support the Department of Homeland Security and US Customs & Border Protection’s immigration and border security operations:
To make sure nothing gets in the way of the Trump Administration's messaging about their immigration raids, the Department of Defense took the extraordinary step of ordering a temporary halt to all social media posts "from official accounts at all levels of the department" - with one notable exception:
"This suspension does not apply to social media communications concerning DoD 's current operations defending our southern border --- in fact, this is a top priority for the Department" -US Department of Defense (January 24, 2025)
As a media professional with decades of experience, I must confess that (like NBC) I am impressed by the messaging discipline so far in the second term of the Trump administration. I will continue to cover their efforts to shape public opinion in future editions of US Border News.
What are your thoughts about the immigration operations underway around the country?
Share your opinion in the comments on this article!
Abrazos,
Jack Beavers
