'Military-Style' ICE Raid In Chicago Shows Escalation in Tactics

Rebecca Schneid
Sun, October 5, 2025 
TIME

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) personnel, and Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino stand together amidst a tense protest outside the ICE processing facility in Broadview, Illinois, on September 27, 2025. Credit - Jacek Boczarski—Anadolu via Getty Images

At around 1 a.m. on Tuesday morning, armed federal agents rappelled from helicopters onto the roof of a five-storey residential apartment in the South Shore of Chicago. The agents worked their way through the building, kicking down doors and throwing flash bang grenades, rounding up adults and screaming children alike, detaining them in zip-ties and arresting dozens, according to witnesses and local reporting.

The military-style raid was part of a widening immigration crackdown by the Trump Administration in the country’s third-largest city, dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz,” which has brought a dramatic increase in federal raids and arrests.

It has also drawn outrage throughout Chicago and the state of Illinois, with rights groups and lawmakers claiming it represents a dramatic escalation in tactics used by federal authorities in the pursuit of Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown.

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Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker accused the federal agents of separating children from their parents, zip-tying their hands, and detaining them in “dark vans” for hours. Videos of the raid show flashbang grenades erupting on the street, followed by residents of the building—children among them—being led to a parking lot across the street. Photos of the aftermath show toys and shoes littering the apartment hallways that were left in the chaos as people were pulled from their beds by the operation that included FBI and Homeland Security agents.
'Military-style tactics'

Pritzker condemned the raid and said that he would work with local law enforcement to hold the agents accountable. “Military-style tactics should never be used on children in a functioning democracy,” he said in a statement on Friday. “​​This didn’t happen in a country with an authoritarian regime – it happened here in Chicago. It happened in the United States of America – a country that should be a bastion of freedom, hope, and the rights of our people as guaranteed by the Constitution,” he added.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has touted some 900 arrests in its Chicago operation since it began in early September, as well as the 37 arrests made in the nighttime raid on Tuesday, all of whom it said were “involved in drug trafficking and distribution, weapons crimes and immigration violators.” The DHS said the building was targeted because it was “known to be frequented by Tren de Aragua members and their associates,” although it has yet to release the names of those arrested.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem posted a video of the raid on social media, overlaid with dramatic music, showing helicopters shining bright lights onto the apartment, armed agents kicking down doors and leading people out of the building in restraints.

A DHS spokesperson told CNN following the raid that children were taken into custody “for their own safety and to ensure these children were not being trafficked, abused or otherwise exploited.” The DHS also said that four children who are U.S. citizens with undocumented parents were taken into custody.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to send federal authorities and troops to Chicago and other Democratic-run cities to assist in immigration raids and to address what he perceives to be rampant crime.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said on Saturday that the president had authorized the deployment of 300 Illinois National Guard members to Chicago, citing what she called "ongoing violent riots and lawlessness."



Gov. Pritzker condemned the deployment as "a manufactured performance."

"This morning, the Trump Administration's Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will," Pritzker said in a statement. "It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will."

The Trump Administration launched expanded immigration enforcement operations in Chicago on Sept. 8 as part of a wider federal crackdown on sanctuary cities across the country.

“This operation will target the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens in Chicago,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said of the operation.

Chicago officials mounted a pushback ahead of the crackdown. The city’s mayor, Brandon Johnson, signed an order directing Chicago law enforcement and officials not to cooperate with federal agents and established an initiative intended to protect residents’ rights. The city of Evanston, an urban suburb of Chicago, issued a statement warning its residents of impending raids by ICE agents and urging them to report sightings of law enforcement.
Zip-ties and guns

In the aftermath of the sweeping raid, residents and city lawmakers have been demanding answers from the federal government.

Ed Yohnka, from the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois (ACLU), told MSNBC on Saturday that the raid represented “an escalation of force and violence” from the federal government in Chicago.

“What we saw was a full-fledged military operation conducted on the south side of Chicago against an apartment building,” he added.

“They just treated us like we were nothing,” Pertissue Fisher, a U.S. citizen who lives in the apartment building, told ABC7 Chicago in an interview soon after the raid. She said she was then handcuffed, held for hours, and released around 3 a.m. This was the first time she said a gun was ever put in her face.

Neighbor Eboni Watson, who witnessed the raid, also told the ABC station that the children were zip-tied—some of them were without clothes—when they were taken out of the residential building by federal agents. “Where’s the morality?” Watson said she kept asking during the raid.

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“As a father, I cannot help but think about what it means for a child to be torn from their bed in the middle of the night, detained for no reason other than a show of force,” National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) president Derrick Johnson said in a statement. “The trauma inflicted on these young people and their families is unconscionable."

ICE and DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TIME.
Protests in the aftermath

The increased raids have turned Chicago into a flashpoint in the battle over Trump's crackdown. Protests have increased in across the city in recent weeks over the ICE operations, concentrated outside the ICE detention facility in the suburb of Broadview.

One woman was shot by Border Patrol agents during a protest outside the facility on Saturday, the DHS announced. The agency said in a statement that its agents were "were rammed by vehicles and boxed in by 10 cars," and were forced to fire defensive when "a suspect tried to run them over."

“One of the drivers who rammed the law enforcement vehicle was armed with a semi-automatic weapon,” spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said on social media. “Law enforcement was forced to deploy their weapons and fire defensive shots at an armed US citizen who drove herself to the hospital to get care for wounds.” The woman was later released from hospital, according to Chicago police. Protests have continued at the facility.

ICE’s tactics in the city were also under the spotlight on Friday, when Chicago Alderperson Jessie Fuentes was handcuffed by federal immigration agents at a Chicago medical center after questioning agents about their warrant to arrest at the medical center.

Chicago's Mayor Johnson called ICE’s tactics “abusive.”

The raids come just days after President Trump signaled a desire to make greater use of the U.S. military in American cities during a speech to top military leaders, as he assailed a “war from within” the nation.

“We are under invasion from within,” he said, “no different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways, because they don't wear uniforms.” In the same speech, he called for U.S. cities to be “training grounds” for the military.

Trump has frequently singled out Chicago in his long-running feud with Democratic-run cities, threatening it with his newly named “Department of War.”


US Border Patrol raid sweeps in citizens, families as Chicago crackdown intensifies

By Renee Hickman, Kristina Cooke and Ted Hesson
Sat, October 4, 2025 


FILE PHOTO: USBP Chief Patrol Agent of the El Centro sector, Greg Bovino, stands on a street corner with federal agents after patrolling several tourist districts in the downtown area, after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered increased federal law enforcement presence to assist in crime prevention, in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. September 28, 2025. REUTERS/Jim Vondruska

CHICAGO (Reuters) -U.S. Border Patrol agents deployed to Chicago led a late-night raid on an apartment building this week, rappelling from helicopters onto rooftops and breaking down doors in an operation authorities said targeted gang members but which swept up U.S. citizens and families.

The show of force highlighted President Donald Trump's unprecedented use of Border Patrol agents as a surge force in major cities, rerouting personnel who would normally be tasked with guarding America’s borders with Mexico and Canada.

Naudelys, a 19-year-old Venezuelan woman, says she was in her apartment with her 4-year-old son and another couple with a baby when agents knocked down their door during the raid early Tuesday. Agents told them to put up their hands and pointed guns at them, she said.

Naudelys, whose husband was arrested and detained by immigration authorities three months ago, said she tried to record the scene but an agent knocked away her phone.

The Spanish-speaking agents told them to go back to their country and made a sexualized remark about Venezuelan women, she said. One of the agents hit a man in front of her son, and she begged him to stop, she said.

"My son was traumatized," said Naudelys, who requested her last name be withheld.

She said authorities alleged her friend's partner is a member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, something she disputes.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which includes Border Patrol, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Naudelys' account of the raid.

As part of the raid, some U.S. citizens were temporarily detained and children pulled from their beds, according to interviews with residents and news reports. Building hallways were still littered with debris two days later.

Trump, a Republican, has vowed to escalate immigration enforcement in Chicago and other Democratic strongholds that limit cooperation with federal operations. Border Patrol - staffed with some 19,000 agents and under less pressure with border apprehensions at historic lows - has increasingly taken on a new role in major cities, led by Gregory Bovino, the agency's commander-at-large.

The incident in the city’s South Side neighborhood, which authorities said resulted in dozens of arrests, was one of the highest-profile immigration actions in Chicago since the Trump administration launched "Operation Midway Blitz" in the city last month. Hundreds of agents swarmed the apartment building during the raid on Tuesday, including some rappelling down to the roof from Black Hawk helicopters, according to NewsNation.

AGENTS TOOK CHILDREN FROM THEIR PARENTS

A DHS spokesperson confirmed the operation, saying it focused on alleged members of Tren de Aragua and that border agents partnered with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Authorities arrested at least 37 people on immigration violations, most of whom were Venezuelan, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said two people arrested were alleged members of Tren de Aragua. The department identified six people with criminal histories, ranging from battery to marijuana possession and said two people were suspected of being involved in a shooting.

The spokesperson declined to say whether agents had warrants to forcibly enter homes, saying that because Tren de Aragua has been labeled a terrorist organization "there are sensitivities on what we can provide without putting people at risk."

"This operation was performed in full compliance of the law," the spokesperson said.

Four U.S. citizen children were taken from their parents during the raid because the parents lacked legal status, DHS said, alleging that one of the parents was a Tren de Aragua member.

"These children were taken into custody until they could be put in the care of a safe guardian or the state," the spokesperson said.

Naudelys said authorities released her and her son later that day because she has a pending asylum case. Her apartment was boarded up when she returned, she said. Workers opened it for her, but her possessions were gone, she said.

Cassandra Murray, 55, a resident, said she heard loud blasts as the raids occurred.

She said her Venezuelan neighbors arrived about two years ago. At the time, thousands of Venezuelans who had recently crossed the U.S.-Mexico border were being bused to Chicago and other cities by the state of Texas.

“They never made us feel unsafe,” said Murray. “They needed somewhere to live, too."

One resident, who asked not to be named, reported being made to lie down on the ground by agents during the raid and having his hands zip-tied.

Gil Kerlikowske, who was commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection from 2014-2017 and a former Seattle police chief, said border agents have different training and protocols than local police and worries more aggressive tactics could erode trust.

“Policing an urban environment is totally, completely different,” he said.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have also come under scrutiny over the use of tear gas against protesters at one of its Chicago facilities and the fatal shooting of a Mexican man.

'WE ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE'

In Los Angeles over the summer, Border Patrol agents conducted immigration sweeps in Home Depot parking lots and other public areas that contributed to a federal judge’s decision to block overt racial profiling in the area. The Supreme Court in September sided with the Trump administration, allowing it to resume the tactics.

Bovino, who oversaw the L.A. operation, arrived in Chicago several weeks ago. He frequently posts to social media about his agency’s work, often in brash terms.

“We are here, Chicago, and we are not going anywhere,” Bovino said on X last month alongside a video of the arrest of a man he said was a Venezuelan gang member in a Home Depot parking lot, edited to a song by rapper Travis Scott.

A viral video this week showed masked and armed Border Patrol agents chasing a man on an e-bike in downtown Chicago after he taunted them and said he was not a U.S. citizen.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, criticized the deployment of armed Border Patrol agents and other personnel to the city, calling it "authoritarianism" at a press conference on Monday.

"Gregory Bovino has been leading the disruption and causing mayhem while he gleefully poses for photo ops and TikTok videos," he said.

800 arrests amid Chicago immigration 'blitz' of helicopters and midnight raids

Michael Loria and Eduardo Cuevas, USA TODAY
Fri, October 3, 2025

CHICAGO – Federal agents rappelled from Black Hawk helicopters. Dozens of others, their faces hidden behind masks, arrived in moving trucks. In total, 300 officers stormed a South Side apartment building that Department of Homeland Security officials say harbored criminals.

An agency spokesperson said the raid in the early hours of Sept. 30 was aimed at capturing members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang President Donald Trump has designated as a terrorist organization. Hundreds of agents swarmed apartments in the multi-story building, detaining several American citizens, including children, for hours and netting 37 total arrests. The outcome of those arrests remains unclear.

The extraordinary raid came nearly a month into the White House’s immigration enforcement crackdown in the Chicago area, known as Operation Midway Blitz. Federal officials said it has netted more than 800 arrests since Sept. 8.

“Our continued targeted enforcement in Chicago shows criminals have nowhere to hide,” Michael Banks, the chief of U.S. Border Patrol, said in an X post. “Not at the border, not in our cities.”


Debris and personal belongings sit on the floor of an empty apartment in a complex where 37 people were detained during a large-scale ICE raid on Sept. 30, 2025, after President Donald Trump ordered increased federal law enforcement presence to assist in crime prevention, in Chicago, Oct. 2, 2025.

Broken exterior windows of an apartment complex where 37 people were detained during a large-scale ICE raid on Sept. 30, 2025, after President Donald Trump ordered increased federal law enforcement presence to assist in crime prevention, in Chicago, Oct. 2, 2025.

The broken exterior windows of an apartment complex where 37 people were detained during a large-scale ICE raid on Sept. 30, 2025, after President Donald Trump ordered increased federal law enforcement presence to assist in crime prevention, in Chicago, Oct. 2, 2025.

Debris and personal belongings sit on the floor of an empty apartment in a complex where 37 people were detained during a large-scale ICE raid on Sept. 30, 2025, after President Donald Trump ordered increased federal law enforcement presence to assist in crime prevention, in Chicago, Oct. 2, 2025.More
Overnight apartment building raid

The Trump administration has vowed to flood cities run by Democrats with federal agents as part of a nationwide immigration crackdown. Federal officials have targeted so-called "sanctuary" jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

The Chicago Sun-Times and NewsNation were among the first to report on the raid in the city’s South Shore neighborhood. The historically Black area gained a sizable Venezuelan population after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bused tens of thousands of migrants from the border to the Democratic city in 2023. Many moved to the neighborhood after first being placed in city-run shelters in the area.

Videos of the raid shared online by the Department of Homeland Security show Border Patrol agents with guns drawn approaching the building in the middle of the night. Agents led shirtless men outside.

The raid saw dozens arrested and the building left in shambles, according to photos shared with USA TODAY. Two "confirmed Tren de Aragua members" were captured, according to a Department of Homeland Security statement.


A protester washes chemical irritant from his eyes after federal agents deployed tear gas and pepper balls outside of the Broadview ICE processing facility on Sept. 26, 2025. President Donald Trump ordered increased federal law enforcement in Chicago.

People protest outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview, Ill., Oct. 3, 2025.

Activists proest outside of an immigrant processing and detention center on Oct. 2, 2025 in Broadview, Ill.

A protester washes chemical irritant from his eyes after federal agents deployed tear gas and pepper balls outside of the Broadview ICE processing facility on Sept. 26, 2025. President Donald Trump ordered increased federal law enforcement in Chicago.More

"Federal law enforcement officers will not stand by and allow criminal activity to flourish in our American neighborhoods," Homeland Security said in a statement. Among others captured, according to the agency, were a "suspected" Tren de Aragua member; six people with a criminal history ranging from aggravated battery to possession of marijuana; and two people "suspected of being involved in a shooting investigation."

An American citizen with a local arrest warrant, and four U.S. citizen children of immigrants were also caught up in the raid, Homeland Security reported. The children were taken into custody to be "put in the care of a safe guardian or the state," the agency said.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported people were taken outside while still naked; NewsNation reported from the Black Hawk helicopters at the scene.

Videos from the scene taken at about 2 a.m. and shared with USA TODAY show masked agents arriving in the back of Budget and U-Haul moving vans carrying military-style rifles.

Detained immigrants were shown held in a parking lot and across the street a woman crying calls out in broken Spanish, "I’ll always love you."

Federal law enforcement agencies including DHS, ICE, and Customs and Border Protection would not say if the Black Hawks used in the raid were from the U.S. Army, National Guard, or a non-military department.

Arrests create widespread fear

Out of more than 800 people arrested during the last month in the Illinois operations, it’s unclear how many actually had criminal convictions or pending charges, versus those with no criminal record, including children.

An Oct. 1 DHS news release included mugshots of more than a dozen migrants from Eastern Europe and Latin America who had been arrested because of previous criminal convictions.

One Venezuelan woman was listed as the only alleged Tren de Aragua gang member. The Trump administration has focused on the Venezuelan gang despite little evidence of widespread presence in Chicago or the United States more broadly.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, said federal agents have failed to focus on violent criminals. Instead, he said in an Oct. 3 social media post, the operations have created panic by scaring residents, violating due process rights and detaining citizens.

“Illinois is not a photo opportunity or warzone,” he said, “it’s a sovereign state where our people deserve rights, respect, and answers.”
Other large-scale ICE raids

In other large-scale operations, federal agents have mostly detained people with no criminal records.

Highly publicized raids across Southern California in June showed most people arrested had no criminal histories. Immigration and Customs Enforcement data showed that, out of over 2,000 people arrested that month, more than two-thirds had no criminal convictions, and over half had never been charged with a crime, according to the Los Angeles Times.

A police officer holds a demonstrator as people protest outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Broadview facility in Chicago, Illinois, October 3, 2025.

A July raid of a cannabis farm in Camarillo, California, found only four of the 361 people arrested had existing criminal convictions, as the Ventura County Star, part of the USA TODAY Network found.

In September, federal officials led a large worksite raid of a Hyundai battery plant under construction in Georgia. Agents arrested about 475 people, including more than 300 South Koreans, many of whom who were here on visas allowing them to train American workers.

About 71.5% of nearly 60,000 people currently in ICE detention have no criminal convictions, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research group at Syracuse University.

(This story has been updated with new information.)

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Chicago immigration 'blitz' piles up arrests and criticism