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Tag: ICE raids

  • Evanston PD investigating after feds arrest 3 US citizens following crash during operation: mayor

    EVANSTON, Ill. (WLS) — Some faith and elected leaders in Evanston say they are deeply disturbed by the events involving federal agents on Friday.

    On Saturday, people stood united during a community vigil.

    ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

    “Immigrants are welcome here; ICE is not,” said 13th District Cook County Commissioner Josina Morita.

    Hundreds of Evanston residents and elected leaders gathered near Asbury Avenue and Oakton Street on Saturday afternoon.

    “My faith teaches me that no one is illegal, and no one deserves to be dehumanized,” said Unitarian Church of Evanston Rev. Eileen Wiviott.

    This comes 24 hours after chaotic moments played out in that same area, and three U.S. citizens were arrested.

    “My understanding of the three individuals who were taken have been released,” said Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss.

    SEE ALSO | Chicago federal intervention: Tracking surge in immigration enforcement operations | Live updates

    Witnesses say a man and a woman in a red car were following agents to warn people of their presence.

    That’s when, bystanders say, agents slammed on their brakes causing the people in the car to crash into the agent’s vehicle.

    The Department of Homeland Security accused people who watched the incident happen of being “aggressive,” saying in part, “As agents tried to make a U-turn, the red car crashed into Border Patrol. A hostile crowd surrounded agents and their vehicle, and began verbally abusing them and spitting on them.”

    Neighbors say a man and a woman were then dragged out of a car. ABC7 blurred their faces because we do not know if they have been charged.

    Cellphone video shows one agent punching the man on the ground. At one point, an agent appears to pull out a gun on a bystander and threatens to pepper spray him.

    “I was appalled that, by a block from my home, people were dragged out of their car by masked men, some not masked, and beaten in the face,” said Evanston resident Kate LeVan.

    DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin wrote on X, “The individual arrested in this video assaulted and kicked Border Patrol agents. As he was being arrested, here, he aggressively grabbed the agent’s genitals and wouldn’t let go. The agent delivered several defensive strikes to free his genitals from the perp’s grasp.”

    Biss says the Evanston Police Department is actively investigating the matter.

    “So, our police right now, exploring options about whether the right course of action is to work with the Cook County state’s attorney to press charges like that or refer, instead, perhaps, to the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, but there’s an open investigation, and they’re gathering evidence and figuring out the best course of action,” Biss said.

    Biss went on to say immigration operations have impacted their schools and caused fear among students. On Friday, outdoor recess was canceled as federal agents were in the area.

    Meanwhile, over in Broadview, four people have been arrested Saturday in connection with protests outside of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility there, police said. They are facing charges such as Resisting, Disorderly Conduct, Disobeying to a Police Officer and Simple Assault.

    DHS issued a statement on the events in Evanston Friday, saying, “Today, U.S. Border Patrol conducted immigration enforcement operations in Evanston and Skokie, Illinois, that resulted in the arrest of five illegal aliens from Mexico, whose criminal histories include criminal trespass and multiple illegal entries into the country. All of these individuals have broken the immigration laws of our nation.

    During an operation at Oakton Street and Ashbury Avenue in Evanston, agents observed they were being aggressively tailgated by a red vehicle. As agents tried to make a U-turn, the red car crashed into Border Patrol. A hostile crowd surrounded agents and their vehicle, and began verbally abusing them and spitting on them. As Border patrol arrested one individual, who actively resisted arrest, pepper spray was deployed spray to deter the agitator and disperse the crowd. Three U.S. citizens were arrested as a result of their violence against law enforcement.

    “This incident is not isolated and reflects a growing and dangerous trend of violence and obstruction. Over the past several days, we’ve seen an increase in assaults and deliberate vehicle rammings targeting federal law enforcement during operations. These confrontations highlight the dangers our agents face daily and the escalating aggression toward law enforcement. The violence must end.”

    Evanston police also issued a statement Friday, saying, “The Evanston Police Department responded Friday, Oct. 31, to several reports of federal agents conducting deportation operations throughout the city. Police supervisors responded to these reports; in only one instance did officers find federal agents on scene upon arrival.

    At approximately 12:25 p.m., Evanston Police responded to reports from citizens and federal agents regarding a traffic crash in which a civilian vehicle rear-ended a federal vehicle. The crash led to a disturbance at the scene.

    Preliminary information indicates that the driver of the civilian vehicle was taken into custody by federal agents. During that arrest, a confrontation occurred between community members and the agents, reportedly resulting in one or two additional arrests. Evanston Police officers worked to stabilize the scene and prevent further conflict between community members and federal agents.

    Prior to police arrival, pepper spray appears to have been deployed. Evanston Fire Department paramedics responded to provide medical care for individuals exposed to pepper spray.

    Evanston Police did not make any arrests and currently have no one in custody. The incident remains under investigation.

    The Evanston Police Department will review this incident for referral to the Illinois Attorney General’s Office. If you have information, including video or other evidence, please contact the Evanston Police Detective Bureau at 847-866-5040.”

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  • Immigration enforcement on North Side leads to tense confrontations, soft lockdowns at schools

    CHICAGO (WLS) — Videos showed federal agents detaining people as immigration enforcement activity was reported across Chicago on Friday.

    At several North Side locations, federal agents making arrests were met by community members, and at least one encounter ended in a cloud of tear gas.

    ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

    Footage from West Town Friday morning showed a federal agent breaking the driver’s side window of a car and detaining a man inside near West Superior Street and North Paulina Street.

    ABC7 blurred his face because we do not know if he has been charged with any crimes.

    Neighborhood residents confronted agents, shouting at them and blowing their whistles to alert the community as they detained the man, who was waiting for his pregnant wife outside of a community health center. Local elected officials and the community center say the man is in the country legally on a work permit and had a court date with immigration.

    SEE ALSO | Chicago federal intervention: Tracking surge in immigration enforcement operations | Live updates

    Later, a mid-day confrontation pitted Lakeview neighbors and protesters against masked federal agents. The face-to-face encounter ended with volleys of tear gas sending the residential block spiraling into chaos.

    Courtney Conway was among dozens of residents who confronted agents near Lakewood and Henderson after a construction worker at a home was arrested.

    “My eyes were burning. It did not feel great. They still burn a bit today,” Conway said. “There were some neighbors bringing out water for us to flush out our eyes.”

    Doorbell camera video showed agents rolling up and workers, who’d been having lunch, running for cover. One closed and braced against a gate as agents tried to push through. Another was helped through a window to elude agents.

    The stepped up ICE activity on the North Side disrupting the school day at Burr Elementary and other schools as multiple arrests played out on nearby streets.

    CPS parents and 32nd Ward Alderman Scott Waguespack confirmed a handful of schools in the Bucktown-Wicker Park area were placed on soft lockdown. That meant no outdoor recess, in response to ICE arrests in the neighborhood.

    “The kids aren’t playing outside because there’s been a huge amount of ICE presence in the neighborhood, just driving up and down the streets, just kind of terrorizing the neighborhood,” CPS parent Nicole Van Haperbeke said. “Why? It’s a peaceful, beautiful Friday.”

    SEE ALSO | US House subcommittee hosts ‘shadow hearing’ in Chicago on immigration enforcement tactics

    ABC7 obtained multiple videos from Bucktown-Wicker Park residents showing arrests in and around the neighborhood. At least one showed a gardener who a resident says was hired to plant a tree in her backyard.

    “I just asked them not to arrest him,” Bucktown resident Donna Kirchman said. “I said, ‘Please leave him alone.’ And they didn’t. I believe they took his phone, and then they took him.”

    Heavily armed agents also arrested a man sitting in a vehicle, who witnesses said works at a nearby car dealership.

    “It’s terrifying, and we knew that they were going to come to Bucktown,” resident Laura Dufour said. “They’ve been all over the city.”

    Those agents were later seen driving around vehicles that had stopped and clipping a woman. Alderman Waguespack says he’s been inundated with messages and witnessed first-hand what he claimed were ICE agents driving dangerously in the neighborhood.

    “We saw them backing up into intersections where we’ve got daycare children walking across the street,” Waguespack said. “You’ve got mothers with strollers. You’ve got a fun run right up here at St. Mary’s, and they’re driving without stopping at stop signs, blowing through alleys.”

    In light of the school lockdowns Mayor Brandon Johnson is urging Governor JB Pritzker to allow for a remote option for CPS students. That’s something the state has to sign off on, but the governor says he’s opposed to that idea because of the impact it could have on the students’ education.

    SEE ALSO | Some Chicago Board of Education members call for CPS remote learning amid immigration operations

    Also, Laugh Factory posted on social media on Friday, saying the Lakeview comedy club’s night manager was detained by “masked federal agents outside of the club.” The business posted footage of the incident to its Facebook account.

    Chicago police said officers responded to a report of a battery in the area of Belmont Avenue and Broadway just before 9:20 a.m.

    Responding officers saw federal agents and two other individuals in a physical altercation, and a crowd had gathered in the area, police said.

    Police said officers worked to deescalate and conduct crowd control. CPD did not make any arrests and left the scene once the area was cleared.

    No further information about the incident from federal authorities was available.

    Multiple alderpersons on the North Side issued alerts about more reported ICE activity on Friday.

    Ald. Daniel La Spata, who represents the 1st Ward, said on Friday morning, there have been “numerous confirmed sightings of ICE” throughout the West Town community area, including neighborhoods surrounding Ukrainian Village, Wicker Park, and the Humboldt Park border.

    Ald. Timmy Knusden, who represents the 43rd Ward, said community members on Friday have “reported ICE sightings and suspected enforcement activity at the following locations:

    • Cleveland/Belden


    • 2600 N Racine


    • 440 W Belden


    • Reports of 2 unmarked SUVs driving north on Halsted with masked drivers


    • Lincoln/Racine/Diversey


    • Racine/Drummond


    • Lill/Seminary


    • Wrightwood/Racine”

    Wicker Park’s A.N. Pritzker School also said it was on soft lockdown Friday, and all after-school programs, with the exception of Wicker Park Kids and Apollo, were canceled.

    Tear gas was thrown at Henderson and Lakewood, in a community that had so far has avoided contact with ICE agents.

    “The tear gas was deployed by ice without warning and without my neighbors hear from doing anything to provoke that reaction no one was interfering with them they were just exercising the first amendment rights,” 44th Ward Ald. Bennett Lawson said. “This is very disturbing.”

    Roaming bands of agents appeared to be targeting communities Friday where immigrants might be working.

    “No one gains, people already hurt and you kinda get to see that in real time,” neighborhood resident Donny Donoghue said.

    Earlier, protesters gathered outside the ICE processing facility in Broadview once again, as they have done every Friday now for several weeks.

    Friday’s demonstration has remained fairly contained to one corner as protesters keep within the safety zone, speaking out against the Trump’s administration’s operation “Midway Blitz” and the recent immigration crackdown in the Chicagoland area.

    “I believe that we are creating huge wounds, not only for the people who are being detained, but for the ICE officers who are doing these horrible things. I feel terrible for everybody,” said Mary Kelly, who lives in Oak Park.

    Messages left by ABC7 Chicago for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security regarding the North Side operations were not returned.

    Immigration operations are also having an impact on the Asian community.

    The Chinese American Service League shared a video of federal agents detaining a man outside his home in Bridgeport on Thursday.

    CASL claims the father of two was not doing anything illegal. Witnesses say the agents did not present a warrant.

    DHS says gang member tried to ram agents with car, defends apparent tear gas use on protesters

    DHS said a Latin Kings gang member tried to ram agents with a car in Cicero, IL and defended the apparent use of tear gas during a Chicago protest.

    Meanwhile, ABC7 is getting more information from the DHS about recent violent run-ins with federal agents over the past few days.

    DHS says Wednesday was one of their most violent days on the job. At 26th and Ogden in Cicero, DHS claims a Latin Kings gang member tried to ram agents with his vehicle.

    Six people were arrested that day for impeding operations, and three undocumented immigrants were placed into custody.

    And there were more tense moments Thursday at the Little Village Discount Mall during an anti-ICE rally.

    Attorneys accused federal agents of violating a court order, which does not allow them to use riot control weapons unless facing an imminent threat and requires them to issue warnings first before deploying tear gas.

    A federal complaint is now taking aim at the man who led the charge. An image of Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino appears to show him throw tear gas “without justification,” according to the complaint.

    “Federal agents started acting aggressive, pushing protesters away… Again, it was all peaceful protesters,” said protester Kristian Armendariz.

    However, DHS says the group of about 75-100 people began firing commercial artillery shell fireworks at agents and throwing rocks, adding that Bovino was hit in the head.

    According to DHS, agents repeated multiple warnings to the crowd to back up, informing them that chemical agents would be deployed. The department stood by their agents’ actions, saying, “Agents properly used their training. The use of chemical munitions was conducted in full accordance with CBP policy and was necessary to ensure the safety of both law enforcement and the public.”

    Bovino was set to appear in court on Nov. 5 to give a two-hour testimony, but now a federal judge has ordered more than double the time, five hours, to question Bovino after the incidents.

    Later Friday, Judge Sara Ellis also ordered Bovino to testify in-person on Tuesday during a status hearing.

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    Stephanie Wade

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  • Fencing around Broadview ICE facility set to be removed

    BROADVIEW, Ill. (WLS) — Fencing around the ICE facility in Broadview is set to be removed soon.

    A judge ruled last week, that the fencing must come down by Tuesday. Monday morning, bulldozers were in position to potentially begin taking the fencing down.

    ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

    The village sued to have the 8-foot fence removed, saying it posed a public safety hazard because it blocks emergency responders.

    SEE ALSO | Chicago federal intervention: Tracking surge in immigration enforcement operations | Live updates

    RELATED | Appeals court upholds ruling blocking Trump admin. from deploying National Guard in Illinois

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  • Appeals court upholds ruling blocking Trump admin. from deploying National Guard in Illinois

    BROADVIEW, Ill. (WLS) — As demonstrators kept their fight going outside the Broadview U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Saturday, at the same time, a court battle seemed to put an end to federal plans to have the National Guard on Chicago area streets, at least for now.

    The Trump administration on Friday asked an appeals court for an immediate stay of a Chicago federal judge’s ruling this week that blocked the National Guard from deploying in Illinois.

    The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals on Saturday upheld the judge’s ruling, but did partially grant the Trump administration’s request for stay by allowing troops to remain federalized pending their appeal of the judge’s ruling.

    ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

    Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul issued a statement later Saturday, saying, “The court’s order today keeps the troops off the streets of Chicago, Broadview or any other community in Illinois. This is a victory for our state. This is a victory for state and local law enforcement – who know their communities and who protect the right of their communities to speak truth to power.”

    The Department of Justice says the National Guard is needed to protect federal officers from violent attacks and called Judge April Perry’s move to grant the temporary restraining order “extraordinary.”

    Perry wrote in her opinion, after granting the state’s request for that temporary restraining order, that the deployment of the National Guard “is likely to lead to civil unrest.”

    Even as temperatures dropped, protesters’ voices still rang high outside the Broadview ICE detention center.

    Protests continued after local faith leaders held a prayer march to the facility Saturday morning. Their goal was to bring holy communion to detainees. Illinois State Police stationed outside the detention center said they called ICE with the request, which was denied.

    Before heading to the facility, the priests, nuns and community members gathered at a Maywood church for a prayer service.

    Bill Delong, a retired Army veteran visiting from Kentucky, was among the anti-ICE demonstrators in Broadview.

    “We all are Americans until due process,” Delong said. “I love my country, and I don’t know what happened, you know? When you start to see people get rolled up off the streets, hooded up, and thrown in vans; that’s something that we fought against.”

    SEE ALSO | Chicago federal intervention: Tracking surge in immigration enforcement operations | Live updates

    The latest in the legal battle over National Guard deployments comes as protesters and agents have clashed multiple times in the past, ending with arrests.

    Officials said Saturday night that 15 people were arrested by Illinois State Police in connection to protests near the Broadview facility throughout the day. Most charges were resisting, obstruction and disobeying a police officer.

    Illinois Democrats and Republicans remain divided of the deployment of the National Guard to assist federal agents in their ongoing immigration enforcement operation across the Chicago area.

    “This is an intentional attack by this president to divide and separate our communities, but he has finally met his match in the greatest city in the world, in Chicago,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said.

    “I’m in disappointed in general,” Cook County Republican Party Chairman Aaron Del Mar said. “What we’re really trying to do is just implement the immigration laws that currently stands. And unfortunately, the protesters that are out there are disrupting the area to the point where it’s become unsafe for federal officers.”

    Meanwhile, another federal judge ruled the metal fence that was erected outside the Broadview ICE facility must come down by early next week. This comes after the Village of Broadview sued, saying it blocked this public road and could impact first responders getting to a scene.

    READ MORE | Broadview protest arrests, dropped charges influenced ruling to bar National Guard deployments

    Friday marked another day of anti-ICE demonstrations near the Broadview facility.

    Hundreds of people throughout the day could be seen rallying together, but authorities say at least four people were arrested for resisting and obstructing law enforcement.

    Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth were turned away from trying to visit the Broadview facility on Friday.

    And in a separate decision, a judge granted the village of Broadview’s temporary restraining order, calling for a fence, which was put up by federal agents and blocks a street near the facility, to come down. The government has until 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday to take that fence down.

    The faith community stepped off from St. Eulalia Catholic Church before heading to the Broadview facility. The goal is to attempt to deliver communion people who may be being held at the facility. Broadview’s mayor was also expected to walk.

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    Christian Piekos

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  • Trump administration federalizing 300 National Guard members in Illinois, White House confirms

    CHICAGO (WLS) — The Trump administration federalizing 300 members of the Illinois National Guard, Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement on Saturday.

    The White House later confirmed that President Donald Trump has “authorized 300 national guardsmen to protect federal officers and assets” amid ongoing ICE raids in the Chicago area.

    ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

    Pritzker said the Department of War gave him an ultimatum, telling him to call up the troops himself.

    “This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will,” Pritzker said, in part. He said the administration intends to federalize hundreds of National Guard troops “in the coming hours.”

    A White House spokesperson shared a statement with ABC7 Chicago Saturday night, saying, “Amidst ongoing violent riots and lawlessness, that local leaders like Pritzker have refused to step in to quell, President Trump has authorized 300 national guardsmen to protect federal officers and assets. President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities.”

    The announcement came after a federal judge in Oregon temporarily blocked Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in Portland for at least 14 days. Oregon’s governor, said in a statement, “justice has been served, and the truth has prevailed.”

    The concern over a deployment of Illinois National Guard members prompted an emergency motion filed by Broadview leaders Saturday. The village is seeking the removal of the fence erected by federal authorities around the ICE facility amid ongoing demonstrations.

    The village has called the fence illegal and a safety hazard, asking for a judge to grant the motion pending a Tuesday hearing on the village’s lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security.

    DHS responded to that motion in its own court filing, saying there’s no need for a hearing before Tuesday, bringing up the possibility of a settlement on Monday.

    RELATED | Chicago federal intervention: Tracking surge in immigration enforcement operations | Live updates

    Amid the announcement of the federalization of the National Guard in Illinois, confrontations seemed to arise again Saturday in Broadview between demonstrators and Illinois State Police throughout the day.

    “It’s a continuing overreach by the president because the governor is responsible for calling up the troops when they think it’s necessary,” demonstrator Tony DiBenedetto said.

    A crowd of anti-ICE demonstrators cheered on at least four people ABC7 saw detained by Illinois State Police as they were walked into a Cook County Sheriff’s Office van in handcuffs. They were taken down as troopers were clearing the street outside the ICE detention center in Broadview, backing protesters into designated zones, feet from the immigration building and surrounded by concrete barriers. Federal agents were on the other side of the fence with their flying drone above it all.

    “I’m not here to deal with the State Police. I’m here to deal with the kidnapping that ICE is doing, and it’s immensely disappointing that State Police are putting themselves between us and ICE,” demonstrator Will Creutz said.

    Tensions continued throughout the night Saturday between Illinois State Police and demonstrators.

    Federal agents and protesters also clashed at the west suburban Broadview Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Friday morning.

    The Cook County Sheriff’s Office said at least five people were arrested during those clashes. They are facing charges such as resisting, obstruction and aggravated battery to a police officer.

    That clash came after Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino were seen on the ICE facility’s roof just before 8 a.m. They were accompanied by several armed agents, cameras and a production crew.

    SEE ALSO | Federal agents shoot, injure armed woman in Brighton Park during alleged vehicle ramming, DHS says

    President Donald Trump has previously threatened to send the National Guard to Chicago to combat crime, and even said earlier this week that the city could become a training ground for the military.

    On Monday, Pritzker said he learned that DHS is requesting that 100 military personnel be sent to Illinois to protect ICE agents.

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

    In the coming hours, the Trump Administration intends to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard. They will pull hardworking Americans out of their regular jobs and away from their families all to participate in a manufactured performance — not a serious effort the protect public safety. For Donald Trump, this has never been about safety. This is about control.

    This demand follows unprecedented escalations of aggression against Illinois citizens and residents. Yesterday, Kristi Noem’s and Greg Bovino’s masked agents threw chemical agents near an elementary school, arrested elected officials exercising their First Amendment rights, and raided a Wal-Mart. None of it was in pursuit of justice, but all of it was in pursuit of social media videos.

    I want to be clear: there is no need for military troops on the ground in the State of Illinois. State, county, and local law enforcement have been working together and coordinating to ensure public safety around the Broadview ICE facility, and to protect people’s ability to peacefully exercise their connotational rights. I will not call up our National Guard to further Trump’s acts of aggression against our people.

    In Illinois, we will do everything within our power to look out for our neighbors, uphold the Constitution, and defend the rule of law.”

    Statement from Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton:
    “Donald Trump intends to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard and deploy them to Chicago without the consent of Governor Pritzker or our administration. These are Illinoisans who will be ripped away from their families to serve in Trump’s political stunt. We have warned that this has been their plan all along, and now it’s here.

    Our city is not a sandbox for Donald Trump to play dictator. It’s intentional cruelty that will devastate families and scar our communities.

    Let me be clear: the only emergency in Chicago is the chaos that Donald Trump and his administration are deliberately fueling in our streets. Journalists targeted and shot at, peaceful residents dragged from their homes, women and children zip-tied in the streets, families torn apart and stuffed into U-Hauls. This is unacceptable, reprehensible, and not what we stand for in Illinois.

    “I have spent my career working to make communities safer and lead on public safety for our administration. Not a single violence-prevention expert I have worked with has ever said the answer is to flood our neighborhoods with federal troops. This move will only serve to spread fear, escalate conflict, and undermine the trust that keeps communities safe.

    To the people of Illinois: know that Governor Pritzker and I will use every tool at our disposal to defend our city, protect our residents, and resist this reckless, authoritarian power grab.”

    Copyright © 2025 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.

    Tre Ward

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  • Trump administration seeking to federalize 300 Illinois National Guard members, Governor says

    CHICAGO, Illinois — The Trump administration is looking to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard, Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement on Saturday.

    Pritzker said the Department of War gave him an ultimatum, telling him to call up the troops himself.

    “This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will,” Pritzker said, in part. He said the administration intends to federalize hundreds of National Guard troops “in the coming hours.”

    This comes after federal agents and protesters clashed at the west suburban Broadview Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Friday morning.

    The Cook County Sheriff’s Office said at least five people were arrested during those clashes. They are facing charges such as resisting, obstruction and aggravated battery to a police officer.

    That clash came after Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino were seen on the ICE facility’s roof just before 8 a.m. They were accompanied by several armed agents, cameras and a production crew.

    And Friday night, with helmets and batons, a phalanx of Cook County sheriff’s officers kept demonstrators from blocking the street in a tense standoff, capping a day of protest.

    President Donald Trump has previously threatened to send the National Guard to Chicago to combat crime, and even said earlier this week that the city could become a training ground for the military.

    On Monday, Pritzker said he learned that DHS is requesting that 100 military personnel be sent to Illinois to protect ICE agents.

    ABC7 has reached out to the Trump administration for comment but did not immediately hear back.

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

    In the coming hours, the Trump Administration intends to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard. They will pull hardworking Americans out of their regular jobs and away from their families all to participate in a manufactured performance — not a serious effort the protect public safety. For Donald Trump, this has never been about safety. This is about control.

    This demand follows unprecedented escalations of aggression against Illinois citizens and residents. Yesterday, Kristi Noem’s and Greg Bovino’s masked agents threw chemical agents near an elementary school, arrested elected officials exercising their First Amendment rights, and raided a Wal-Mart. None of it was in pursuit of justice, but all of it was in pursuit of social media videos.

    I want to be clear: there is no need for military troops on the ground in the State of Illinois. State, county, and local law enforcement have been working together and coordinating to ensure public safety around the Broadview ICE facility, and to protect people’s ability to peacefully exercise their connotational rights. I will not call up our National Guard to further Trump’s acts of aggression against our people.

    In Illinois, we will do everything within our power to look out for our neighbors, uphold the Constitution, and defend the rule of law.”

    Statement from Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton:
    “Donald Trump intends to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard and deploy them to Chicago without the consent of Governor Pritzker or our administration. These are Illinoisans who will be ripped away from their families to serve in Trump’s political stunt. We have warned that this has been their plan all along, and now it’s here.

    Our city is not a sandbox for Donald Trump to play dictator. It’s intentional cruelty that will devastate families and scar our communities.

    Let me be clear: the only emergency in Chicago is the chaos that Donald Trump and his administration are deliberately fueling in our streets. Journalists targeted and shot at, peaceful residents dragged from their homes, women and children zip-tied in the streets, families torn apart and stuffed into U-Hauls. This is unacceptable, reprehensible, and not what we stand for in Illinois.

    “I have spent my career working to make communities safer and lead on public safety for our administration. Not a single violence-prevention expert I have worked with has ever said the answer is to flood our neighborhoods with federal troops. This move will only serve to spread fear, escalate conflict, and undermine the trust that keeps communities safe.

    To the people of Illinois: know that Governor Pritzker and I will use every tool at our disposal to defend our city, protect our residents, and resist this reckless, authoritarian power grab.”

    Copyright © 2025 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.

    WLS

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  • Montgomery County cancels Hispanic Heritage Festival, drawing criticism from council member – WTOP News

    Montgomery County, Maryland, has canceled what was to be an annual Hispanic Heritage Festival in Wheaton, citing concerns about community safety amid increased federal immigration enforcement.

    Montgomery County, Maryland, has canceled what was meant to be its second annual Hispanic Heritage Festival in Wheaton, citing concerns about community safety amid increased federal immigration enforcement.

    The decision, announced during Hispanic Heritage Month, has sparked criticism from some local leaders who said the move sends the wrong message.

    “It was not an easy decision to make,” said Luisa Cardona, assistant chief administrative officer for County Executive Marc Elrich.

    While Cardona said the county believes the Hispanic community deserves to be celebrated, the decision was made out of caution and concern for the well-being of those who would attend the event.

    “We didn’t think that a festival at this time was the best medium, due to growing fears and concerns of federal immigration enforcement,” Cardona said. “The fear in the community was palpable.”

    Last year marked the first time Montgomery County hosted a Hispanic Heritage Month festival in Wheaton.

    Cardona said concerns were raised this year by local businesses, nonprofits and county partners, including the Latino Health Initiative. The festival, which would have taken place at Marian Fryer Town Plaza, was seen by some as a potential target for immigration enforcement activity.

    “A lot of our partners expressed really deep concerns … fears that, by creating this event, the community would be targeted. And that is certainly the last thing we wanted to do,” Cardona said.

    Instead of a public gathering, the county is offering grants of up to $2,000 to Wheaton-area elementary schools to host their own cultural events. Schools must apply, and the funding can be used to bring in performers of Hispanic heritage who reflect Hispanic culture.

    “We thought about our local schools as trusted community spaces … to celebrate local artists and performers in safe community spaces,” Cardona said.

    Each student will also receive a take-home packet with a craft project and resource information for immigrant families, including housing, legal aid and health care access.

    But the canceling of the festival caught Montgomery County Council member Natali Fani-González off guard.

    “I was shocked when I heard that the county executive canceled that Hispanic Heritage Month festival in my district for no reason,” she said.

    Fani-González, who represents Wheaton and is originally from Venezuela, said the county should not let fear dictate its decisions.

    “There is no space for fear in my community,” she said.

    Fani-González said she was not consulted before the decision was made. She added that several events have taken place safely, including a festival in Glenmont this past Sunday. Several other events are also scheduled in the coming weeks, including the Wheaton Arts Parade.

    “This is a time for communities to come together, support each other, support local businesses and restaurants that need help right now. Hiding and canceling things is not the way to go,” she said.

    The county said it will revisit the idea of holding the festival again next year.

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    Mike Murillo

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  • Why Trump Regrets ICE’s Raid on a Korean Plant in Georgia

    This image from video provided by ICE shows manufacturing-plant employees waiting to have their legs shackled at the Hyundai Motor Group’s electric-vehicle plant on September 4.
    Photo: Corey Bullard/AP

    Here’s something I sure didn’t have on my bingo card: Donald Trump expressing regret over a major immigration raid. For the most part, his administration has gloried in the many excesses of its mass-deportation program, apparently on the theory that aggressive enforcement tactics and even cruelty would help move things along as anyone not legally in the country would self-deport instead of finding themselves in a brutal ICE detention facility or an even more brutal rent-a-prison overseas.

    But an immigration raid on September 4 at an EV battery plant in Georgia, which was supervised by the elite Homeland Security Investigations arm of ICE, has caused some real buyer’s remorse for the 47th president. The 475 arrests for immigration violations included 317 South Korean citizens sent to oversee the building of the plant, and their government was not at all happy with their treatment. The busts (mostly for visa overstays) disrupted U.S.–South Korean diplomatic relations, including sensitive negotiations over tariffs, and appear to have traumatized the workers involved, as the Los Angeles Times reported:

    Throughout the day, people described federal agents taking cellphones from workers and putting them in long lines … Some workers hid for hours to avoid capture in air ducts or remote areas of the sprawling property. The Department of Justice said some hid in a nearby sewage pond.

    Collectively, the detained South Koreans chose to go home even after they were offered a temporary respite from deportation. Indeed, the South Korean government is investigating the possibility that the raid violated international human-rights agreements. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau has “expressed deep regret” for the raid in a meeting with South Korean diplomats. And most remarkably, the president himself backtracked in a Sunday Truth Social post:

    This was a very wordy way for Trump to admit that two of his biggest priorities are in conflict. The ultimate prize at the end of the rainbow for his Liberation Day tariff initiative is to push the world’s manufacturers into relocating facilities to the U.S. That isn’t going to happen if the people they send over to set up said facilities are being rounded up by ICE and put in cages. In retrospect, it’s rather surprising the administration didn’t foresee this problem and at least provide some coordination between their economic-policy folks and the zealous deporters of DHS and ICE. And you have to wonder if anyone on the immigration side of the policy table got chewed out for blowing up U.S.–South Korean relations, making other countries nervous, and forcing the president to semi-apologize. Are there limits to Stephen Miller’s power after all?

    This isn’t just an embarrassment for the administration, to be clear. The EV-battery plant was very necessary for a Hyundai EV-manufacturing plant next door. Together these facilities represented the largest economic development project in Georgia history and the crown jewel of Brian Kemp’s governorship. To add insult to injury, DHS pressed Georgia state troopers into service during the battery-plant bust, presumably as part of routine state cooperation with federal immigration-enforcement efforts. Kemp, whose relationship with the president is famously fraught but recently peaceful, couldn’t have been happy. Beyond that, though, someone needs to make the Trump administration aware that attracting foreign direct investment is one of the favorite economic-development tools of virtually every Republican governor; for some, it’s all they know how to do, other than cutting taxes, to create wealth.

    It will be fascinating to see if the incident puts a bit of a damper on the nativist strain of America First politics and policy and maybe keeps a few people out of ICE-detention hell.


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    Ed Kilgore

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  • Protest blocks downtown traffic after 4 arrested in Lawndale as part of operation ‘Midway Blitz’

    CHICAGO (WLS) — A large protest against immigration enforcement blocked traffic in downtown Chicago for hours on Tuesday evening.

    “We must organize. We must stay in the streets and keep each other safe!” one protester said.

    ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

    The Coalition Against the Trump Agenda and the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights hosted a rally at Congress Plaza Garden on Tuesday evening before marching in the streets to make their voices heard.

    “We are going to keep fighting against the escalated ICE raids and attacks against our communities. Trump says that it’s going to be war in Chicago, but I believe in the people’s power and the resistance here in strong,” said Rania Salem with the U.S. Palestinian Community Network.

    About 200 demonstrators marched on Michigan Avenue around 6 p.m.

    “We will be out on these streets. So, get ready. Buy you some new shoes!” one demonstrator said.

    READ MORE | Chicago federal intervention: Tracking surge in immigration enforcement operations | Live updates

    The group later returned to the plaza, where the rally resumed. Organizers told ABC7 that they were committed to keeping the demonstration peaceful.

    “We’re going to talk about how we’re meeting the moment, right now,” another demonstrator said.

    The protest came after federal agents descended on Chicago’s Lawndale neighborhood as part of operation “Midway Blitz” on Tuesday.

    Agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement along with Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agents arrested three men they say are suspected gang members. ABC7 blurred their faces because we do not know whether they have been charged.

    ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas spoke with the head of the ICE operation, which the Department of Homeland Security says is targeting criminal offenders who are in the U.S. illegally.

    Federal agents descended on Chicago’s Lawndale neighborhood as part of operation “Midway Blitz.”

    “We’re talking anywhere from the most egregious child sex offender to, homicide, burglary, assault, domestic violence, it runs the gamut. It’s everybody that’s committed crime, but the ones we’re going to primarily focus on, the ones that we want to get off the streets are going to be our heinous criminals,” Marco Charles, acting director of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations told ABC News.

    ATF Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Maniff said they are investigating possible gun trafficking by the Tren de Aragua gang.

    “This investigation started through our crime gun intelligence center with our 15 partner agencies that include ICE. And during this operation, we identified 30 TDA suspected gang members that were selling firearms in the Chicagoland area,” Maniff said.

    DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin says, “DHS is launching Operation Midway Blitz in honor of Katie Abraham who was killed in Illinois by a criminal illegal alien who should have never been in our country.” The operation, which began was announced Monday, is part of a 30-day federal immigration enforcement surge in the Chicago area.

    Meanwhile, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker met with activists who support immigrants on Tuesday, talking about strategies for how best to address the immigration enforcement surge. Several community groups are also planning resistance strategies.

    The federal government has officially started its immigration crackdown on the Chicago area.

    Pritzker said there is a lot of fear out there about what the Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation will actually turn into. And as President Donald Trump continues to talk about cleaning up Democrat-run cities, Pritzker made it clear, once again, that he has no plans to ask for federal help like the National Guard.

    Pritzker met with a group leaders representing numerous advocacy groups who are trying to inform people of their rights and help them stay safe as they wait for the ICE raids to ramp up.

    “We’re going to talk about how we’re meeting the moment right now,” one woman who attended the meeting said. “What does that actually look like? What does the various programs look like?”

    The governor offered some encouragement.

    “The reason that Tom Homan, the reason that Donald Trump, the reason that so many people, you know, are upset and want to attack Chicago is because we’re winning,” Pritzker said. “Even though this is a terrible moment, we are winning here, We are, even if there are still people who are being taken and still there are attacks in our communities.”

    It comes as various community groups continue to criticize operation “Midway Blitz,” the name given to the stepped-up immigration enforcement effort that the Trump administration has said will target the “worst of the worst” criminals who are not in the country legally.

    After touring the National Museum of Mexican Art, the governor admitted that the state is being kept in the dark about ICE activity. Pritzker said he is not sure when the ICE operation will ramp up, but he says they have about 100 vehicles at the ready.

    “Here’s what we do know: ICE is somewhere on the ground here. They already have been effectuating their plans. We have not seen the bulk of those ICE agents yet in communities, but we have seen some, and we know that they are gathering steam,” Pritzker said.

    The White House border czar, Tom Homan, defended the operation that is expected to look similar to what happened in Los Angeles.

    RELATED | Controversial ICE tactics cleared by Supreme Court; advocates worry they may be deployed in Chicago

    “We’re sending a message to the whole world; there are consequences for violating our laws. You’re asking me to tell ICE, ‘Don’t enforce the law.’ Should DEA enforce their laws? Should FBI enforce their laws? Should ATF enforce their laws? ICE is going to enforce the laws. That’s what President Trump got elected for and what we’re doing,” Homan said.

    Faith leaders on the West Side are calling this “Resistance Tuesday.” They gathered in Pilsen, where community members are getting ready to celebrate Mexican Independence Day this weekend

    “When it comes to putting our sons and daughters in the back of unmarked vans by agents that do not want to be known, accountable by anybody, we have to say ‘No,’” said Rev. Joe Morrow with 4th Presbyterian Church.

    Organized by the Leaders’ Network, the collection of prominent clergy came together on Tuesday, united by their opposition to any federal takeover of Chicago.

    “It’s so important that this is an interfaith gathering that Christians, Jews and Muslims are coming together to say that we’re going to fight for Chicago,” said Leaders’ Network President David Cherry.

    Their message is that Chicago needs investment, not occupation.

    “So, while he is championing that there’s a need for the military to solve this problem, we believe in resources,” said New Landmark Baptist Church Pastor Cy Fields.

    SEE ALSO | Katie Abraham’s father speaks out on DHS’ operation ‘Midway Blitz’ in Chicago area

    Many say Trump is using crime in predominately Black and Brown communities as an excuse to occupy the city.

    “We resist what he is doing,” said Greater Union Baptist Church Pastor Dr. Walter McCray. “We stand flat footed, morally and spiritually and resist what he is doing. We are not afraid. We can control our community if we have the resources, the resources to hire folk.”

    Administration officials say their actions are necessary to apprehend undocumented people, who they say are being given refuge in sanctuary cities, adding that they have seen a reduction in crime in Washington, D.C. after the National Guard was called in to help.

    If National Guard troops were deployed in Chicago, military experts say, they would likely be used to guard federal buildings.

    The troops are trained for military combat, not policing crime and cannot be dispatched by 9-1-1 to crime scenes.

    “It’s looking for an excuse to have further crackdowns on valid protests and to provoke attack, and that’s my deepest concern, that these troops are coming here to provoke, not to protect,” said Oak Park Temple Rabbi Max Weiss.

    ABC News contributed to this report.

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    Evelyn Holmes

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  • ICE confirms 4 Chicago-area arrests as Trump administration’s ‘Midway Blitz’ operation gets underway

    CHICAGO (WLS) — Immigrant advocates say they have already received a large volume of calls to their hotline about Immigration and Customs Enforcement encounters in the Chicago area in recent days.

    Some elected leaders worry that this just the start of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in the area.

    ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

    “It’s obvious that operations have begun in Chicago, and it’s even more obvious they’re going to be targeting our communities here in the Southwest Side again. We’re afraid. Our neighbors are afraid,” said Any Huamani, who is on the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council and is a Southwest Side Rapid Response team member.

    The Department of Homeland Security says their operation “Midway Blitz” in the Chicago area is underway. They say they are targeting violent offenders who are here illegally.

    On social media, ICE posted a picture of one of their SUVs with the Chicago skyline behind it, saying they are here to remove the dangerous public safety threats.

    Late Monday, ICE said agents arrested at least four men from Mexico in the Chicago area on Sunday. They are accused of crimes like DUI, vehicular burglary, armed robbery, domestic battery, assault and sexual assault of a child, ICE said.

    “So far, it’s been successful. We have successfully arrested some criminal aliens over the last few days. We just began our surge. We’re going to be bringing in our our partners, our other DHS partners, DOJ partners, CBP partners coming in. So, they’ll be coming in and participating in this ICE-led operation,” said ICE official Marcos Charles.

    SEE ALSO | Katie Abraham’s father speaks out on DHS’ operation ‘Midway Blitz’ in Chicago area

    ICE said one arrest was made at 47th and Archer and another was made at 49th and Archer. ICE did not provide locations for the other two arrests.

    Video provided to ABC7 shows federal agents wearing badges that say “ICE” handcuffing a man near Archer and Pulaski. Neighbors say that man is a flower vendor.

    “We have confirmed in my ward… detained in my ward… there have been three people. One in 50th and Pulaski; he a was a street vendor selling flowers. The other, a couple of blocks down in Archer, was just standing on the sidewalk. The third one was waiting on the bus on 47th and Archer,” said Ald. Jeylu Gutierrez, who represents the 14th Ward. “This was never about arresting the worst of the worst. It’s been about terrorizing our community.”

    Gutierrez says the wife of the flower vendor has been notified, and the family is figuring out their next steps.

    On Monday morning, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights says their teams were deployed to 61st and Kildare on Chicago’s Southwest Side after reports of immigration agents in the area.

    LIVE UPDATES | Chicago federal intervention: Tracking surge in immigration enforcement operations

    “What we do know is they attempted arrests, and there has been at least one arrest for today,” said ICIRR Senior Director of Deportation Defense Rey Wences.

    While announcing the immigration blitz on Monday, DHS also listed 11 specific people agents are looking for in Chicago.

    Many of those people were detained in the Cook County Jail for criminal cases, but later released.

    DHS accuses the jail of not cooperating. But in a statement on Monday night, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office says state law prohibits them from releasing any detainees into the custody of federal immigration authorities without a signed arrest warrant from a judge.

    Meanwhile, Evanston is also preparing for possible ICE raids in the coming days. The mayor there was tipped off by the governor’s office and sent out an email blast, letting residents know.

    “We’re also working with community partners. So for example, this morning, the high school sent an email blast as well to all of their families, knowing that some people might get ours and not theirs, some people might get theirs and not ours,” said Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss.

    The Evanston City Council will vote on a resolution calling for the state to address ICE agents wearing masks on Monday night.

    “We believe that it is just fundamentally wrong in a democracy for an agent of the state to use the power of the state without identifying themselves clearly with transparency and accountability,” Biss said.

    Many people in the Chicago area are wondering if this past weekend was the calm before the ICE storm.

    “Operation ‘Midway Blitz’ is not public safety. It’s a declaration of war on Mexicans and Latinos in Chicago,” said state Rep. Aaron Ortiz, who represents the 1st District.

    Immigrant advocates reminded the public to not provoke federal agents and to take video of any encounters from a safe distance.

    Religious leaders rally against immigration crackdown in Chicago: ‘Faith over fear’

    Religious leaders from a diverse group of faith backgrounds stood with one voice on Daley Plaza to decry the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

    Meanwhile, more than one dozen faith leaders came together on Monday, taking a stand against ICE raids and rallying in support of immigrants in a campaign they are calling Faith Over Fear.

    “ICE cannot survive the fire of a forge,” said Reverend David Black with the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago.

    “But what he’s done is rallying us together. I’ve not seen this in a long time. He’s fighting with all his weapons of his mouth and weapons of the army. We’re fighting for something. It’s our DNA, our faith, our faith is essential of who we are. He’s not ready for this and he’s not more powerful,” said Fr. Michael Pfleger with St. Sabina Church.

    Religious leaders from a diverse group of faith backgrounds stood with one voice on Daley Plaza to decry the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and the possibility of a National Guard deployment in Chicago, as the White House border czar says the use of National Guard troops to protect and support immigration enforcement operations is “on the table.”

    “This morning, as I dropped my kids off at school. Like so many of us in Chicago did this morning, we took our kids to school, but today felt different,” said Rev Sandra Van-Opstal with Lawndale Christian Community Church.

    “I’ve got to tell you, there’s a lot of fear. I live in the Pilsen/Little Village area, and it’s been quieter these past few days, and so, we suspect that people will be navigating the conditions in our city cautiously,” said Ray Wences with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

    Little Village is all decked out in Mexican colors in advance of this weekend’s Independence Day celebration. Many street vendors are selling flags and other items for those gearing up for the festivities.

    “God stood on the side of the vulnerable and the oppressed,” said Mishkan Chicago founder Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann. “God split the sea for them and said to the world, the way that you treat the least among you, the strangers, the slaves, the servants, the way that you treat them is a test of your society.”

    The faith leaders are preparing to support those families who may be impacted by ICE detentions.

    “As a way to be able to walk with the families after something has happened, we’re going to reactivate a lot of the resource network that we had during the new arrivals mission and be able to partner with churches and other groups to be able to get emergency items out to all of them,” said New Life Centers CEO Matt DeMateo.

    SEE ALSO | ‘We’re not going to war’ with Chicago, Trump says, after sharing ominous meme

    A protest and a march against the operation are set to get underway in the Loop late Tuesday afternoon.

    Trump, meanwhile, continues to focus on Chicago crime as operation “Midway Blitz” ramps up.

    “And I don’t know why Chicago isn’t calling us saying, ‘Please give us help,’ when you have, over just a short period of time, 50 murders and hundreds of people shot, and then, you have a governor that stands up and says how crime is just fine. It’s really crazy,” Trump said.

    In an op-ed piece in the New York Times, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson addressed a possible National Guard deployment to address crime, saying in part, “lowering crime rates here does not require an occupation of our city by armed members of the National Guard, as the White House continues to threaten us with…. Sending in the National Guard is the wrong solution to a real problem.”

    Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker responded to the ICE post about coming after dangerous criminals, saying it is not about fighting crime, and that if it were, his administration would have heard from the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate efforts. The governor says this is about scaring Illinoisans.

    The ICIRR Family Support Network was founded to connect immigrant communities with support. They can be reached at 855-435-7693.

    A spokesperson for Pritzker, issued a statement, saying, “The Governor’s Office has received no formal communication or information from the Trump Administration. Like the public and press, we are learning of their operations through their social media as they attempt to produce a reality television show. As Trump has said himself, this is not about seriously fighting crime or reforming immigration – it’s about Trump’s plan to go to war with America’s third-largest city. If he cared about delivering real solutions for Illinois, then we would have heard from him. Unlike Trump’s reality show, we don’t like keeping people in the dark. Since we have learned of the Trump Administration’s plans to deploy federal agents and active-duty military to Illinois, Gov. Pritzker has shared information with the public and the Governor’s Office has remained in regular contact with leaders and partners at the City of Chicago, Cook County, the Illinois congressional delegation, state legislature, and mayors and representatives from the collar counties.”

    Johnson also issued a statement, saying, “We have received no notice of any enhanced immigration action by the Trump administration. We are concerned about potential militarized immigration enforcement without due process because of ICE’s track record of detaining and deporting American citizens and violating the human rights of hundreds of detainees. ICE sent a 4-year-old boy with stage 4 kidney cancer to Honduras, even though the child was an American citizen. There are more than 500 documented incidents of human rights abuses at detention facilities since Trump took office, including deaths of detainees and alleged cases of sexual abuse of minors by federal immigration agents. Because of these incidents and more, we remain opposed to militarized immigration enforcement that runs afoul of the Constitution in our city. We encourage residents to visit www.Chicago.gov/KYR to stay informed on their rights.”

    Copyright © 2025 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.

    Jasmine Minor

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  • WATCH: ICE raids create anxiety for teachers, parents, students in DC schools – WTOP News

    One week after classes began, D.C. schools are working to address fears from parents, students and staff over raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and a surge of federal law enforcement in the District.

    President Donald Trump’s administration has put a focus on reducing illegal immigration and crime in D.C. That emphasis on crime reduction has also brought thousands of National Guard troops to the nation’s capital.

    Watch the video below from CNN.

    Jessica Kronzer

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  • FBI Doubles Reward in Glass House Farms Raid Shooting Case

    A $100,000 reward is being offered for information on the unknown man who allegedly pointed an apparent weapon during an ICE raid on a marijuana facility

    Credit: FBI

    Last month’s immigration raids at the Glass House Farms cannabis facility were pure chaos. Agents swarmed the grow fields as workers scattered – including one who fell to his death from a rooftop while running from capture. A violent clash between protestors and federal agents at two Glass House Farms locations in Ventura County rapidly deteriorated into violence. In the middle of it all, someone – the FBI says – whipped out a weapon.

    Now the FBI has doubled the reward offered for information on the unidentified purported gunman from $50,000 to $100,000. Initially, federal officials said shots were fired by the man, saying on social media: “brave agents faced gun fire as they executed on criminal search warrants at a marijuana facility.”

    But now it seems to be unclear if any bullets were fired, with the FBI saying Friday that the protester “appeared to point a firearm and possibly fired a pistol at federal law enforcement officers on July 10, 2025, in Camarillo at approximately 2:26 pm. At the time of the alleged assault, the unknown male is believed to have been participating in a protest.”

    When it was over, officials had arrested 200 migrants and said they had “rescued” ten minors who were working for Glass House Farms.

    Ten juveniles were among the workers federal agents took into custody in two sweeps at Glass House Farms in Ventura County last month.
    Credit: Department of Justice

    The worker who died while attempting to elude capture, Jaime Alanis, suffered a head injury in a fall that led to his death, family members said in a GoFundMe post. “My uncle Jaime was just a hard-working, innocent farmer. He has his wife and daughter waiting for him. He was chased by ICE agents, and we were told he fell 30ft,” the worker’s niece Yesenia Duran wrote on the page, which is seeking funds to send his body back to Mexico. “He was his family’s provider. They took one of our family members We need justice. We are still investigating what happened.”

    Michele McPhee

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  • “Who’s going to take care of your child?”: Parents reel from Trump ICE crackdown

    Since the outset of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign, Carolina Reyes, the director of the Arco Iris Bilingual Children’s Center in Maryland, had to start having conversations with parents about whom she should contact in case they disappear in an ICE raid.

    “I had to say, ‘You need to have a plan. I know it’s difficult, but you need to have a plan,’” Reyes told Salon. “I know it’s difficult, but you need to have a plan. And then they were like, ‘No, I don’t want to talk about it.’ I was like, ‘I understand, but you have to because, unfortunately, you don’t know if you go to work and something happens, who’s going to take care of your child? What is going to happen? What do I have to do?”

    According to Reyes, this is only one of many difficult conversations she has had since the beginning of the Republican mass deportation campaign earlier this year.

    “We had a meeting with my teachers where we need to prepare if ICE comes. As a school, we are not allowing anybody to come into our school. We close the door and we lock down a little bit, if that’s the case. We are not going to release anybody, not to, particularly ICE or anything like that. We call parents too. We talk about it, and if we see ICE or any situation where we feel uncomfortable, parents will be notified,” Reyes said.

    From 2011 until the beginning of Trump’s second term, child care facilities had been off limits for ICE raids. Trump ended the protection afforded to child care facilities and other sensitive locations in January, telling immigration officers to “balance a variety of interests” when conducting operations in or around such locations.

    While it’s not clear whether ICE has conducted any raids on early childhood education centers yet, the rule change earlier this year and the administration’s readiness to detain children and families have left providers across the country in a state of anxiety with organizations advising that providers prepare for potential raids.

    The potential for direct raids on facilities isn’t the only issue impacting parents and children since the beginning of the GOP mass deportation campaign. For many of the families Reyes has worked with, parents are afraid to go to work because they’re worried that they, or one of their family members, might be targeted by ICE. At the same time, Reyes said, ICE had targeted those seeking food assistance at places like local churches, which left families of mixed immigration status with nowhere to turn.

    “Here in Maryland, ICE was going to those places too, to arrest people, so we started our own food program a little bit here, asking our own families to donate food so that families didn’t have to go to those places,” Reyes said.

    And the fear in the community goes beyond just noncitizen residents.

    “I did have some families who were concerned and worried, even though they had legal status in the United States, you know. But they’re immigrants, so we look like immigrants and Latinos, and some of them were concerned about that too,” Reyes said.

    Reyes’ experience is only a keyhole view into the dramatic effect that Trump and the GOP’s policies are having on the child care industry and the families that rely on it in the United States.

    The child care and early childhood education industry is among those most impacted by Trump’s immigration policies. According to the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at Berkeley, around 500,000 workers in the industry are immigrants, accounting for about 21% of the industry’s workforce nationwide.

    The percentage of child care workers born outside the United States varies widely by state as well. In Florida, for example, 38% of early childhood educators were born outside the United States, while in a state like Vermont, the number is closer to just 3%.

    Beyond statistics, there are some communities in which immigrants maintain a critical role in terms of child care. The 19th detailed in a report this year the detention of Orozco Forero, a worker who cared for children with Autism and was the only provider who would take some children in her community.

    One child care provider located near Columbus, Ohio, who wished to be identified only as Ann, told Salon that since Trump’s mass deportation campaign began, they’ve been having a hard time finding new workers.

    “I have two who, in the middle of the hiring process, disappeared, or they no-showed. And then I found out from other trusted sources who know them that they are involved in immigration proceedings,” Ann said. “Even today, there’s one woman who was supposed to start with us — I don’t know the correct immigration or political term — she’s got clearance to be in the US. She’s originally from Mexico. Her father’s here, but they were able to get her immigration status made legit, if I can say it that way. But she’s disappeared for two weeks, and then I found out today that she’s had to travel to Cleveland for a court proceeding. I said to the other person who knows her, I just asked her, ‘is she okay?’”

    Ann said that the new problems haven’t been limited to hiring workers either. She told Salon that immigrant families have recently had problems getting financial benefits through Ohio’s Publicly Funded Child Care program for their children, who are American citizens.

    “Now what’s happening is I have immigrant families who have immigrant children, and U.S.-born children, we are having a hard time getting the families care and benefits for their entire family, including the U.S.-born child, and that’s when I start losing all hope in this,” Ann said.

    In the past, Ann said, she would be able to appeal the decision made by the county government to the state government with a high success rate. Now, however, she says families are increasingly being denied at the state level, too.

    According to Arabella Bloom, a researcher at the center, the mass deportation campaign, which impacts parents, children and the people who staff child care centers, is hitting a system that was struggling to begin with.

    “I think something important to note about childcare is that the system that we currently have right now — it’s kind of generous to call it a system,” Bloom said. “It’s very patchwork. Programs are happening in public schools, but programs are also happening in people’s homes. And so there’s not like a cohesive early childhood system. It’s a lot of programs kind of operating on their own. You know, many early childhood programs are for-profit, but they’re barely making ends meet.”

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    Bloom said that, even for those workers who are not immigrants, there is a “real fear about interacting with immigration,” especially among Hispanic workers and other people of color.

    The pressure from Trump’s mass deportation campaign comes in addition to more direct attacks on immigrants’ access to early childhood education from his administration and the Republicans in Congress.

    The Trump administration announced in July, for example, that it would be making undocumented immigrants, who are already largely ineligible for federal benefits, ineligible for Head Start and that administrators for Head Start would be checking for eligibility based on immigration status.

    “This decision undermines the fundamental commitment that the country has made to children and disregards decades of evidence that Head Start is essential to our collective future,” Yasmina Vinci, executive director of the National Head Start Association, told the Associated Press at the time.

    Bloom explained that some changes in the recent GOP budget also stood to have an outsized impact on the workers in the early childhood education industry, especially cuts to SNAP and Medicaid.

    “We know that roughly 43% of early educators rely on public benefits to make ends meet because pay is so low, so it’s kind of just a like a perfect storm of at the same time that immigration efforts are ramping up, and that’s obviously going to be very impactful for the one in five early educators who are immigrants,” Bloom said.

    The GOP attacks on public benefits and immigration policy “threaten the supply of care that’s already hard to find,” Rachel Wilensky, a senior analyst on child care and early education at the Center for Law and Social Policy, told Salon.

    Wilensky cited a CLASP study from 2018, which found that immigration actions like those being carried out by the Trump administration this year, and those that were conducted in the first administration, left a lasting impact on the physical, social and emotional development of young children.

    “Good nutrition, regular health care, a stable and healthy living environment, and nurturing care are necessities for children to grow and learn and ultimately do well in school, in their jobs, and throughout their lives,” Wilensky said. “When children don’t have their basic needs met—or when they experience hardship and distress—it undercuts their growth and development and can have enduring effects. Immigrants have been central throughout our nation’s history, and their experiences matter for our future. The success of the United States is tied to the health and well-being of immigrants, as well as their success in school and later careers.”

    The post “Who’s going to take care of your child?”: Parents reel from Trump ICE crackdown appeared first on Salon.com.

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