The Daily Populous Sunday September 7th, 2025 morning edition
Authored by independent.co.uk and submitted by theindependentonline

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Communities across Chicago are preparing for Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids to begin as soon as Saturday, which President Donald Trump appeared to confirm in a bizarre Truth Social post this morning.

For weeks, the Trump administration has said Chicago is its next target in fulfilling the president’s mass deportation agenda. But they’ve provided few details about when it could begin or what law enforcement officials would be involved.

On Saturday morning, the president appeared to confirm Illinois Governor JB Pritzker’s suspicion that operations would begin this weekend, ahead of Mexican Independence Day celebrations, with an AI-generated image of himself boasting about deportations.

“‘I love the smell of deportations in the morning…’ Chicago is about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” Trump’s post read.

Attached was an AI-generated version of Trump in a cowboy hat, U.S. Army fatigues, and aviator sunglasses with military helicopters flying low over the Chicago skyline, engulfed in flames. On the image was written, “Chipocalypse Now”, appearing to reference the 1979 Vietnam War movie Apocalypse Now, directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

open image in gallery President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image on Truth Social, seemingly confirming that ICE operations would begin in Chicago on Saturday ( @realDonaldTrump/Truth Social )

Trump signed an executive order Friday afternoon to change the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War to indicate that America has “the strongest military,” he told reporters from the Oval Office.

The Independent has asked the White House and ICE for comment.

Pritzker responded to Trump’s post, calling him a “wannabe dictator.”

“The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city. This is not a joke. This is not normal. Donald Trump isn't a strongman, he's a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator,” Pritzker wrote on X.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said, “The President’s threats are beneath the honor of our nation, but the reality is that he wants to occupy our city and break our Constitution. We must defend our democracy from this authoritarianism by protecting each other and protecting Chicago from Donald Trump.”

Illinois Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi called Trump’s Truth Social post “reckless and un-American.”

Pritzker had already warned Chicago communities that he believed ICE was coordinating raids in tandem with Mexican Independence Day celebrations in the city, which are to begin on Saturday with a parade in the Pilsen neighborhood.

open image in gallery Anti-ICE protesters hold a demonstration outside of the Naval Station Great Lakes, where law enforcement is based, before immigration raids begin ( Getty Images )

While the Pilsen parade is still scheduled to go ahead, officials said there would be more volunteers “maintaining vigilance” and keeping an eye out for immigration law enforcement.

But other celebrations have been postponed or canceled in light of the potential immigration raids. Organizers of El Grito Chicago, a two-day festival in the downtown area, said they were postponing the event that was set to begin September 13.

"To proceed in spite of the advice we've received directly from city and state officials and potentially expose our community to becoming collateral damage would be irresponsible,” German Gonzalez, the El Grito Chicago organizer, said in a statement. “That's a risk we are not willing to take."

Organizers of the Wauconda Latin Heritage Festival said they were canceling the September 13 event in light of the potential ICE raids. Wauconda is a village in the north suburbs of Chicago where approximately 20 percent of its population is Hispanic or Latino, according to the 2020 census.

Little Village, a neighborhood with a high concentration of Mexican–Americans, said its parade scheduled for September 14 would still occur but with increased private security, immigration lawyers, and a rapid response team for immigration raids.

open image in gallery Chicago residents participate in the Mexican Independence Day parade on Saturday, despite warnings of immigration raids ( REUTERS )

Homero Lopez, a 51-year-old born and raised Chicagoan living in Little Village, told the New York Times that the city’s energy was different under the threat of immigration raids.

“The fear has never been this bad,” Lopez said. “They are really about targeting Hispanics.”

Lopez, who runs a mobile food stand, told the Times that during past Mexican Independence Day celebrations, the streets would be busy with vendors and patrons well into the night. Now, the streets are mostly empty, he said.

Earlier this year, protests erupted in downtown Los Angeles when the Trump administration sent ICE into communities with higher populations of Hispanic or Latino residents. While the protests were mostly peaceful, the minor disruption they caused the city led the president to deploy the National Guard and Marines to protect ICE officials.

brain_overclocked on September 6th, 2025 at 16:48 UTC »

> On Saturday morning, the president appeared to affirm Illinois Governor JB Pritzker’s suspicion that operations would begin this weekend, ahead of Mexican Independence Day celebrations, with an AI-generated image of Trump boasting about deportations.

> “‘I love the smell of deportations in the morning…’ Chicago is about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” the post read.

What the absolute flying fuck?

ChopperChange on September 6th, 2025 at 16:48 UTC »

Another day, another impeachable offense.

AcanthaceaePolitics on September 6th, 2025 at 16:44 UTC »

Literally suggesting war on his own people

This IS civil war.