[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 5 (Thursday, January 8, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S112-S113]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         OPERATION MIDWAY BLITZ

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, on December 23, the Supreme Court issued 
an order in Trump v. Illinois that checks this President and his 
authoritarian tendencies.
  The Court rejected the Trump administration's request to stay a 
temporary restraining order issued by U.S. District Judge April Perry, 
which had blocked Trump's unnecessary deployment of the National Guard 
in Chicago.
  In that unsigned order, the majority of the Supreme Court wrote, 
``The Government has failed to identify a source of authority that 
would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois.''
  This is good news, and we should recognize the significance of this 
moment: Even the Supreme Court's conservative supermajority refused to 
greenlight the President of the United States' blatantly unlawful 
overreach.
  Our government is supposed to help Americans--not go to war with 
them. The administration's deployment of the National Guard was 
dangerous political theater intended to sow fear and escalate the 
President's mass deportation campaign, not to reduce crime.
  The President's false rhetoric about Chicago being ``overrun'' with 
chaos was clearly a pretext to intimidate our city and normalize the 
deployment of soldiers on our streets.
  To protect civil liberties and civilian rule--pillars of democracy--
our country has long upheld the norm that the military does not police 
our cities.
  The Supreme Court recognized that, in this country, the circumstances 
where the military may be used to execute the laws are exceptional and 
thankfully acted as a check on this President, at least at this 
preliminary stage.
  The cost of this National Guard operation has already been enormous. 
The operations, maintenance, and personnel costs for federalizing the 
500 National Guard soldiers for deployment in Illinois reached an 
estimated $20 million in a 2-month span.
  That comes out to more than $300,000 per day.
  That bears repeating: $20 million and 500 Guard personnel away for 
weeks on end from their families, their jobs, their communities . . . 
not performing any missions, but simply used by the President to 
threaten a reign of terror in the city of Chicago. It is 
unconscionable.
  As of today, these troops are finally, slowly demobilizing and 
getting ready to head home. But unfortunately, the presence of 
militarized immigration operations is likely to continue in Chicago and 
around the country, along with the egregious use of excessive force by 
these Federal immigration agents.
  Just yesterday, an ICE agent shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis. 
The video of the shooting is horrific and contradicts the self-defense 
narrative that DHS has attempted to spin. Minnesota officials have 
rightfully promised a full, fair, and expeditious investigation. DHS 
Secretary Kristi Noem has dodged testifying under oath before the 
Senate Judiciary Committee for months. What happened in Minneapolis 
yesterday was an unacceptable tragedy. She must testify before the 
Judiciary Committee, immediately.
  Meanwhile, across the country, camouflaged and masked Federal 
immigration agents continue to deploy Black Hawk helicopters, armored 
vehicles, and a variety of chemical agents, including near schools, 
playgrounds, apartment buildings, and churches.
  And the Department of Homeland Security refuses to provide 
information about the costs of these dangerous operations in Illinois. 
The Chicago Tribune estimated that these militarized immigration 
operations cost at least $40 million over a 10-week period.
  In the wake of these operations, families are afraid to leave their 
homes, parents are scared to walk their children to school, and workers 
and vendors fear being pulled from the streets and detained simply for 
the way they look or the language they speak.
  The Trump administration has repeatedly justified these militarized 
raids as necessary to target the ``worst of the worst.'' But the facts 
tell a different story, one that I have laid out repeatedly on this 
floor.
  In one instance, on a list of 614 detainees submitted to a Federal 
court, the administration identified criminal histories for just 16 of 
the detainees. That shakes out to less than 3 percent of arrestees.
  And people with no prior criminal backgrounds, including legal 
residents and U.S. citizens, were swept up.
  As the President flirts with future military deployments and 
continues his militarized immigration raids, we know his campaign of 
terror will not stop at Chicago.
  And while he failed in his attempt to use Chicago as ``training 
grounds'' for military forces, the scale and tactics of Operation 
Midway Blitz have given him a blueprint for similar operations

[[Page S113]]

across the country, including in Minneapolis this week.
  So I ask my Republican colleagues, Will you denounce this President's 
use of troops in our communities before a city you represent becomes 
the administration's next ``training grounds''?
  I will continue to speak out and conduct oversight of this President, 
and I hope my Republican colleagues will join me in that effort.

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