Homeland Security Deploying 150 Agents In Chicago: Report

CHICAGO, IL — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will deploy 150 agents to Chicago, the Chicago Tribune said it learned Monday. The news comes amid growing controversy over reports of federal agents detaining protesters in Portland, Oregon, using unmarked vehicles.

Homeland Security Investigations agents will assist federal law enforcement and Chicago police, a source told the Tribune. What the HSI agents will be doing has not yet been disclosed, and the Chicago Police Department told the paper it had no comment.

President Donald Trump has often made threats to send federal law enforcement into Chicago since taking office in 2017. That same year, additional agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were deployed in Chicago to combat violence.

Trump's administration has also traded barbs with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who in May had an angry message for the president.

Mayor Lightfoot: Message To Trump 'Starts With F And Ends With U'

In June, the mayor responded defiantly to Trump's threat to "send the military" to Chicago, responding, "not in my city." Last week, when White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany referred to Lightfoot as the "derelict mayor of Chicago" who is doing a "very poor job of securing her streets," the mayor responded by calling her a "Karen" and telling her to "watch your mouth."

Trump blamed violence in Chicago and other cities on Democratic leaders on Monday and alluded to deploying federal agents the way it's been done in Portland.

"I'm going to do something that I can tell you, because we’re not going to leave New York and Chicago and Philadelphia, Detroit and Baltimore, and all of these," he said. "We're going to have more federal law enforcement, that I can tell you. In Portland, they've done a fantastic job. They've been there three days and they really have done a fantastic job in a very short period of time, no problem."

Federal agents sent to Portland have been "grabbing protesters off the street and detaining them in unmarked vehicles since at least July 14, according to local reports," Forbes reported. Videos and accounts posted by people who claim to have been detained claim protesters were arrested with no explanation and taken away in unmarked vehicles, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Reports out of Portland prompted an angry response from U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi over the weekend, who called it the work of "Trump & his stormtroopers."

During a press conference Monday, Lightfoot said she doesn't want a repeat of what's happening in Portland in Chicago.

"We don’t need federal agents without any insignia taking people off the streets and holding them, I think, unlawfully," she said, adding she had "great concern" over the possibility of it happening in Chicago.