A Chicago-area cop lost his job for telling ICE where to find illegal aliens.
Now the man who fired him just admitted he's been trying to do this for twelve years.
What he said out loud should make every law enforcement officer in America furious.
What a Cop in a Sanctuary City Actually Did for ICE
In October 2025, while Operation Midway Blitz was sweeping criminal illegal aliens off Chicago-area streets, Elgin Officer Jason Lentz posted a sarcastic message tagging the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The post read "If I were ICE, I wouldn't check…" followed by a list of specific Elgin locations — each one accompanied by dry commentary suggesting agents would find nothing there.
He was pointing federal law enforcement toward illegal aliens in the city he swore to protect.
Elgin Police Chief Ana Lalley pulled him off the streets the very next day.
Five months later — after an independent investigation, a Civilian Review Board recommendation, and sign-off from the city's corporation counsel — Elgin terminated Officer Lentz for misconduct.
His crime: telling ICE where to look.
The City Manager Who Admitted He Tried to Fire This Cop in 2014
Here's what Elgin City Manager Rick Kozal said when asked about the firing.
"I was among those in the city administration demanding Lentz's firing in 2014 for similar misconduct," Kozal said. "While an arbitrator ultimately overturned the city's decision to fire Lentz and impose a six-month suspension instead, Elgin succeeded in establishing precedent for holding police officers accountable for inflammatory social media posts before such disciplinary action became the norm."
The city manager who wanted Lentz gone in 2014 bragged publicly about waiting twelve years to finish the job.
An arbitrator overturned that first firing. The union fought and won. Lentz got full back pay, full seniority, and every contractual benefit reinstated.
So Kozal waited. And when a cop on the ground tried to help DHS remove dangerous people from his community, Kozal had his moment.
Operation Midway Blitz Was Removing Criminals from Illinois — and This Cop Tried to Help
Lentz made his post at the height of Operation Midway Blitz — the DHS operation launched in honor of Katie Abraham, a Chicago-area woman killed by a criminal illegal alien drunk driver in Urbana.
As former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem traveled to Chicago to mark the operation's milestone, federal agents had already arrested more than 1,000 criminal illegal aliens — armed robbers, MS-13 members, child abusers, kidnappers, and pedophiles who had sought protection under Illinois's sanctuary policies, according to DHS.
A cop who knew his city tried to help.
Elgin fired him for it.
That same month, the Elgin City Council was debating a new "Welcoming City" ordinance to formally restrict cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson had just signed an executive order banning ICE from city property, declaring "ICE lies, and people die."
Lentz saw all of it and chose to help ICE anyway.
He paid with his career.
The Message Every Cop in a Sanctuary State Just Received
Rick Kozal waited twelve years for another shot at Jason Lentz.
Every officer currently serving in Elgin — or anywhere in Illinois — watched what happened next.
DHS arrests more than 1,000 gang members, child abusers, and violent criminals in your state. A cop on the ground tries to help. The man running his city goes on record bragging he's been trying to destroy that cop's career since 2014.
Lentz walked away with one thing Kozal couldn't touch — a disability pension approved before the firing and protected under Illinois law. That's it. That's what you get for trying to help ICE remove the worst criminals from your community.
Every officer in that department watched this happen. Every officer in Illinois watched this happen.
Rick Kozal just told every cop in Illinois exactly what happens when you help ICE.
Sources:
- Fox 32 Chicago, "Chicago suburb fires officer over social media posts tied to federal immigration crackdown," March 2026.
- The Heartlander, "Fired again: Suburban Chicago cop axed for pro-ICE posts a decade after his brief termination over Ferguson comments," March 23, 2026.
- Department of Homeland Security, "Secretary Noem Travels to Chicago as Operation Midway Blitz Reaches More Than 1,000 Illegal Aliens Arrested," October 3, 2025.
- Elgin Patch, "Officer Fired Over Social Media Posts Suggesting Federal Immigration Raids," March 2026.
- Washington Times, "Chicago mayor signs executive order banning ICE from city property amid sanctuary showdown," October 2025.
