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09/23/2025 — WHAT WE’VE HEARD TODAY:
The TRiiBE is working in collaboration with indie investigative newsroom Unraveled Press and alt-weekly Chicago Reader to bring you confirmed sightings of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agents in the Chicago area.
Today, one woman captured footage of a federal agent attempting to hop the fence into her backyard in Chicago between the Galewood and Brickyard areas. Meanwhile, in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood, Ring camera footage captured apparent agents chasing down a man and detaining him on a residential block.
This morning, The Southwest Rapid Response Team reported federal agents in an alleyway at 52nd Street and Fairfield Avenue in Gage Park. The Elgin Rapid Response Team posted that a family was being detained as of 8:39 a.m. on the 400 block of Newport in the northwestern suburb of Hoffman Estates.
ICE has blocked off the entrance of the Broadview holding facility this morning, according to Unraveled Press. The Chicago Sun-Times reported this morning that a man with an orange envelope tried to enter the facility but was told by federal agents that anyone with an appointment has to go to the ICE Chicago field office at 101 W. Ida B. Wells Drive.
Today, two elected Police District Councilors in the 7th and the 12th Districts released a statement demanding the immediate release of Alejandro Fraire Valdez, who was arrested on Friday, Sept. 19. According to the councilors, Valdez — who they described as a “Chicago man” — was taken from the 5600 block of South Paulina in the South Side neighborhood of West Englewood.
“When he did not immediately provide identification, he was threatened with having his windows broken unless he exited the vehicle. He was then taken into custody by agents who abandoned his car with his wallet, ID, money, and other belongings inside. The vehicle was later stolen, compounding the harm to the family,” reads the press release from the Police District Councilors.
Valdez has reported inhumane conditions while being detained, such as not being provided food or “basic details about his detention,” and sleeping in an overcrowded room for a capacity of 80 but has over 160 people, according to the press release. It’s unclear where Valdez is being detained.
Along with the release of Valdez, the Police District Councilors are demanding the release of all others in detention, full transparency from ICE about where and under what conditions people are being held, as well as real actions from elected officials to protect families.
3:28 p.m.
There was another reported sighting of at least three federal immigration agents outside a Home Depot Tuesday afternoon in west suburban Oak Brook.
12:05 p.m.
Video shared to Facebook shortly after noon shows federal agents standing around in the parking lot of a Cook Brothers furniture store off Grand and Kostner Avenues in Chicago. This area has experienced frequent ICE activity over the last couple days. On Sept. 18, a video showed agents recording people observing their activity through their car windows — that took place a block south from Cook Brothers.
11:55 a.m.
Ring camera footage captured around noon and shared to social media just before 1:00 p.m. shows one man being detained by two apparent federal agents on a residential street in Chicago’s Belmont Cragin neighborhood.
Around the 3:40 mark of the video, two agents can be seen chasing the man from the right side of the screen to the left, yelling, “Police, stop! Policía!”
A third agent, who quickly jumps out of a white compact vehicle that had parked on the street moments before the chase, can be seen intercepting the man and pushing him hard into a fence adjacent to the sidewalk.
“Get the fuck up,” one of the agents can be heard saying, seconds before an unmarked white SUV and a black pickup truck arrive on scene. At least two more agents join the arrest.
All vehicles depart the scene less than five minutes later.
11:47 a.m.
Video shared to Facebook around 11:45 a.m. shows multiple federal agents and vehicles present in the parking lot of a Walmart in Bedford Park, IL. An observer on scene can be heard saying, “they’re like 10 cars deep.”
11:30 a.m.
A woman on facebook shared multiple videos of apparent federal agents trying to hop the alley fence into her backyard between Galewood and Brickyard areas on Chicago’s West Side. Surveillance video of alleyway shows an agent unsuccessfully trying to mount a garbage bin in order to get over the fence; from her back porch, the woman catches the same agent propped up on the fence railing. Later, a second agent fixes the garbage bin that the other agent knocked over.
11:22 a.m.
Joliet-based Warehouse Workers for Justice group posted on Instagram that several federal agents were spotted in the west suburb of Joliet this morning at 7:15 a.m. at a laundromat.
9:50 a.m.
A picture posted in the “REPORTE DE REDADAS DE ICE EN CHICAGO Y ALRREDEDORES” group on Facebook, which translates to “ICE RAID REPORT IN CHICAGO AND SURROUNDING AREAS,” shows a federal agent looking inside a car outside of Walmart. The Facebook user writes that the photo was taken at Diversey and Cicero Avenues in the West Side neighborhood of Hermosa.
9:26 a.m.
Video shared to Facebook shows an arrest taking place on 48th Street and Racine Avenue in the Back of the Yards community. With the camera pointed at the agents and the man being detained, the recorder of the video shouts, “¿Cómo se llama?” or “What’s your name?” in English.
8:40 a.m.
The Elgin Rapid Response Team posted that a family was being detained as of 8:39 a.m. on the 400 block of Newport Road in the northwestern suburb of Hoffman Estates.
A video posted on Facebook appears to show footage of the arrests. Federal agents walk out multiple people from a residence on Newport Road.
7:55 a.m.
Video shared to Facebook shortly before 8:00 a.m. purports to show multiple federal agents conducting a stop. In the caption, the Facebook user writes that the video was taken along Army Trail Road in the west suburban Addison.
7:00 a.m.
Casa Dupage Workers Center organized a Caravana de Justicia — or, a Caravan of Justice in English — on this morning that traveled from suburban Wheaton through West Chicago and Elgin in response to the increasing presence of ICE and other federal agents in the western suburbs.
Cristobal Cavazos, director of Casa Dupage Workers Center, shared a video of the caravan on social media, showing cars honking and flying U.S. and Mexican flags out their passenger windows.
“We seek to give expression for justice for immigrant workers being kidnapped by ICE, justice for the families being ripped apart and a place where the more than 70% of US citizens who are against ICE Gestapo-like raids on our friends and communities can call out this injustice,” Cavazos said in a prepared statement.
6:00 a.m.
The Southwest Rapid Response Team posted on its Instagram page this morning that at least four agents were spotted in the Gage Park community between 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. in a white Jeep Cherokee and a blue Chevy Impala.
5:00 a.m.
ICE fortified its defenses at Broadview this morning. A tall fence now extends out from the front of the driveway of the boarded-up facility across Beach Street, blocking people from getting close to the building and driveway gate. Also, there are shorter vehicle barriers at Beach Street and Lexington Avenue. Unraveled shared a video on BlueSky showing a federal agent struggling to lock the gate with chains and handcuffs.
