What to know about immigration enforcement raids in Chicago

As the Trump administration’s mass deportation raids continue, their impact has stretched across the Chicago region and the nation.

The Department of Homeland Security said it had arrested more than 4,300 during the two-month Operation Midway Blitz, which began the first weekend of September, but it has not offered more detailed figures on the backgrounds of detainees. More detailed data of many of the arrests, both obtained by the Tribune and as part of a federal lawsuit, indicate that most detainees do not have significant criminal records.

Meanwhile, political tensions have deepened, hundreds of immigrants, protesters and bystanders have been detained or arrested during the most recent raids, and thousands have protested across Chicago and the suburbs, from Home Depot and Target parking lots to outside the two-story brick U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in suburban Broadview.

Here’s what we know about federal immigration enforcement in and around the city, as well as other immigration-related stories and the National Guard deployment.

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How we got here

President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security announced Sept. 8 that it had begun a surge of immigration law enforcement in Chicago, dubbing it “Operation Midway Blitz” and claiming it would target “criminal illegal aliens” who have benefited from the city and state’s sanctuary policies.

“Let’s be clear, the terror and cruelty is the point, not the safety of anyone living here,” Gov. JB Pritzker said Sept. 2.

Trump set the stage for the operation with a social media post depicting military helicopters flying over the city’s lakefront skyline using the title “Chipocalypse Now.” “Chicago is about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” Trump wrote, a day after signing an executive order to rename the Department of Defense to its pre-1949 title.

Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino, the top official on the ground leading the Trump administration’s efforts, departed Chicago in early November for another assignment, and most of the agents under this command were also redeployed elsewhere.

But the winding down of Operation Midway Blitz, which began in early September, does not mean that enhanced immigration enforcement will end anytime soon. Sources said the feds planned to leave in place a still-to-be-determined force of some Border Patrol agents as well as extra Enforcement and Removal Operations, or ERO, officers with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino back in Chicago as agents make show of force

Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino and dozens of his federal immigration agents returned in force across Chicago and the suburbs on Dec. 16, reportedly making arrests in supermarket parking lots and at tamale stands while threatening tear gas on angry residents who confronted them.

Videos showing uniformed, masked men driving unmarked vehicles quickly began to circulate online early Tuesday morning. Almost immediately there were reports of tense confrontations in neighborhoods.

• Immigration agents’ poor tactics in Chicago made for needless safety risks, experts say
• Illinois National Guard still federalized as President Trump extends order, despite troops sitting idle
• Gov. JB Pritzker signs Illinois immigration law that curbs courthouse arrests and expands right to sue agents

Nearly 1,900 immigrants were detained during 1st half of ‘Midway Blitz.’ Most had no criminal record.

Newly released federal data shows that immigration agents booked in roughly 1,900 immigrants in the first half of Operation Midway Blitz — two-thirds of whom had no known criminal convictions or pending charges.

The latest data offers the first comprehensive look at the effects of the operation, and a Tribune analysis underscores the divide between the stated goal of the administration of President Donald Trump — to target “the worst of the worst” — with the reality of controversial roundups that typically snagged immigrants living in the the U.S. without permanent legal status even though they had no known rap sheets.

Of the 1,895 people detained by ICE, 1,271 lacked any criminal record. Another 343 people arrested had a pending criminal charge, while 281 had a criminal conviction. Of those with a criminal conviction, the vast majority of offenses were misdemeanors, traffic citations or nonviolent felonies. Only 28 arrestees —1.5% — had been convicted of a violent felony or sex crime.

• Chicago appeals court blocks release of hundreds of Operation Midway Blitz detainees pending individual review
• ‘Shocked’: Chicago appeals judge rips lower court’s ruling to release immigration arrestees
• Bodycam footage from Operation Midway Blitz released: ‘It’s all about arresting people’
• Chicago immigrants left with hope, trauma and resolve after Operation Midway Blitz
• Injunction ruling provides new look at Operation Midway Blitz, from tear gas to agent using ChatGPT to help write report
• Latino US citizens racially profiled by federal immigration agents in Chicago: ‘I felt like a piece of trash’

‘The story of one more Venezuelan, one more Latino’

Roughly 2,400 miles from where her nephew faced an hourslong standoff with ICE agents in Elgin in December, Genesis Adriana Gutierrez Morales’ voice shook in Maracaibo, Venezuela, with sadness and rage at the words from authorities she said tarnished her nephew’s name.

“I don’t have the words to describe the frustration that you feel as family, of not being able to do anything, to be far away from him and not be able to help him,” Morales, 35, said in Spanish in a phone interview with the Tribune. “And I’m angered by all the things they’re saying about him that are false, angered that they are smearing his name when I know that does not represent him.”

• DHS claims man detained in prolonged immigration arrest in Elgin on Saturday is member of Tren de Aragua
• Federal immigration agents use tear gas on Elgin crowd on day of Kristi Noem’s visit to Chicago
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First, ICE raided their apartment building. Now, they’re being forced to vacate it.

Nearly 1,900 immigrants were detained during the first half of Operation Midway Blitz. Most had no criminal record.

On a freezing Tuesday morning after Chicago’s snowiest November day on record, residents of a building that made international headlines after a federal immigration raid earlier this year decried a recent court-ordered mandate to vacate their homes at 7500 South Shore Drive.

The five-story apartment building with its decrepit infrastructure and scarce electricity was the site of a late-night raid in September that was among the most infamous moments in President Donald Trump’s Operation Midway Blitz. Now its residents, who last month formed the South Shore Tenants Union, face the possibility of being thrown out of their homes within days.

The Circuit Court of Cook County granted an order on Nov. 24 from Wells Fargo Bank to have residents at 7500 S. Shore Drive to vacate by Dec. 5 for those with valid leases and all other occupants were instructed to leave by Dec. 12 of this year.

• Raided South Shore building’s tenants move out after judge denies pleas for more time
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• Six Venezuelan migrants arrested in South Shore immigration raid among hundreds who could be released

Activity in and around Chicago

“Operation Midway Blitz” has been noticeable around Chicago and its suburbs, from tear gas incidents in Logan Square and detaining a mother and child at Millennium Park to a wild manhunt in suburban Mount Prospect and multiple rideshare arrests at O’Hare.

A federal judge ruled all immigration enforcement agents must have body cameras and said she was particularly worried about alleged violations in recent clashes, including one in Chicago’s East Side neighborhood where agents used a controversial and potentially dangerous maneuver to disable a fleeing vehicle, then tear-gassed people during a tense gathering at the scene. Tear gas incidents from federal agents during immigration raids have escalated recently, from Little Village to Lakeview to Irving Park.

On Sept. 12, Trump’s immigration-enforcement push took a violent turn when agents fatally shot a man in Franklin Park after he allegedly tried to flee a traffic stop and struck the officer with his vehicle. The man who was killed was identified by federal officials as Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, a 38-year-old single father with two young children. DHS said in a written statement that Villegas-Gonzalez is a citizen of Mexico and was in the U.S. illegally, though further details were not provided.

On Oct. 4, federal immigration authorities shot a Chicago woman who, according to federal authorities, had  tried to impede them in Brighton Park. In the shooting’s wake, protesters quickly took to the intersection to confront the federal forces. Some threw water bottles as the agents tossed tear gas and flash-bang grenades at them on the residential street.

• Her dad was taken by immigration agents. Now a 12-year-old girl fears she’s lost her only living parent.
• Federal immigration agents deploy tear gas on Northwest Side streets as Chicagoans bellow, ‘Get out of our city!’
• Federal immigration agents tear-gas Lakeview, raid Lincoln Park as feds focus on city’s affluent North Side
• Chicago woman dragged out of her car after colliding with ICE demands accountability
• As his two sons watch and cry, ‘Pa, te amo,’ federal agents arrest man outside of Naperville apartments
• Oak Park attorney arrested near school says federal agents pointed gun at him, had ‘Chiraq Team 2’ group chat
• Federal immigration agents raid Swap-O-Rama, patrol Southwest Side: ‘It’s us against y’all’
• WGN-TV producer detained during ICE enforcement action in Lincoln Square
• Chase of cyclist by ICE agents in downtown Chicago described as surreal by witness
• Upset neighbors interrupt federal immigration manhunt in Mount Prospect
• Flower vendor arrested at launch of Trump’s ‘Operation Midway Blitz’ deported to Mexico

Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino in court

A federal judge in Chicago on Nov. 6 issued a sweeping injunction that puts more permanent restrictions on the use of force by immigration agents, saying top government officials lied in their testimony about threats that protesters posed and that their unlawful behavior on the streets “shows no signs of stopping.”

“I find the government’s evidence to be simply not credible,” U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis said in an oral ruling from the bench, describing a litany of incidents where citizens were tear-gassed “indiscriminately,” beaten and tackled by agents and struck in the face with pepper spray balls.

“The use of force shocks the conscience,” Ellis said. The judge noted in particular that Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino lied repeatedly in his deposition testimony about force that his agents and he personally inflicted in incidents across the Chicago area.

Bovino said federal agents’ operations had been “going very violent” after the same day that his agents fired pepper balls at a moving vehicle in Gage Park and pointed rifles in Little Village as residents blew whistles, screamed at passing federal cars and followed their large convoy around the city’s Southwest Side. “We can operate with great skill, legally, ethically and morally,” he said during a brief stop in Gage Park.

• Deposition of Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino went off the rails at hello, transcript shows
• Federal judge to hold permanent injunction hearing on use of force by immigration agents before next spring
• Judge orders release of US Border Patrol head Gregory Bovino deposition videos: Watch them here
• Deposition of Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino nearly ground to halt last week, records show
• Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino accused of violating judge’s order by throwing tear gas at crowd in Little Village

Restaurants in immigrant neighborhoods are ‘dying a slow death’

Intense immigration enforcement continues to ripple across the Chicago area and the restaurant industry has been feeling the impact: Significantly fewer customers are dining in, owners are locking their doors when they feel unsafe and businesses are operating at a loss.

Since September, Little Village had largely avoided large-scale ICE raids. But on Oct. 22, the shrill sound of whistles filled the neighborhood as volunteers sprang into action, warning people to duck into stores or hide inside private properties.

“We are dying a slow death,” said Marcos Carbajal, owner of Carnitas Uruapan. Little Village and Pilsen, much like Devon Avenue’s Little India in Rogers Park or Greektown on Chicago’s Near West Side, are microeconomies that rely heavily on a shared culture to keep things moving.

• As ICE detains longtime Chicago street vendors with no criminal history, neighbors rally with emergency funds
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• 3 street vendors and their families receive financial assistance from Little Village nonprofit
• Gig workers and street vendors and day laborers hit by feds in Chicago immigration crackdown
• Operation Midway Blitz linked to dip in 911 calls, especially in Little Village

What’s happening in Broadview?

Confrontations between federal agents and people protesting “Operation Midway Blitz” have put the tiny suburb, and the first Black woman to lead it, in the national spotlight.

Protesters have held near-daily demonstrations at Broadview’s ICE processing center since DHS announced it was launching “Operation Midway Blitz” in early September. Friday and Sundays often see larger crowds and, with that, arrests in violation of Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson’s recently issued order that protests only occur between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Bowing to a court-ordered deadline, crews tore down the controversial security fence outside the facility on Oct. 14. Federal officials erected the 8-foot-high fence three weeks earlier . In turn, Broadview officials immediately pushed back, saying it was “illegally built,” and demanded that the Department of Homeland Security take it down.

A federal judge on Nov. 5 ordered government officials to provide immigration detainees enough food, water and bed space, among other remedies, finding that conditions in Broadview do not “pass constitutional muster.”

“It has really become a prison,” U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman said. “The conditions would be found unconstitutional even in the context of prisons holding convicted felons, but these are not convicted felons. These are civil detainees.”

• The Tribune got a rare look inside Broadview’s ICE processing center in 2009. Here’s what we saw.
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• Tribune photographer describes capturing viral image from recent ICE protest

Chicago takes action

Whether its aldermen leading street patrols or residents blowing whistles to alert others, activists are coming in all shapes and sizes in Chicago. “We’ll do everything in our power to make sure that ICE is out of Chicago,” Ald. Michael Rodriguez, 22nd, who represents Little Village, told the Tribune on Oct. 3.

Numerous U.S. citizens and others have reported being detained, including a 44-year-old U.S. citizen who said agents zip-tied her and questioned her after work at a downtown bar earlier this month, and a Rogers Park man who agents fined $130 for not carrying his legal papers with him when they questioned him about his legal status last week. Here’s what to do if ICE stops you.

• Inside Chicago’s growing resistance movement against Operation Midway Blitz: ‘Small acts have huge consequences’
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• Students walk out of Little Village schools, hold march in protest of recent ICE activity
• ‘No Kings’ rally in downtown Chicago draws more than 100K protesters: ‘You fight for the people’
• Local clergy and faith leaders decry Trump’s immigration crackdown: ‘Antithetical to the Gospel’
• Fighting Trump’s immigration blitz in Chicago, ward by ward
• Amid ICE surge, Board of Education urges CPS to offer remote learning
• Illinois Democratic lawmakers take on activist role amid President Trump’s immigration crackdown
• Outside hotels and a naval base, suburban Chicago protests immigration ‘blitz’
• As fear of ICE arrests grips immigrants across Chicago, faith leaders offer resources and moral support

‘State-sponsored terror’ on Halloween

In Albany Park, they fired pepper-spray balls to disperse an angry crowd and arrested two U.S. citizens. In Evanston, one repeatedly pointed his weapon at protesters while another knelt on a man’s back and punched him in the head.

They grabbed workers at an apartment complex in Hoffman Estates, landscapers, house painters and laborers in Edison Park, Skokie and Niles.

Despite pleas from Gov. JB Pritzker to pause federal immigration enforcement operations while children celebrate Halloween, teams of Border Patrol agents — including one led by Cmdr. Greg Bovino — tore through Chicago’s Northwest Side and nearby suburbs, sparking violent clashes with community members throughout the day.

• Reverse trick-or-treating comes to West Chicago amid the growing presence of immigration enforcement
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Could the National Guard be next?

Gov. JB Pritzker has repeatedly called out the Trump administration for defending its decision to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago as necessary to fight violent crime in the city, even though the federal government has emphasized in court and Pentagon memos that the mission is mainly to protect federal immigration enforcement agents and federal property.

“They just want troops on the ground because they want to militarize, especially blue cities and blue states,” Pritzker said on Oct. 13.

The Trump administration on Oct. 17 asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the president to dispatch troops in the Chicago area pending appeal. A federal judge in Chicago on Oct. 22 indefinitely extended the restraining order barring President Donald Trump from deploying the National Guard in Illinois as both state and federal officials await a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that could upend the case.

Members of the Texas National Guard arrived in the Chicago area Oct. 7. And in mid-November, they left Illinois, ending a futile 41-day deployment in which its soldiers spent less than 24 hours working in support of Trump’s mass deportation mission.

• Illinois National Guard housed at state site as questions about Trump deployment costs grow
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• Gov. JB Pritzker points to Trump inconsistencies in deployment of National Guard to Chicago
• The National Guard has been activated to Chicago 18 times from 1877-2021. Here’s a breakdown.
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