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Local immigration advocates expressed anger and worry after a U.S. citizen was briefly detained — and footage of him handcuffed was posted on social media by a high-ranking member of the Trump administration — during a U.S. Department of Homeland Security raid on an Elgin home Tuesday.
Ismael Cordová-Clough, an Elgin immigration activist who witnessed the raid, said he was outraged that the operation was recorded and publicized online by the federal government, especially when one of the individuals captured on the footage was an American citizen.
“I think it’s disgusting, to be quite frank, that they utilized our community for their theatrics,” he said. “That is not putting our safety first. That is putting their show first.”
Early Tuesday, federal agents forcibly entered a home in the 900 block of Chippewa Drive in Elgin, destroying the front door and shattering a patio door in the process.
One of the residents in the home was Joe Botello, an U.S. citizen born in Texas, who described being handcuffed, questioned by armed agents and taken inside a U.S. Customs and Border Protection vehicle during the immigration enforcement operation.
Botello, 37, said he showed his identification to federal agents, told them he had been born in the United States and then was released. Another roommate of his was also handcuffed and questioned but let go shortly afterward, added Botello, who described being “a bit in shock” following the incident.
A few hours after the raid, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem shared a video on social media of four men — including Botello — handcuffed and being led away from the house.
“I was on the ground in Chicago today to make clear we are not backing down,” Noem said in the message on X. “Just this morning, DHS took violent offenders off the streets with arrests for assault, DUI and felony stalking. Our work is only beginning.”
Noem’s message and video post don’t explain that Botello is a U.S. citizen and was later released.
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Joe Botello steps through a patio door shattered by federal agents when they broke down the front and back doors of his home in the 900 block of Chippewa Drive in the early morning on Sept. 16, 2025, in Elgin. Botello said the federal agents did not show residents in the home a warrant, placed him in a vehicle, but eventually released him after scanning his driver’s license. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
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Joe Botello steps through a patio door shattered by federal agents when they broke down the front and back doors of his home in the 900 block of Chippewa Drive in the early morning on Sept. 16, 2025, in Elgin. Botello said the federal agents did not show residents in the home a warrant, placed him in a vehicle, but eventually released him after scanning his driver’s license. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
To Cordová-Clough, the video and Noem’s message “puts an overlay of guilt on (those recorded) just associated with their faces.”
“Honestly, if I was a U.S. citizen displayed in that manner by Kristi Noem or any other government official, absolutely I would be suing them,” he said. “If this was about public safety, you would be more mindful of who is (being recorded).”
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement Wednesday that “no U.S. citizen was arrested, they were briefly held for their and officers’ safety while the operation in the house was under way.”
“This is standard protocol,” the statement added.
DHS officials did not answer Tribune questions about the video of the raid or Noem’s social media post. The misleading video had not been taken down as of Wednesday evening.
Botello, who had chronicled the raid and its aftermath to the Tribune on Tuesday, declined to comment on Noem’s social media post Wednesday or the DHS statement.
Federal immigration officials released information Wednesday on five allegedly undocumented immigrants arrested during the raid on the Elgin home, which was part of “Operation Midway Blitz,” the ramped-up immigration enforcement announced specifically for the Chicago area by Noem last week.
The surge began Sept. 6 and encompasses the entire state of Illinois, as well as Lake County, Indiana, according to information released by U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood, a Democrat from Naperville. Underwood, who met with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials this week, said the agency reported 250 arrests as of Monday. Individuals who are detained and processed are being transferred to detention centers in Indiana and Wisconsin.
Federal court records revealed that the target of the Elgin operation appeared to be Carlos Gonzalez-Leon, a citizen of Mexico who had been previously removed from the U.S. on three separate occasions. Immigration officials had the Chippewa Drive home where Gonzalez-Leon, Botello and others were staying under surveillance as far back as Sept. 10, nearly a week before the raid, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Chicago.
A border patrol agent said in an affidavit that he observed Gonzalez-Leon’s green Mercury minivan parked at the address. Two days later, agents tailed him as he got into a different vehicle and drove to a gas station, the complaint said.
The DHS release stated that Gonzalez-Leon was previously convicted of assaulting a family member. That conviction was not mentioned in the criminal complaint, however, and did not appear in a search of local criminal records.
DHS stated the arrests occurred during service of a search warrant for one individual in the home, but did not provide a copy of the warrant or say who the target was. In a news release late Tuesday, the agency identified five men arrested in the incident, all of whom are allegedly in the country illegally.
The others who were detained were Jose Morales-Rodriguez, of Mexico; Juan Eduardo Solarzano-Morales, of Mexico; Victor Manuel Rodriguez-Pantoja, of Mexico; and Ruben Antonio Gonzalez-Querales, of Venezuela, according to the news release.
Morales-Rodriguez has previous convictions that all appeared to be traffic-related, including a 2010 conviction for aggravated DUI and driving without a valid license, records show.
According to DHS, Solarzano-Morales has convictions for domestic violence and stalking. A search of local court records did not turn up any information on those cases.
The other two men arrested had no reported criminal background.
Chicago-area criminal defense attorney Steven Greenberg said authorities have the right to briefly detain and handcuff people when serving warrants if they deem it’s necessary. Noem’s social media post portrayed Botello in an unfair and inaccurate light, he said, but there’s likely little remedy because Noem has significant legal protections.
“It’s just so obvious why it’s irresponsible … to mislabel someone as a criminal when they’re not or an illegal alien when they’re not,” he said. “Federal government officials have immunity for virtually anything they do in the course of their employment for official acts, so he likely has no recourse.”
To Cordová-Clough, the arrests didn’t justify Noem’s social media post and video, which he believes should trouble every American.
“It also means that we must not believe in our criminal justice system, where you’re innocent until proven guilty,” he said. “They’re putting guilt at the forefront to excuse their behavior. And that’s not the best way to govern.”
Immigration advocate Delani Hernandez, a volunteer who patrols the Elgin area to spot raids or other immigration enforcement activity, called Noem’s video “propaganda” for President Donald Trump’s administration.
She added that Botello and others captured in the video were just “collateral damage.”
“Not all people there were bad people,” she said. “Some people were just there because they lived there.”
Chicago Tribune reporters Jason Meisner and Olivia Olander contributed.
Originally Published:
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Angie Leventis Lourgos
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