ICE ramps up Chicago patrols ahead of Mexican Independence Day celebrations

ICE ramps up Chicago patrols ahead of Mexican Independence Day celebrations.

Israel strikes Hamas political headquarters in Qatar.

Department of Homeland Security has begun its anticipated operation in Chicago, which sources say will gradually intensify over the coming weeks. ICE has already arrested several migrants in Chicago and will be steadily increasing its visibility and presence in the city. DHS is also increasing its sweeps in Boston and Trump’s border czar Tom Homan suggested that other sanctuary cities will follow.

So far, there is no sign of any National Guard mobilization in any of these cities, despite repeated threats from President Trump. Last week, a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration had violated the 19th century Posse comitatus Act by deploying National Guard and active duty Marines in Los Angeles. The judge issued an order barring any further military deployments in Southern California, which did not apply to the rest of the nation. Despite the judge’s ruling, both Trump and Homan have insisted that military deployments in Chicago and elsewhere are still on the table.

The ICE operations in Chicago are taking place over the stringent objections of Democrats in the municipal and state governments. Chicago Democrats have implied that the operation has far more to do with intimidating Chicagoans than with public safety. This week’s ICE patrols have coincided with planned citywide celebrations for Mexican Independence Day (September 16) and forced some celebrations to be postponed.

People of Mexican heritage – whether born in the US or in Mexico – account for about 21% of Chicago’s overall population and 74% of its Latino population. Recently, the Supreme Court allowed that ICE agents can stop people for any reason, even without reasonable suspicion that they are in the US illegally. This means ICE agents can stop people purely on the basis of what language they speak, where they congregated and their perceived race. Civil liberties advocates say the court “effectively legalized racial profiling”. This may give even Latino American citizens cause to fear being detained by ICE.

Israel strikes Hamas political headquarters in Qatar

Israel has carried out a series of airstrikes on the official headquarters of Hamas’ political bureau in Doha, Qatar. Hamas officials were meeting in that building at time to discuss a ceasefire and hostage release proposed by the US. Rather than waiting for an answer, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instead decided to attempt a decapitation strike.

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog confirmed that Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas’s current political chief, was the main target of the strike. While Israel has claimed Al-Hayya is dead, high-ranking members of Hamas say he survived this assassination attempt, but gave no further information on his status. Hamas claims that most of their leadership survived the strike, but one of al-Hayya’s sons and his office director have been confirmed killed. A member of Qatar’s security force was also killed.

This is not the first time Israel has targeted Hamas’ leadership on foreign soil in the midst of ceasefire negotiations. In July last year, Israel killed Hamas’ longtime political chief and lead negotiator Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, where he was a guest at the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian. As with the Doha strike, the Tehran strike came at a crucial moment after months of intensive negotiations. Following Haniyeh’s death, negotiations broke down, which seems to have been Netanyahu’s intention.

The families of hostages still in Gaza have increasingly condemned Netanyahu’s continuation of the war despite the increasing danger to the hostages as Israel’s attacks in Gaza intensify.. One hostage’s mother asked why Netanyahu “insists on blowing up any small chance of a deal”. Referring to Netanyahu, she said “anyone who deliberately endangers my child’s life is murdering him.

US denies involvement

Netanyahu has claimed “full responsibility” for the attack, apparently trying to distance the US from the attack on Qatar, a close US ally in the region. Trump has also disavowed the attack and said it “does not advance Israel or America’s goals”. He claimed that with only minimal warning that an attack was taking place, he instructed his special envoy Steve Witkoff to warn the Qataris. Doha has denied Trump’s claim of advance warning. Trump also claims he’s assured the Qataris that such an attack on their soil will not happen again.

The timing is suggestive. On Sunday, Trump’s said he had given Hamas his “last warning” to accept his ceasefire deal in what sounded very much like an ultimatum. He also said he believed there would be a ceasefire deal “soon”.

It’s possible the plan was to take out Hamas’ political leadership to force the group to capitulate. Since it appears at the moment that Israel was unsuccessful in its mass assassination attempt, it’s unclear where negotiations go from here, or if they will continue at all. Either way, Netanyahu gets more time to continue the military onslaught in Gaza, which is probably the only thing preserving his premiership.

Diplomacy at a dead end?

While the full details of the deal are not public, sources in the negotiating teams claim that the deal demands that Hamas release all remaining Israeli hostages in one go, in exchange for assurances from Trump that Israel will not resume its military assault on Gaza. The day before the Doha strike, Israeli media cited an Arab mediator who said Hamas negotiators were unimpressed with Trump’s proposal.

The Trump administration secured a ceasefire in January that held for nearly two months, but has since squandered any trust and goodwill built with Hamas. In May, the administration promised to lift Israel’s deadly humanitarian aid blockade of Gaza in exchange for the release of the last living US-Israeli hostage, Edan Alexander.

Hamas released Alexander, but Hamas leaders say the US immediately reneged on the deal. Instead of allowing credible aid organizations to return, the US installed the mercenary-run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Since May, well over 1000 Palestinians have been killed by both GHF mercenaries and Israeli forces while lining up at GHF sites to receive meager aid. The World Health Organization has recently confirmed famine conditions have taken hold in Gaza.

Gaza aid flotilla attacked by drone in Tunisian port.