Trump suggests during a 60 Minutes interview that his violent and unaccountable mass deportation agenda targeting immigrants and U.S. citizens alike should go even further
During the past several weeks alone, we’ve seen mass deportation agents operate with an accelerated ruthlessness and impunity. These masked agents have not even spared clergy members, who have been shot with pepper balls for peacefully assembling to condemn the targeting of immigrant community members, detained despite holding legal immigration status, and had their faith credentials put into question. When a senior administration official commented on the pepper-balling of a Chicago clergy member earlier this fall, she derisively used quotation marks when addressing David Black as a “pastor.” As one top religion reporter noted, at least seven clergy members have been filmed getting hit.
Despite these attacks targeting the personal freedoms of community members regardless of legal immigration status, the administration still feels there’s more violence and violations of personal freedoms to be had. During a heavily-edited 60 Minutes interview that aired last weekend, Donald Trump claimed his immigration enforcement raids actually “haven’t gone far enough.”
Trump on 60 Minutes: ICE raids "haven't gone far enough"
“More recently, Americans have been watching videos of ICE tackling a young mother, tear gas being used in a Chicago residential neighborhood, and the smashing of car windows. Have some of these raids gone too far?” asked 60 Minutes correspondent Norah O’Donnell. “No. I think they haven’t gone far enough,” Trump responded before launching into a diatribe about the Obama and Biden administrations. “You’re okay with those tactics?” O’Donnell interjected. “Yeah, because you have to get the people out,” Trump replied, again launching into a fact-free rant claiming he’s targeting individuals who pose a risk to public safety. But according to TRAC Immigration, the vast majority of immigrants in ICE detention have no criminal record at all.
The fact is that the cruelty, chaos, and violence inherent to this administration’s mass deportation agenda is operating with little oversight or accountability and relying on outright lies – and is only threatening to get worse at continued risk to all communities.
Last month, NBC News reported that some ICE applicants have had disqualifying criminal backgrounds – including charges of strong-arm robbery and battery stemming from domestic violence – and have failed the written exam that includes questions “about when officers can and can’t conduct searches and seizures.” Seems like important stuff to not get right. Unsurprisingly, this comes after the administration has lowered hiring standards in order to meet massive hiring quotas under the Big, Ugly Budget.
This includes slashing training from months to just 47 day. If only the administration devoted a fraction of this energy to ensuring that furloughed federal employees could get back to their jobs. “It’s cutting standards and racing to hire exactly the wrong people, precisely as predicted,” as Garrett Graff wrote at his Doomsday Scenario newsletter.
But what’s also worrying is that the administration recently purged some ICE leadership in order to bring in officials from border agency Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a move meant to usher in an even more aggressive and militarized occupation of our neighborhoods. The promotion of one now-notorious CBP official puts a face to the risks. Under “Operation Midway Blitz” architect Greg Bovino’s command, the administration is creating “a Frankenstein force” that represents “the worst instincts of Washington,” as one former ICE official said.
On Tuesday, US Customs and Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino appeared in court over a video of him throwing a tear gas canister at protesters last week in Chicago’s Little Village neighbourhood. The action may violate a temporary restraining order restricting the use of force in Illinois.
Some of those instincts: Bovino has “described the force his team has used in Chicago—where someone was shot and killed, a pastor got hit with pepper balls from high above and the sound of windshields broken by immigration agents looking to snatch someone from their cars is now part of the Windy City’s soundtrack—as ‘exemplary,’” the Los Angeles Times reported last month. More recently, Bovino’s central role in encouraging the use of violence against Chicagoans expressing their right to protest “was captured in a video in which he is seen throwing a tear gas canister into a crowd, despite a judge having previously prohibited its use to quell protests,” El PAÍS reported.
None of that seems to bother Bovino, who said during an interview with the Washington Post that the aggressive use of tear gas against city residents, including faith leaders, is being used to “create peace and to save lives.” But not only did Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s plea to allow kids to celebrate Halloween go ignored, federal immigration agents were reportedly spotted wearing Halloween masks. How’s that for creating “peace”?
Pritzker makes a direct appeal to Greg Bovino to not terrorize kids over the Halloween weekend
After Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were reported to be wearing horror masks while patrolling in Los Angeles, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) responded — ‘Happy Halloween.’
— NowThis Impact (@nowthisimpact.bsky.social) 2025-11-03T19:03:47.515Z
“Their definition of peace and order includes tossing tear gas into a Halloween parade and shooting faith leaders with pepper balls,” responded America’s Voice Executive Director Vanessa Cárdenas. “But as President Trump is calling for and CBP Commander Bovino makes crystal clear, the administration’s attitude is, you ain’t seen nothing yet. They’re promising to bring more of the cruelty and chaos that Chicagoans are recoiling from to other cities with their unprecedented billions in new immigration enforcement funding, without oversight or accountability.”
Meanwhile, Bovino’s boss is telling us to not believe our lying eyes. Last week, Department of Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem falsely claimed that “no American citizens have been arrested or detained.” That no Americans have been targeted by mass deportation would be news to Marimar Martinez, a Chicago-area U.S. citizen who was shot five times by an immigration agent last month. Body camera footage “appears to contradict the government’s allegation” that Martinez “drove toward officers before one of them opened fire on her,” Chicago Tribune reports.
Noem’s claim would also be news to Edgar Ruiz, another Illinois resident and U.S. citizen who was tased in the face in September. And, more recently, ProPublica reported how federal immigration agents have in fact targeted more than 170 U.S. citizens during the first nine months of Trump’s term (and the true number is likely far higher, since the federal government refuses to track these violations). That includes four U.S. citizen children “who were held for weeks with their undocumented mother and without access to the family’s attorney until a congresswoman intervened.”
These violent and abusive tactics characterized by haste, sweeping scope, and militaristic aggression actively undermine the safety of our communities. “FBI agents reassigned to round up immigrants have had to walk away from investigations into violent predators who target and exploit children online,” NBC News reported. Over at the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), roughly 25% of operations have shifted from targeting drug cartels and fentanyl traffickers to carrying out immigration raids.
Remember that it wasn’t that long ago that Trump and his political allies were pretending to care about the nation’s deadly fentanyl crisis as pretext to further demonize immigrant communities. Now, mass deportation has become a drug trafficker’s dream by diverting vital resources to our neighborhoods in order to detain moms and dads.
The targeting of long-settled immigrant contributors and U.S. citizens also rages on during the shutdown as working families are facing hunger, homelessness, and continue to struggle with the costs of just trying to get by day by day. Unless, maybe, you’re a private contractor helping demolish part of the People’s House so Trump can build a $300 million golden ballroom. Then this week, as the White House press secretary refused to directly answer when asked if the federal government would honor guaranteed backpay for federal workers, the president continued to willingly deny emergency funding that would help feed millions of Americans, including children, seniors, and U.S. military veterans.
After a judge ordered Donald Trump to make SNAP payments, the wannabe king declared he will defy a court order and won't help people afford groceries.Trump's message to 42 million Americans: eat dirt.
— Elizabeth Warren (@warren.senate.gov) 2025-11-04T18:18:59.217Z
“What we’re seeing from Operation Midway Blitz is a dangerous preview of the broader mass deportation crusade,” Cárdenas continued. “It terrorizes Americans and makes us all poorer, weaker and less safe. We must stand up, push back, demand accountability and fight for a better and safer way.”
