Overview
- Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem spoke and helped offload about 1,200 donated trees at the Coast Guard’s annual Christmas Ship ceremony at Navy Pier.
- Dozens of demonstrators were moved back by Chicago police and kept chanting during Noem’s remarks at Polk Bros Park.
- Federal agents carried out enforcement actions in suburban Cicero on Friday and returned to Elgin on Saturday, with tear gas and pepper spray used during an hours-long standoff.
- A federal judge previously found 22 illegal arrests by ICE in the Chicago-area surge and extended a consent decree limiting operations through February 2026.
- Recently released federal data show roughly two-thirds of nearly 1,900 people detained early in the operation had no known criminal convictions or pending charges, and reporting has contradicted Noem’s claim that no U.S. citizens were detained.