Tag Archives: Department of Homeland Security

Block Club Chicago: South Shore Residents Return To Ransacked Apartments After ICE Raid: ‘It Looks Like Hell’

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A “now renting” sign outside touts granite countertops. Inside, residents are trying to make sense of the raid that made their already neglected building even worse.

He’s an Army veteran now retired after three decades working for the U.S. Postal Service.

Federal agents pounded on the door of his South Shore apartment about 2 a.m. Tuesday.

“I told them they must have the wrong apartment,” the man said.

But armed agents busted open many doors after arriving in U-Haul trucks to raid the 130-unit apartment building at 7500 S. South Shore Drive. They woke up residents to handcuff them with zip ties and led them into unmarked vans.

Rodrick Johnson, a U.S. citizen, said he heard “people dropping on the roof” before FBI agents kicked in his door. He was stuffed inside a van with his neighbors for what felt like several hours until agents told them the building was clear, he said.

“They didn’t tell me why I was being detained,” Johnson said. “They left people’s doors open, firearms, money, whatever, right there in the open.”

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said federal agencies arrested at least 37 people in the operation at the building, which they claimed is frequented by members of Venezulan gang Tren de Aragua. About 300 federal agents, some landing on the roof from helicopters, descended upon the building, according to NewsNation, which was invited along for the operation.

The report didn’t mention women and children appear to be among the detained, said Brandon Lee, a spokesman with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. Organizers worry many people were taken without warrants.

“These were families with their children escorted out in the middle of the night,” Lee said. “This administration is using PR efforts to try to turn communities against their neighbors.”

Residents said the building had become home to Venezuelan migrants. The raid saw people’s apartments turned upside down, citizens held for hours and their neighbors taken away to unknown places. Belongings were stolen from apartments after the agents left the building open.

The Army veteran, who went blind recently and asked not use his name, said the agents moved on to the next apartment after coming to his home.

“I was trying to protect myself,” he said. “My nerves were shook.”

By Wednesday afternoon, the building appeared largely abandoned by residents.

Unsigned waivers allowing DHS to disclose “records about you to a third party” were on front gates near “Know Your Rights” flyers. Broken windows scattered the property. Anyone could just walk in.

Dan Jones stood outside with police officers to file a report after his valuables — from his mattress and iPad down to his air fryer — were stolen after agents broke his door.

Jones slept at an aunt’s house following the raid and returned to find clothing and garbage that wasn’t his all over his apartment floor.

A small moving crew said they had been hired after the raid to clear out now-vacant units — but didn’t say by who. Doors were boarded up. In one room, there were zip ties and blood stains on the floor next to baby shoes. Flies swarmed around open fridges.

Water damage had caved in ceilings. Strollers and air conditioners and more things left behind blocked the middle of dark hallways. The lobby elevators were broken, with their buttons perpetually lit on the down arrow.

There was a strong odor everywhere.

Jones said the building’s “dirty” conditions predated the raid, but this was the worst he’d seen the place. It was the first of the month and his rent was due.

“It looks like hell,” Jones said. “ICE really just a gang.”

Jones said he’d been cordial with the Venezuelans who moved onto his floor.

“They were cool people,” Jones said. “We took it upon ourselves to at least keep it clean over here.”

Residents said problems at the property started after a new management company was brought on over a year ago. Cleanings became less regular, and two armed security guards were removed, they said.

That led to squatters, Jones said.

The Army veteran was guided through the mess in the lobby Wednesday by a caretaker. He couldn’t see the worst of it. The former postman complained of his mail being routinely stolen — and that he’ll have to keep living in the building as he tries to find somewhere else.

“It was a good place to live when I first got here,” he said.

The building’s ownership traces back to Wisconsin-based investor Trinity Flood, according to public records. Flood is facing a $27 million foreclosure lawsuit for not making loan payments on three South Shore properties she bought for $18 million in 2020, according to The Real Deal.

The city also filed suit in February against Flood’s LLCs for over 15 building code violations at the South Shore Drive property dating back to 2023, seeking that it be put under receivership, according to court records. The building failed its past 14 annual inspections, according to data from the city’s Department of Buildings.

“Building throughout has fire extinguishers that are missing,” city lawyers wrote in its legal complaint. “All stairways are filthy with strong smell of urine.”

Flood could not be reached, and the building’s management company, Strength In Management, did not return requests for comment.

The property was most recently estimated at an under $3 million market value, according to the Cook County Assessor’s Office. An online listing has it up for sale for more than $15 million as part of a “Jackson Park Portfolio” with two other South Shore buildings. The listing agent, Finley Askin, did not return a request for comment.

“Capital improvements to the portfolio consist of updated electric/plumbing, newer windows, on-site laundry, and renovated units,” the listing reads.

A “now renting” sign outside lists a number for Safe Harbor Reality, but agent Curtis Krolak said the company hasn’t managed the property in over two years.

“They never took it down,” Krolak said.

Since June, police have reported multiple gun crimes in the 7400 and 7500 blocks of South South Shore Drive, including two homicides, a shooting and two armed robberies, according to city data.

City crime outlet CWB reported that Jose Coronado-Meza, 25, accused of being a Tren de Aragua member, was charged with murder in June, with officials saying he killed another migrant inside the building.

Jonah Karsh, a community organizer with Metropolitan Tenants Organization, had tried to unionize tenants in August 2024 after a gas leak left some without functional stoves for over a month.

“The conditions were deplorable before the raid and have only deteriorated,” Karsh said. “The management was primarily responsible for failing to maintain the property and security.”

Walls on the building’s second floor were spray-painted with “Venezuela,” but it was unclear when. Many of the floor’s units had broken doors and appeared to be home to young children.

South Shore had been a landing spot for many Venezuelans when tens of thousands of migrants were bused from the southern border to Chicago and other Democrat-led cities.

“People stayed at shelters there and then found apartments,” Lee said.

At one point, migrants who received help through a state rental assistance program were living in the building, Karsh said. That funding was set to run out within months.

Karsh has kept contact with leasing tenants who did not have their doors broken or marked during the raid.

Those residents have since been sent instructions about receiving new keys.

“As of today, all points of entry to the building will be secured,” a Strength in Management employee wrote in an email. “Keys will be delivered to active tenants.”

Jones’ eyes welled with tears as he looked around his destroyed apartment. He wants to move. Rebuilding will be harder.

“My place was nice,” he said.

On his way out, he still tried to close the door.

South Shore Residents Return To Ransacked Apartments After ICE Raid: ‘It Looks Like Hell’
A “now renting” sign outside touts granite countertops. Inside, residents are trying to make sense of the raid that made their already neglected building even worse.

South Shore Residents Return To Ransacked Apartments After ICE Raid: ‘It Looks Like Hell‘

Daily Mail: Armed woman who ‘doxxed’ law enforcement is shot by ICE agents in Chicago after patrol was ‘rammed by 10 cars’

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A woman was shot by Border Patrol agents in Chicago after officers were ‘boxed in’ by a gang of vehicles, officials said. 

Authorities were on patrol in the Windy City’s South Side near 39th and Kedzie on Saturday when officials said they were ‘rammed by ten cars’.

According to a statement released by the Department of Homeland Security, one of the drivers was a woman armed with a semi-automatic weapon, forcing officers to open fire. 

Their statement added that the female in question was part of an internal threat bulletin circulated after allegedly doxxing law enforcement officials online. 

The posts, made under the name La Maggie, were shared to Facebook and involved an agent in Chicago. Daily Mail has approached the DHS for further comment on the person pictured on that account.

According to the statement the woman involved is a US citizen and she ‘drove herself to the hospital’ to get immediate care. 

That was denied by a spokesman for the Chicago Fire Department however, who told the Chicago Sun Times that the woman was found by teams and taken to hospital. 

It remains unclear at this time when the shooting unfolded, it is understood no officers were injured in the incident. 

A woman was shot by Border Patrol agents in Chicago after officers were ‘boxed in’ by a gang of vehicles, officials said. 

Authorities were on patrol in the Windy City’s South Side near 39th and Kedzie on Saturday when officials said they were ‘rammed by ten cars’.

According to a statement released by the Department of Homeland Security, one of the drivers was a woman armed with a semi-automatic weapon, forcing officers to open fire. 

Their statement added that the female in question was part of an internal threat bulletin circulated after allegedly doxxing law enforcement officials online. 

The posts, made under the name La Maggie, were shared to Facebook and involved an agent in Chicago. Daily Mail has approached the DHS for further comment on the person pictured on that account.

According to the statement the woman involved is a US citizen and she ‘drove herself to the hospital’ to get immediate care. 

That was denied by a spokesman for the Chicago Fire Department however, who told the Chicago Sun Times that the woman was found by teams and taken to hospital. 

It remains unclear at this time when the shooting unfolded, it is understood no officers were injured in the incident. 

‘CPD is not involved in the incident or its investigation. Federal authorities are investigating this shooting, and all further inquiries regarding the circumstances of this shooting should be referred to the appropriate federal authorities.’ 

The Trump administration has set its sights on Chicago in recent week to fulfill the next phase of their mass deportations. 

On Friday 13 people were arrested protesting near an immigration facility outside of the city that has been frequently targeted. 

At the ICE facility, some protesters aimed to block vehicles from going in or out of the area in recent weeks, part of growing pushback to the crackdown. 

The crackdown has been dubbed ‘Midway Blitz,’ the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced Friday that it has resulted in more than 1,000 immigration arrests.

Federal agents fired tear gas, pepper balls and other projectiles toward crowds in response and at least five people face federal charges after being arrested.

‘It is clear federal agents cannot be trusted to act to protect the safety and constitutional rights of the public,’ the Democrat said.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has ordered state agencies to coordinate possible action ‘to hold federal agents accountable’, after a raid on an apartment building this week.

Residents, some of whom were children, were pulled from the building regardless of status, detained for hours and some kept in handcuffs. 

Children were separated from their parents, while officers smashed windows and tore through apartments, leaving piles of debris in the hallways.

Homeland Security officials said 37 undocumented immigrants were arrested, some with criminal histories and two allegedly members of a criminal Venezuelan gang.

Federal agents shoot armed Chicago woman after patrol was ‘rammed’
Authorities were on patrol in the Windy City’s South Side near 39th and Kedzie on Saturday when officials said they were ‘rammed by ten cars’.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15162525/Federal-agents-shoot-woman-patrol-Chicago.html

Guardian: Body slamming, teargas and pepper balls: viral videos show Ice using extreme force in Chicago

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A facility in Broadview, a mostly Black suburb, has become the site of escalation and ‘targeted attacks’ on protesters

Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, and Gregory Bovino, a border patrol sector chief, were seen at an Ice facility in suburban Chicago on Friday where law enforcement has been cracking down on protesters.

In recent weeks the Broadview facility has become the site of escalations by federal agents against protesters and journalists. Videos of agents deploying tear gas, pepper balls and roughly throwing protesters to the ground have gone viral, amidst the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

The Trump administration targeted Chicago with federal law enforcement starting in August, falsely claiming there had been a rise in crime in the city in recent years. Since then, there have been increasingly aggressive reports of Ice enforcement in communities, including helicopters hovering over apartment raids. There have also been arrests of local officials and candidates for office who were protesting, including Illinois’ ninth congressional district Kat Abughazaleh, who went viral with a video of an Ice agent slamming her to the ground, Daniel Biss, the Evanston mayor, and a city alderman who were aggressively arrested while trying to advocate in a hospital setting.

In Broadview, several people were arrested early Friday morning, after Ice along with Illinois state police, the Cook county sheriff’s office and other local law enforcement arrested and shoved protesters gathered for a weekly demonstration.

A local cabinet-making business, adjacent to the Broadview Ice processing facility, has had tear gas seep into their warehouse and workers hit by pepper balls, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

On Thursday, a group of Illinois law enforcement agencies, including the Broadview police department had announced they were forming a unified command to “enable the peaceful expression of the first amendment”, as well as ensure that local businesses and people in Broadview were kept safe, according to a press release. The statement also said: “The agencies involved in this operation will neither assist nor obstruct enforcement of federal immigration statutes in compliance with state and federal law.”

Broadview, the mostly Black, working-class suburb of around 8,000 people, has become a flashpoint in what the Department of Homeland Security has deemed “Operation Midway Blitz.” There aren’t any figures publicly available for how many people are detained at the Broadview facility, which is not staffed or intended to be run as a detention center.

In the state of Illinois, almost 5,000 people have been detained this year, according to data from The Deportation Data Project and analyzed by the Chicago Sun-Times.

For the people detained inside the facility, they describe not receiving adequate food or water, and having to use the bathroom in public. One person described to a Chicago Sun-Times reporter, not having soap or toothpaste and dealing with severely overcrowded conditions.

Katrina Thompson, the Broadway mayor who has been in office in since 2017, said in a letter to DHS that Ice agents were “making war in our community”, last Friday, and in response the agency warned there would be a “s—t show” in Broadview.

The treatment of protesters and journalists has drawn attention to Broadview.

One protester, named A’keisha who declined to share her last name, said that it seemed like Ice agents wanted to hurt protesters.

“What was unique on the first day is that it didn’t feel like Ice had planned to use their legal tools to remove us,” she said. “They have the right, right to say, ‘Y’all gotta leave, arrest them.’ But they didn’t. They chose instead to be violent and, like, push us and throw us to the ground and drag us.”

A’keisha has been involved in faith-based movements to end mass incarceration for years and has organized against militarization for almost a decade. She said she was moved to join protests because of her Haitian heritage and solidarity with immigrant communities.

Another protester, Reverand David Black of the First Presbyterian church of Chicago, said that he was pelted with about seven or eight “pepper exploding pellets” that hit his head, face, torso, arms and legs, while in a position of prayer.

Nature, books and naked bike rides: Portlanders refute Trump claims they are ‘living in hell’Read more

“I’m not a political ideologue, but I am very deeply rooted in my faith, in the ways that it calls me to show up in this moment as someone who can proclaim the good news and call these Ice agents into their right mind,” he said.

Local journalists have been detained or attacked by federal agents as well. Over the weekend, Steve Held, Unraveled Press co-founder and reporter, was detained by agents while covering a protest outside of the facility. A Chicago-Sun Times reporter was also tear-gassed and pelted with “rubber projectiles”, according to the outlet.

On Sunday morning, CBS Chicago News reporter Asal Rezaei, was attacked by an Ice agent who shot a pepper ball into her car from about 50ft away and was exposed to chemicals on her face. She said in a social media post that after the incident, she was “puking for two hours”.

In addition to protesters and journalists, legal observers, often delineated in the Chicago-land area by their bright neon green hats that read “legal observer” were also attacked in recent weeks by Ice agents.

“There has been an extreme escalation in the use of force by federal agents at that facility against people who are exercising their first amendment rights, and targeted attacks against members of the press and legal observers with The National Lawyers Guild,” said Molly Armour, a volunteer attorney with the National Lawyers Guild Chicago for over 15 years.

What was most troubling about the behavior of federal agents at Broadview for her, Armour said, was the use of “violent military-style offensive weaponry used against people, such as tear gas canisters, [and] different kinds of aerosol chemical agents”, particularly against people just observing what’s going on.

Body slamming, teargas and pepper balls: viral videos show Ice using extreme force in Chicago
A facility in Broadview, a mostly Black suburb, has become the site of escalation and ‘targeted attacks’ on protesters

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/04/ice-chicago-extreme-force-protesters-journalists

CNN: 37 people arrested and American kids separated from parents after ICE raid at Chicago apartments

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Adults and children alike were pulled from their Chicago apartments, crying and screaming, during a large overnight raid that has left tenants and neighbors shaken.

“I’ve been on military bases for a good portion of my life,” said Darrell Ballard, who lives in the building next door. “And the activity I saw – it was an invasion.”

Ballard recalled seeing residents detained outside the building for hours, after seeing a Black Hawk helicopter flying over the five-story building in the city’s South Shore neighborhood and military-sized vehicles and agents filling the parking lot early Tuesday morning.

All were part of a multiagency operation that led to the arrest of 37 undocumented immigrants, most of them from Venezuela but also including people from Mexico, Nigeria and Colombia, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told CNN.

In the past weeks, federal agents have been deployed on the streets of Chicago and have arrested more than 800 undocumented immigrants since September 8 during what the administration has titled “Operation Midway Blitz,” according to a news release from DHS.

It is unclear if those arrested at the South Shore apartment building are included in that number.

The building was targeted because it was “known to be frequented by Tren de Aragua members and their associates,” and two people arrested are believed to be members of the Venezuelan criminal gang, according to DHS. A number of others arrested had criminal histories that included aggravated battery and possession of a controlled substance, the agency said.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker condemned the federal operations in a statement released Friday.

“Federal agents reporting to Secretary Noem have spent weeks snatching up families, scaring law-abiding residents, violating due process rights, and even detaining U.S. citizens. They fail to focus on violent criminals and instead create panic in our communities,” the governor said.

Shattered windows marked the apartment building as seen in photos from the aftermath of the raid. Hallways were lined with debris and plastic bags while clothing, wall decor and lamps became piles of litter inside apartment units. CNN has reached out to the apartment building managers for comment.

People detained no matter their status

Tenants said it appears everyone in the building was detained by federal officers, including US citizens.

“It was scary, because I had never had a gun in my face,” Pertissue Fisher, who lives in the building, told CNN affiliate WLS. “They asked my name and my date of birth and asked me, did I have any warrants? And I told them, ‘No, I didn’t.’”

Fisher said she was handcuffed anyway, before being released around 3 a.m. and was told anyone with an outstanding warrant, even if it was unrelated to immigration, would not be released.

At least one US citizen with an active narcotics warrant was arrested during the operation and turned over to the Chicago Police Department, DHS said.

Ballard said the majority of those he saw handcuffed outside were Black residents and “quite a few” were detained for two to three hours.

Four children who are US citizens with undocumented parents were taken into custody, DHS said, including a child who was allegedly found with a Tren de Aragua member.

“For their own safety and to ensure these children were not being trafficked, abused or otherwise exploited, these children were taken into custody until they could be put in the care of a safe guardian or the state,” a DHS spokesperson said.

Across the country, US-born children have become collateral damage in the Trump administration’s unprecedented crackdown on undocumented immigrants. CNN identified more than 100 US citizen children, from newborns to teenagers, who have been left stranded without parents because of immigration actions this year, according to a review of verified crowdfunding campaigns, public records and interviews with families, friends, immigration attorneys and other advocates.

Another neighbor, Eboni Watson, said she and others ducked for cover when hearing several flash bangs go off.

“They was terrified. The kids was crying. People was screaming. They looked very distraught. I was out there crying when I seen the little girl come around the corner, because they was bringing the kids down, too, had them zip tied to each other,” Watson told WLS, recalling trucks and military-style vans were used to separate adults from their children.

In its statement addressing the raid, DHS noted it was still gathering information about those arrested “due to the size” of the operation and will provide more information.

“Federal law enforcement officers will not stand by and allow criminal activity flourish in our American neighborhoods,” DHS said.

37 people arrested and American kids separated from parents after ICE raid at Chicago apartments | CNN
Adults and children alike were pulled from their Chicago apartments, crying and screaming, during a large overnight raid that has left tenants and neighbors shaken.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/03/us/chicago-apartment-ice-raid

Newsweek: ICE Agents Dragged Naked Children Out of Homes in Chicago Raid: Neighbors

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Several South Shore residents reported witnessing federal immigration agents forcibly removing unclothed children from apartments during the pre-dawn raid in Chicago.

Newsweek reached out to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for comment via email.

Why It Matters

Immigration enforcement is at the forefront of the national conversation surrounding the policy in the United States as the administration pushes to remove millions of migrants without legal status. The administration is facing increased scrutiny as well as several allegations of misconduct against federal agents.

What To Know

In the pre-dawn hours of September 30, federal agencies coordinated a large-scale immigration enforcement action targeting a five-story apartment building near 75th Street and South Shore Drive, according to a Department of Homeland Security official. The DHS said that 37 individuals were arrested and that the operation involved the U.S. Border Patrol, FBI, and ATF.

The agency claimed the building and surrounding area were tied to activity by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, and that those arrested included people allegedly involved in drug trafficking, weapons offenses, or immigration violations.

Ebony Sweets Watson, who lives across the street from the building, told WBEZ Chicago that she saw federal agents dragging residents, including children, out of the building without clothes and loading them into U-Haul vans. She said the children were separated from their mothers.

Watson says she observed what appeared to be “hundreds” of agents outside her home.

“It was heartbreaking to watch,” Watson told the news station. “Even if you’re not a mother, seeing kids coming out buck naked and taken from their mothers, it was horrible.”

“Stuff was everywhere,” Watson told WBEZ. “You could see people’s birth certificates and papers thrown all over. Water was leaking into the hallway. It was wicked crazy.”

Pertissue Fisher, a woman who lives in the building, told CBS News Chicago: “No shoes, the kids didn’t have no shirts or no pants on. They just treated us like we were nothing.”

This raid comes amid Operation Midway Blitz, a federal push across Chicago and the wider Illinois area that began in early September. The initiative aims to apprehend undocumented immigrants, particularly those with criminal records, under a broader mandate by DHS.

The administration is coordinating multiple federal agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the U.S. Border Patrol, the FBI, and the ATF, to carry out enforcement operations nationwide. Critics have characterized some of the immigration raids as aggressive and have raised concerns about potential violations of due process and the treatment of migrants in custody.

ICE and U.S. Border Patrol officers arrested more than 800 individuals without legal status during Operation Midway Blitz, according to a press release by DHS issued on October 1.

What People Are Saying

A DHS official told Newsweek: “In the early morning hours of September 30, 2025, allied federal law enforcement agencies with CBP, FBI, and ATF, executed an enforcement operation in Chicago’s South Shore area, a location known to be frequented by Tren de Aragua members and their associates. Some of the targeted subjects are believed to be involved in drug trafficking and distribution, weapons crimes, and immigration violators.

What Happens Next

Immigration arrests are expected to continue as part of Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago.

ICE agents dragged naked children out of homes in Chicago: Neighbors
Two residents reported witnessing federal immigration agents forcibly removing unclothed children from apartments during the raid.

https://www.newsweek.com/ice-agents-dragged-naked-children-out-homes-chicago-raid-10823150

Irish Star: ICE agents drag children out of bed as they ransack Chicago apartment complex

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Chicago residents described the shocking experience following a late-night ICE raid on Tuesday, during which children were dragged out of their beds as the apartment complex was ransacked

A Chicago community is reeling following a late-night immigration raid on a South Side apartment complex.

Over 300 armed federal agents swarmed a five-story apartment complex late Tuesday evening in what became an hours-long immigration raid.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, alongside the FBI and U.S. Border Patrol agents, were targeting over 30 suspected members of the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said 37 people were arrested.

Federal agents were seen rappelling from a Black Hawk helicopter on top of the building.

“My building is shaking. So, I’m like, ‘What is that?’ Then I look out the window, it’s a Blackhawk helicopter,” witness Dr. Alii Muhammad told ABC7 Chicago.

Residents said they ducked for cover as they heard several flash bangs go off, reports MSNBC.

One resident described the experience as “terrifying.”

“It was terrifying. The kids was crying. People were screaming. They were very distraught. I was out there crying when I seen the little girl come around the corner because they were bringing the kids out too, they had them zip-tied together,” said resident Eboni Watson to ABC7 Chicago.

“It was scary because I never had a gun put in my face,” another resident told the outlet.

Although the raid was aimed at detaining the suspected gang members, many residents say that U.S. citizens and children were swept into the mix.

Watson told the outlet that trucks and military-style vans were used to separate parents from their children. Other neighbors said agents destroyed property to get in the building, with doors blown off their hinges and holes in the wall, reports ABC7 Chicago.

According to MSNBC, dozens of residents were pulled from their homes in zip ties, including children. Residents were detained and held for hours, and cops told them that if they had any unrelated warrants, they would not be returning to their residences.

The raid on the apartment complex comes as Chicago residents have continuously staged protests against increased immigration enforcement activity in downtown Chicago. U.S. President Donald Trump previously vowed to deploy National Guard Troops to fight crime in Chicago, mirroring his current approach in Washington, D.C.

Beginning on Sept. 9, the Trump administration sent ICE to the city through Operation Midway Blitz. The U.S. The DHS launched the operation, which focuses on individuals in the country without legal status who also have criminal records or pending charges.

On Tuesday, during a massive military meeting at the Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, Virginia, Trump declared that Chicago is one of many Democratic cities that should be used as a “training ground” for the U.S. military.

ICE agents drag children out of bed as they ransack apartment complex
Chicago residents described the shocking experience following a late-night ICE raid on Tuesday, during which children were dragged out of their beds as the apartment complex was ransacked

https://www.irishstar.com/news/us-news/ice-agents-drag-children-bed-36011822

Raw Story: Kristi Noem’s department scrambles to delete post after Trump supporter’s fury

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The Department of Homeland Security is backing down after right-leaning podcaster Teo Von unleashed public fury on them.

Von accused DHS of pilfering his image for its own social media promotion without permission, NOTUS reported.

In a video posted to DHS accounts, Von is seen saying, “Heard you got deported, dude, bye!”

“Yooo DHS i didnt approve to be used in this,” Von posted to X Tuesday night. “I know you know my address so send a check. And please take this down and please keep me out of your ‘banger’ deportation videos.”

“When it comes to immigration my thoughts and heart are alot more nuanced than this video allows. Bye!” he added.

Von has been a big supporter of Trump in the past, but that support may come with financial strings.

DHS deleted the post.

“It’s crazy to me that they would think this is OK,” Von continued in another comment. “What if someone attacks me tomorrow because they think I’m some final boss of deportations or somethin’.”

Von is credited with leading many new young, white men to MAGA during the 2024 campaign, and Von even welcomed JD Vance to his show. He has also been included in trips with the president to the Middle East.

Kristi Noem’s department scrambles to delete post after Trump supporter’s fury

https://www.rawstory.com/homeland-security-2674030009

Raw Story: Kristi Noem shocks with out-of-control ‘screaming’ at DHS staff meeting: insiders

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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stunned department officials with profane outbursts reacting to a series of critical news reports examining her chaotic leadership.

The former South Dakota governor and her de facto chief of staff Corey Lewandowski gathered DHS officials to complain about June reports showing that she demanded to personally sign off on payments over $100,000, which caused delays and bottlenecks throughout the department. Employees told New York Magazine the pair – rumored to be a couple – harangued them in harsh terms.

“They were screaming!” a DHS employee told the magazine. “The level of disrespect and screaming at everybody in that room — I think people were really shocked and taken aback.”

Another former DHS staffer said Noem and Lewandowski were clearly embarrassed by the reports, and they said the duo fed off one another’s negative energy as Noem dropped “multiple F-bombs” on subordinates. Sources said they were baffled when the pair accused others in the room of “lining their pockets” from government contracts – which struck them as projection.

“People are scared s—less of Corey,” said an administration official.

Lewandowski, a former Donald Trump campaign adviser, has been serving on a temporary basis as Special Government Employee after the White House ended his campaign to be DHS chief of staff over his alleged payments from foreign governments and rumors of an affair – the “worst-kept secret in DC,” according to one official – between the two, who are each married to other people.

“Everything has to go through Corey,” said a lobbyist who has done work with DHS. “It’s all based on ‘You’re my buddy, or you’re not my buddy. You hired my friend, or you didn’t hire my friend.’ That place just runs that way.”

Kristi Noem shocks with out-of-control ‘screaming’ at DHS staff meeting: insiders

https://www.rawstory.com/kristi-noem-corey-lewandowski

Raw Story: Kristi Noem demoted to ‘PR person’ as Stephen Miller runs DHS: ex-insider

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Stephen Miller is the one who really controls the Department of Homeland Security, former Trump administration Homeland Security staffer Miles Taylor — famous for his anonymous “resistance” op-ed during Trump’s first term — told former presidential adviser Sidney Blumenthal and historian Sean Wilentz on their “Court of History” podcast released this week.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has been demoted to nothing more than a mouthpiece for his agenda, he said.

“What do you hear about what people think on the inside about Miller’s power?” asked Wilentz, shortly after another revealing segment in which Taylor speculated that even President Donald Trump’s inner circle no longer sees him as fit for his duties.

“It’s almost absolute,” said Taylor. “You know, he would never say that … Stephen is very, very careful to always be entirely deferential to the president.” However, he said, in one revealing incident in 2018, Miller “was growing really, really frustrated with … the slow-walking that was happening over at the Department of Homeland Security when it came to some of the president’s more outlandish ideas. He wanted to do a lot of things that just, our lawyers knew would so clearly break the law, and you know, not only did we not want that for the country, but people like me didn’t want to go to prison because of it, right?”

And so Miller persuaded Trump behind the scenes to give him effective control of DHS, Taylor continued: “It wasn’t some public announcement, but he’d gone to the president and said, ‘Look, I’m tired of this, you know, basically give me the authority to make some of these decisions over at DHS and essentially override the Department.

“And he called me to tell me this. I remember where I was. I was driving on Capitol Hill, and it was the words he used that stuck with me. He said, ‘think of this as my coronation.” That’s what he called it. He called it his coronation, that he’d gotten the president to empower him to take on these new duties.”

“There’s a lot of royalist thinking it seems to me, automatic royalist thinking,” Blumenthal interjected.

“There is, though,” said Taylor. “And that was, I think, the most revealing thing that I ever heard come out of his mouth. And Stephen rarely — you really rarely get these unguarded moments with them, he’s extremely guarded, and that was sort of an unguarded moment from him but, I think, illustrative of not just where his head is at, but also how this administration, like you said, thinks of governance is, not in terms of democracy and checks and balances but, you know, how can you consolidate total rule. And so Stephen certainly has that inside this administration. He’s got much more authority than he had before, and you are seeing what that looks like if left unchecked.”

A key example, he added, is the deployment of the military to crush anti-deportation protests in Los Angeles, which has Miller’s “fingerprints all over it.”

“So, Kristi Noem, who is the chief bureaucrat, the secretary of DHS, doesn’t act like an actual cabinet secretary, and I say that besides her cosplay and you know various numerous costume changes,” said Wilentz. “She’s under the thumb of Stephen Miller, and I wonder what people on the inside say about that and how they feel about what’s going on there?”

“I think there’s a recognition in the Department that the current secretary is not a policy heavyweight,” said Taylor. “The result is … what can you do if you, you know, don’t have a command enough of the issues to run that department, or at least to be able to stand up to the White House and make decisions? Well, all you can do is PR, and I think that’s the role she’s settled into, is essentially the president’s Homeland Security PR person. And it’s not unreasonable or outlandish to say that Stephen Miller is running the Department of Homeland Security.

“I very much believe it and I know that day-to-day, that tactically that is what’s happening.”

Raw Story: Kristi Noem demoted to ‘PR person’ as Stephen Miller runs DHS: ex-insider

https://www.rawstory.com/stephen-miller-kristi-noem

Axios: ICE arrests rock Malden, Somerville

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It’s a familiar scene: neighbors, attorneys and activists rallying with immigrant families over the loved ones lost in the federal immigration system.

  • Dozens came together in Malden on Monday, this time for Edgar Hernan Elias Escobar.

The big picture: Elias Escobar, a native of El Salvador with no criminal record, joins a growing population of newcomers disappearing from the streets of Malden, Somerville and other Boston-area communities in the past two weeks.

Catch up quick: Elias Escobar, an undocumented immigrant who was obtaining papers through a family-based petition from his wife, was stopped by immigration agents on his way to a construction job Wednesday.

  • Agents smashed his car window and pulled him out, even after his wife, Leslie Perlera Gonzalez, showed up saying he had a pending immigration petition, GBH News reported.
  • A Department of Homeland Security official later told Axios he refused to roll down his window and that the “officers took appropriate action and followed their training to use the minimum amount of force necessary to resolve the situation.”

State of play: Elias Escobar is detained in the Plymouth County Correctional Center with other immigrant detainees.

  • Greater Boston Legal Services, where Perlera Gonzalez works, filed a lawsuit alleging his rights were violated.

Yes, but: The Trump administration has fought habeas lawsuits over immigrant detainees tooth and nail since ramping up immigration enforcement this year.

Context: Immigrants have historically been allowed to adjust their status through a handful of avenues if they have a relative or spouse who is a U.S. citizen.

  • With the exception of the first Trump administration, it is uncommon for immigration officials to detain and seek to deport an immigrant mid-petition or with legal status if the person poses no public safety threat, said Maggie Morgan, managing attorney for the GBLS immigration unit.

Morgan says she has seen reports of immigration agents detaining people before confirming their identity or status.

  • “This is violating due process not just for those individuals, but for everyone in the community who could be at risk of having this happen to them,” Morgan said.

Zoom out: The LUCE hotline has received more than 100 calls in the last week flagging immigration enforcement activity.

  • Somerville residents tried to stop immigration agents from questioning a man they stopped. He complied and, within minutes, was placed in handcuffs despite having no known record, Rep. Mike Connolly told the Cambridge Day.

What they’re saying: “I believe that if Hernan doesn’t get to come home, it has little to do with the rights or whether he deserves to be an American and more to do with the U.S. deciding who it likes,” Frank Pinto, Perlera Gonzalez’s cousin, told the crowd Monday morning.

The other side: The DHS official said any claims of racial profiling are “categorically false.”

  • “What makes someone a target of ICE is that they are in our country illegally—not their skin color,” the official said. “DHS enforcement operations are highly targeted, and officers do their due diligence.”

What we’re watching: A federal judge will have to decide whether Elias Escobar’s lawsuit can move forward and if he can continue to pursue his immigration application.

ICE arrests rock Malden, Somerville
An immigrant resource hotline received 100-plus calls last week.

https://www.axios.com/local/boston/2025/09/22/ice-arrests-malden-somerville