Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) on Sunday said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) fled a Navy base near Chicago during a visit from Democrats.
Trump border czar Tom Homan confirmed late last month that the Trump administration was discussing using Naval Station Great Lakes, which is near Chicago, to back up immigration detention efforts.
Duckworth said she, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) had asked DHS about what they were doing at the Naval Station Great Lakes. Initially, DHS told the lawmakers they could not visit the base, Duckworth said.
“Senator Durbin, myself, Senator — Congressman Schneider sent a request into DHS to ask them to explain what exactly are you going to be doing at Great Lakes, and can we come look at your facility so we have a better understanding of what your operations are, and they replied, no, you can’t, and, in fact, gave their staff the day off on the day that we went to go look at the facilities and locked the doors and left the base,” Duckworth told CBS’s Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation,” referencing Naval Station Great Lakes.
“Basically, they fled the base,” she added.
Homan on Sunday said that Chicago and other “sanctuary cities” should expect to experience immigration enforcement action in the following week.
“Absolutely,” Homan in a CNN’s “State of the Union” appearance in response to being directly questioned about enforcement action in Chicago this week.
“You can expect action in most sanctuary cities across the country,” he continued. “President Trump’s prioritized sanctuary cities because sanctuary cities knowingly release illegal alien public safety threats to the streets every day. That’s where the problem is.”
“We don’t have that problem in Florida, where every sheriff and chief works for us, right, or Texas, so we got to send additional resources to the problem areas, which are sanctuary cities,” he added.
The Hill has reached out to DHS for comment.
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