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Federal agents entered a gated residential courtyard complex Tuesday morning and detained a laborer in the North Side neighborhood of West Ridge, witnesses say.
In a video shared with and reviewed by The TRiiBE, and also posted on Bluesky, an unmasked federal agent can be seen straddling a man who was working outside of the building. Two masked agents stand watch while the unmasked agent places the laborer in handcuffs. The incident happened around 11:30 a.m., witnesses say.
The person recording the video tells the agents that the area is “private property,” to which an agent responds, “No, it’s not.” Another agent adds, “Not when he ran in here as a felon.”
The TRiiBE spoke with a witness who asked for anonymity due to safety concerns. The witness said he saw the incident unfold when he stepped outside to smoke.
“I heard running and he came around the corner and then right in front of my door is where they tackled him,” said the witness, who has lived in the building for nearly three years. His spouse recorded the detainment on video.
Both the witness and his spouse said laborers had been working on replacing the fire escape and roof access stairs to the building since the summer.
The witness said the gate surrounding the property requires a key, and the gate “was off” when his neighbor tried to close it.
“It’s not, like, broken or anything, but it wasn’t right. So we’re pretty sure they kicked that gate,” he said.
Today was the first time, however, that he’s witnessed a person being detained. The witness identified himself as a “whistle wearer,” meaning he blows his whistle to warn others about the presence of federal immigration agents nearby. Neighborhood groups and grassroots organizers have been handing out whistles to community members as a form of protest against the President Donald Trump administration’s militarized immigration activity.
“We’re pretty shaken up. It feels weird to have answered the question, ‘What do you do when the secret police are literally at your doorstep?’” the witness said. “I’m proud of my wife. I’m proud of myself, but like, I had no appetite all day, and haven’t been able to work and focus on much.”
The witness said he and his wife reached out to the company the detained laborer worked for to alert them of what happened.
Richard Holtzman, the president and community association manager for Prairie Shores, which manages the property, emailed a statement to The TRiiBE about the ICE activity. Holtzman said, “I assume they were enforcing the law. The ‘worker’ was not employed by the condominium association or management.”
Earlier this month, federal agents used military gear to raid a South Shore apartment complex on Chicago’s South Side. Multiple people, including U.S. citizens, were detained.
Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th Ward) told The TRiiBE during a phone call that federal agents were busy in his ward today. The incident occurred in his ward.
Vasquez added that he had to leave City Hall during a budget meeting due to the alerts he was receiving about ICE activity in his ward. He estimated six to 10 people were taken by federal agents today, adding that it’s “hard to tell because of all the notifications.”
“Clearly, [what] we’re seeing is [that] they’re not taking criminals, they’re taking anybody,” Vasquez said. “They’re taking folks that are working out here. They’re causing disruption. And so, as we stated multiple times, ICE is not wanted in the city of Chicago. They’re not keeping anybody safe. They’re depressing the economy. They’re kidnapping people.”
Vasquez said he did not have the names of those who were taken by federal agents today. In a separate incident, Vasquez mentioned that one worker was taken who was working on a scaffold in front of a building where a car was left abandoned on the 6100 block of Campbell Avenue.
Vasquez provided the number to the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights, 855-435-7693, and the 40th Ward website welcometochicago.org, for resources to combat ICE and federal patrols.
