Operation Midway Blitz commander rebuts Pritzker’s ‘crazy rhetoric,' warns it could lead to violence

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker accused Operation Midway Blitz Commander Gregory Bovino of targeting minorities, saying federal authorities had "acted violently against people" and detained those "who have Brown skin or who speak with an accent." 

Bovino fired back, forcefully denying the claims on "Fox & Friends" Wednesday. 

"When you have this crazy rhetoric by folks like that governor or some of the other elected representatives that we've seen, all that does is lead to violence against our law enforcement officers and agents," Bovino said on "Fox & Friends."

"What we tell our agents is, we're legal, ethical, and moral in our operations every day, but we are going after those criminal illegal aliens with a vengeance."

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Operation Midway Blitz commander Gregory Bovino (left) and Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker  (right). Bovino fired back at Pritzker for accusing him of profiling people based on accent and skin color. (Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images (left); Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images (right))

The Department of Homeland Security recently ramped up its blitz of Chicagoland with Bovino's help, adding to the Trump administration's immigration enforcement operations enacted in other major U.S. cities like Los Angeles and New York City.

The operation has triggered immediate pushback from Democratic officials like Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who have both persistently opposed federal crackdowns led by the administration.

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Demonstrators march past the Chicago Theater during a protest against President Donald Trump's immigration policies on Sept. 6 in Chicago. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Bovino shot down the idea that agents are targeting people on the basis of accents or skin color, telling Brian Kilmeade they are looking for individuals who "violated our immigration laws" and "vile criminals that harm thousands of American citizens each year."

"Perhaps the governor would do well to realize that we're actually ridding his city and his state of these criminals," he said.

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"It has nothing to do with skin color, speech, or anything else. It's immigration laws."

Bovino also touted the operation's "great success," pointing to "several hundred" arrests thus far.

Fox News' Charles Creitz, Alexis McAdams, Michael Tobin and Patrick McGovern contributed to this report.