All eyes were on the Little Village neighborhood on Tuesday, after U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino said he was coming to the community, amid word that he and some of the agents under his command will be leaving Chicago soon.

Bovino has been at the helm of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in Chicago for the past two months. He posted on X that he would be in Little Village — a community that has been a focal point throughout Operation Midway Blitz — but there had been no sign of him as of Tuesday afternoon.

Little Village neighbors said they're hesitant to believe that Bovino might leave Chicago soon. They took his word of a visit to Little Village seriously, and stood out on the streets watching for any sign of federal agents.

Faith leaders, neighbors, and community activists all gathered underneath the Little Village arch on West 26th Street Tuesday morning to deliver a message of peace and protection for the community.

Underneath the Little Village arch on 26th Street, neighbors stood in the cold, whistles ready, watching for federal agents led by Bovino.

"There's a lot of us stationed at the entry points where ICE would be coming through," one volunteer said.

Those in attendance at the arch  onTuesday stood in solidarity against immigration enforcement — praying while holding signs.

"This administration has no empathy for no one but themselves, and they see us like animals — they don't see us like humans," said Baltazar Enriquez, president and chief executive officer of the Little Village Community Council. "So we want to show the human sign to it, that we're not the savages — that they're the savages. They're the ones with the face masks, with big guns, and we just have whistles."

At the same time, rapid response teams took shifts as three U.S. officials told CBS News the Trump administration is making plans for Bovino and an unknown number of Border Patrol agents to leave, possibly as soon as this week, and head to North Carolina.. It was still unclear Tuesday how many of the roughly 200 Border Patrol agents now in Chicago will leave.

The plans could change, the officials cautioned, adding that some Customs and Border Protection personnel are expected to stay in Chicago.  

Federal sources said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is expected to continue operations in Chicago and across the Midwest.

Federal officials have yet to say what prompted the move for Border Patrol agents to leave, or how long the Operation Midway Blitz will continue without its commander.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker was also in Little Village on Tuesday, but for a separate, unrelated Veterans Day event.

Pritzker and other state leaders gathered at Manuel Pérez Jr. Memorial Plaza, at 4347 W. 26th St., to honor those who served in the military.

"I'll be relieved when we see that people aren't being tossed the ground and tackled," Pritzker said.

On Monday, in response to one of the governor's posts on X, criticizing Bovino and a group of Border Patrol agents for posing for an apparent photo opportunity in front of the Bean in Millennium Park, Bovino invited Pritzker to "join us in Little Village tomorrow."

In his first public remarks since CBS News first reported on the plans for Bovino and some Border Patrol agents to soon leave Chicago, Pritzker noted other federal agents are expected to continue carrying out immigration arrests in the region.

"I would not say that we're now going to be free of these terrorized neighborhoods, because ICE and CBP probably will still be here, though they will have fewer people, and we'll have to continue to protect our neighbors and our friends and our families," Pritzker said.

Citing a drop in crime in Chicago since the start of Operation Midway Blitz, a Homeland Security spokesperson said they're not leaving Chicago. Violent crime already had been trending significantly downward since the start of 2025 in Chicago, with record-breaking low numbers in the summer before the federal immigration enforcement effort began.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) also attended the Veterans Day event in Little Village, but did not speak to reporters about the status of Operation Midway Blitz.

The Veterans Day event in particular honored Miguel Perez Jr., a U.S. Army veteran who was deported to Mexico in 2018 over a drug conviction eight years earlier, but was later granted a full pardon by Gov. Pritzker and granted citizenship. Miguel Perez Jr. recently died.

There is no indication that Miguel Perez Jr. was related to the Manuel Pérez Jr. whom the plaza where the event was held honors. Manuel Pérez Jr. was a soldier in the U.S. Army who was killed in combat in the Philippines during World War II in 1945. The plaza was dedicated to Manuel Pérez Jr. by Mayor Jane Byrne in 1981.