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.
A day after federal officers swarmed an apartment building in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood, agents returned to the South and West sides on Wednesday—this time outside a Bronzeville homeless shelter and outside a grassroots organization’s headquarters in East Garfield Park —as part of a dizzying onslaught of arrests across Chicagoland.
Video posted to social media shows a team of masked agents in camouflage outside the Bright Star Community Outreach. Block Club Chicago reports 25 to 30 agents participated in the raid, using seven unmarked cars, and detained four people.
A day earlier, some 300 federal agents raided a South Shore apartment building and detained 37 people, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). They arrived in droves, some in moving trucks, and reportedly deployed flash-bang grenades. Photos taken afterward show doors kicked in and apartments ransacked.
Video obtained by The TRiiBE shows a federal agent in East Garfield Park with his hands around a man’s neck on the sidewalk after an apparent car crash on Wednesday afternoon near California and Congress. Agents later blocked off the intersection, but it’s not immediately clear what caused the accident or why federal agents, including those with Border Patrol, were involved.
7:30 a.m. — Federal agents were back at a Home Depot in Belmont Cragin—one of several of the chain’s stores agents have targeted in recent weeks. Northwest Side Rapid Response confirmed ICE and Border Patrol agents detained one person. Video shared to social media shows at least six agents, most of them masked, escorting a person in handcuffs into an unmarked black SUV.
8:17 a.m. — Masked federal officers, dressed in tan uniforms and driving two unmarked cars, detained a person in front of Roosevelt High School in Albany Park. Northwest Side Rapid Response said the arrest was not related to the school but noted that Chicago Public Schools staff, the Chicago Teachers Union, and community partners were patrolling the area. “We recommend Albany Park residents stay home,” the rapid response group warned on Instagram.
8:30 a.m. — Less than 15 minutes later, ICE and Border Patrol agents detained two people near Jensen Park in the Albany Park neighborhood. Agents were spotted by Northwest Side Rapid Response driving a gray Ford pickup trick.
8:45 a.m. — The feds continued their spree of terror through the Northwest Side a few blocks away at Pulaski and Lawrence, where they detained one person in front of Pollo Campero, according to Northwest Side Rapid Response. Witnesses said the agents spoke Spanish.
Video shared on social media also shows masked federal agents grabbing a person off the street in front of an Albany Park convenience store at Lawrence and Kedzie.
Rapid responders also confirmed Border Patrol agents outside the Advance Auto Parts at 3452 W. Montrose and at Kimball and Lawrence.
Further out, residents confronted nearly a dozen masked federal agents at an apartment complex in suburban Bensenville. It’s unclear if anyone was detained.
10:30 a.m. — A team of masked federal agents detained at least one person in the Walmart parking lot at Cicero and 33rd Place. Video and photos posted to social media show Border Patrol agents driving multiple vehicles. One agent is spotted chasing a person through a nearby Starbucks drive-through.
At least three people wearing masks and high-visibility yellow vests accompanied the agents. They appeared to be photographing and filming the arrest using DSLR cameras. The back of one person’s vest read, “DHS PAO”—which presumably refers to DHS’s public affairs office.
Minutes later, video posted to social media shows three masked agents tackling a person to the ground in front of a nearby house. One person in a yellow vest is shown photographing the arrest while another is seen running across traffic while presumably filming the interaction.
Federal agents also detained people at the Home Depot on 28th and Cicero—another location frequently targeted by ICE—and the Target next door.
In total, at least five people were detained, per Berwyn Cicero Rapid Response.
