In yet another display of the entitlement and anti-law-enforcement hostility that defines too many big-city business owners these days, a Chicago shopkeeper proudly refused service to ICE and Border Patrol agents—then ran to the media to complain when some of his own illegal-immigrant workers were arrested in recent enforcement sweeps.
This is the bizarre upside-down world modern liberal cities have created: criminal aliens are treated like victims, and the federal officers sworn to keep Americans safe are treated like pariahs.
The shop owner, whose name local media graciously shielded, admitted outright that he denied service to the agents. According to a Chicago journalist, “Bovino and other agents were refused service by the owner. Last week, the men in his shop were quickly turned away.”
The store owner actually bragged about it.
“I told him we’re not serving. I told him this was private property and he had to leave,” he said.
His justification? One of his workers—who turned out to be in the country illegally—was swept up in the recent ICE raids across the city. He described the arrest as “a scene you’d only see in a movie,” as though enforcing federal immigration law were some kind of outrageous spectacle rather than a basic responsibility of government.
Meanwhile, the enforcement effort itself has been a model of professionalism. ICE and CBP have been cracking down hard on sanctuary cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland—places where criminal aliens have been allowed to roam freely thanks to left-wing politicians more concerned with optics than public safety.
Greg Bovino, one of the leaders of the operation, made it clear that the mission isn’t slowing down just because activists are throwing tantrums.
“All day, every day,” Bovino posted. “We will not allow criminal illegal aliens to take over American communities. We will continue to track down illegal aliens in Los Angeles, Chicago, or any other city we choose.”
Unsurprisingly, activists and media personalities have done their best to paint the enforcement operations as excessive—especially after a helicopter-assisted operation was used to secure a rooftop during a raid. Bovino wasn’t having it.
“A lot of people said that was a little too much,” he acknowledged. “Well, exactly how would they intend to get a safety element onto the roof to make it safe for those going into that apartment or the neighboring buildings?”
He explained that raids are planned meticulously, based on intelligence, agent experience, and safety considerations. “A lot of different factors go into that,” he said. “Then you’ve also got that agent experience and knowledge.”
But the activist class remains outraged. The president of the Little Village Community Council, Baltazar Enriquez, said his organization is in panic mode, frantically calling activists in other states and trying to share “tactics” to interfere with federal operations.
“We’re still seeing operatives in Little Village,” Enriquez warned. “We know they’re coming back.”
Here’s a hint for him and the Chicago shop owner: They’re supposed to come back. That’s what law enforcement does.
And if illegal workers keep getting arrested, maybe the real problem isn’t ICE…
Maybe it’s the people who keep hiring them.
