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A rightwing influencer accompanied officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) in Chicago on Sunday as the agency ramps up arrests in the city. Ice agents arrested four people on the city’s south-west side.
Ben Bergquam, the rightwing internet personality, was with agents, filming and making content as well as getting into altercations with local residents along the way, according to a video the Guardian viewed on X. In the video, he appears to be in the car with Ice agents and nearby as they arrest people; later on he yells at a group of Chicagoans who are gathered to prevent Ice operations that they are “the enemy within”.
Bergquam often travels to migrant shelters and protests, and has even filmed an Ice raid in Chicago previously to prove wrongdoing by those opposed to Donald Trump and his agenda. In a 2024 video he falsely claimed that Hurricane Helene victims wouldn’t be helped out financially because the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), which is a part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), spent all its money housing migrants in Chicago.
Usually based in Fresno, California, Bergquam has been traveling to the Illinois city since at least 2019, according to Block Club Chicago, when he falsely accused a local pastor of being part of a transnational group that guided migrant caravans from Central and South America. He is a part of the same rightwing network, Real America’s Voice News, that hosts shows by Steve Bannon, Charlie Kirk and other far-right figures.
“Ice has always operated in Chicago, targeting enforcement around the dangerous criminal aliens that are drawn to this sanctuary city, which protects them over law-abiding citizens,” the immigration agency told the Guardian, but did not respond to questions about whether it had authorized Bergquam to attend Ice enforcement activities. “We will continue our law enforcement and public safety mission, undeterred, as we surge Ice resources in the city in coordination with our federal partners from across the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice.”
Bergquam did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The Department of Homeland Security posted on X that the agency’s operations on Sunday and Monday in Chicago constituted what it called “Operation Midway Blitz”, with a focus on the predominantly Latino neighborhoods surrounding the Midway airport.
This comes just as the supreme court ruled that Ice can continue its operations in Los Angeles, which were paused because of how the agency was conducting itself and detaining people based on criteria that included “blatant racial profiling”, according to a US district judge.
Trump took aim at Chicago’s sanctuary policies and depicted it as crime-infested On Saturday, he posted to Truth Social: “Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” but he walked back that statement on Sunday. His stated plan is to deploy the national guard to the city to combat crime, as he has done in Los Angeles and Washington DC. However, the city’s crime rate over the summer was the lowest in 60 years, according to WBEZ.
Bergquam visited Chicago in January and accompanied the “border czar”, Tom Homan, on Ice raids, and again in April when he stood outside a city shelter that served newly arrived migrants and unhoused Chicagoans, and pointed at women standing outside, calling them “illegals”.
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Members of the DHS and White House officials have put together their own sizzle reels to show off Ice operations and used the opportunities to promote their mass deportation plans, with the DHS secretary, Kristi Noem, fully glammed up for videos during Ice raids. The DHS, the White House and Noem have all posted on social media in a bizarre fashion about the raids, with one August post from the DHS featuring a video of Ice agents raiding a car wash set to the 1976 single Car Wash by Rose Royce.
They have even had Dr Phil, the celebrity physician whose real name is Phil McGraw, attend, calling into question what purpose these raids serve for the agency.
Chicago’s mayor, Brandon Johnson, posted on Monday on X that he was not made aware of the federal government’s activities in the city when they began: “The City of Chicago received no notice of any enhanced immigration action by the Trump administration.
“We remain opposed to any potential militarized immigration enforcement without due process because of ICE’s track record of detaining and deporting American citizens and violating the human rights of hundreds of detainees.”
