As the Department of Homeland Security on Monday officially announced a ramped-up immigration enforcement effort in Chicago, local community groups said the ICE operation is more about stoking fear than making the city safer.

Activists in Chicago said the promises and warnings from the Trump administration of an immigration crackdown in Chicago are coming true on the Southwest Side and all across the city. 

They also said they want to remind immigrants in Chicago about their rights, and urged anyone who sees federal agents to take out their phones and start recording, following reports of people being arrested by ICE in the Archer Heights neigbhorhood on Sunday, including a local flower vendor.

People living on the Southwest Side said the extra immigration agents the Trump administration has been planning to send to Chicago are officially here. Early Monday, local residents reported spotting Homeland Security agents in nearby West Lawn.

"Many people were asking, 'When is this going to start? When is this going to start?' This has been happening. What we're seeing today this is an escalation," said Rey Wences, senior director of deportation defense at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. 

Neighbors said they are angry and on edge, with some relatives afraid to step outside their homes, for fear of being detained by ICE.

"These abductions were seemingly random, with agents profiling and approaching them on the street," Wences said. "Chicago is fighting back. We will keep each other safe."

Local organizers said federal agents were spotted Monday in the West Lawn neighborhood in the shadow of Midway International Airport.

West Lawn resident Eddie Guillen was canvassing the area after the sightings and an alleged ICE arrest, handing out "know your rights" materials to neighbors, many of whom he said were too afraid to open their doors.

"Just disgusted. You know, it's one of those things where we have to do better and look after the community," he said. "We're going to make sure that everybody has the opportunity to have representation."

Responding to the new operation, Mayor Brandon Johnson said the city has not received any official notice from the Trump administration about its immigration crackdown.

"We are concerned about 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," Johnson said in a statement.

President Trump mentioned the mayor and Gov. JB Pritzker on Monday, saying he's still waiting on a call from the governor, asking Mr. Trump to send in troops to help fight crime, a call Pritzker has said he would not make.

"They're not stupid people. Must be an ideology that's just buried in their head and you can't do a  damn thing about it," Trump said.

CBS News Chicago reached out to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for more details about Operation Midway Blitz. An ICE spokesperson provided a list of immigrants they are looking to detain, but did not respond to a request for information on the timing and the scope of their operation.