WCCO is working to learn more about a federal immigration enforcement operation on Wednesday afternoon in northern Minnesota.
St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsay said agents with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Border Patrol joined members of the Lake Superior Violent Offenders Task Force during a drug bust at a Hibbing restaurant off East 18th Street and Third Avenue East just after noon.
Ramsay said one person was arrested for selling cocaine and illegal firearm possession as part of an ongoing investigation that began last month. The suspect was “also in possession of several fake identification documents,” according to Ramsay.
But after the arrest, a restaurant employee told Northern News Now ICE agents began detaining anyone without proper documents. It’s unclear how many people were detained.
“The Sheriff’s Office is aware that federal law enforcement took additional actions during this search warrant,” Ramsay said. “The federal investigation is independent of this case; therefore we have nothing further to add.”
Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited Minneapolis to discuss ICE operations in Minnesota, stating more than 4,300 people who were “committing crimes and here illegally in this county” have been arrested in the state since January. Noem said 3,316 of those arrestees have criminal histories.
Noem said ICE agents have been “demonized” in Minnesota, and more agents are headed to the state.
Judge admonishes ICE leader in Chicago after agents descend on Halloween parade – CBS News
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The Border Patrol commander in charge of President Trump’s immigration crackdown in Chicago is being reined in by a federal judge. Nicole Sganga has the latest.
One week after the historic “No Kings” rally, another protest formed at the Minnesota State Capitol.
Demonstrators shared concerns about President Trump’s use of the National Guard, the war in Gaza and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s visit to Minnesota on Friday.
“I’m here to stand up for my kids, grandkids, everybody,” one woman told WCCO. “I’m just frightened with what’s happening with this country right now.”
Demonstrators occupied the intersection of University Avenue and Park Street in St. Paul.
“We do have an increase of federal officers that will be coming,” said Noem while in Minneapolis on Friday. Saturday’s march happened less than 24 hours later.
“We have enough ICE in Minnesota. We wait for Ice-out Day every spring, and I would like to see ICE out,” said Sue, from Mounds View, who was marching on the Capitol grounds. “We don’t need ICE here. They’re not doing the job they’re supposed to be doing.”
The Republican Party of Minnesota said in a statement, “Secretary Noem represents exactly the kind of leadership Minnesotans want — tough on crime, supportive of police, and focused on safety, not slogans. Another disgraceful example of the DFL choosing politics over public safety.”
A Woodbury mom says, amid the conflict, the golden rule is what she’ll follow.
“Hate is always an easy thing to appeal to; it’s very easy to make people afraid of those around them, but it never works,” said Jane Masterman.
Jose Castro-Rivera was in a vehicle that was stopped on I-264 eastbound in Virginia around 11 a.m. local time on Thursday, according to Virginia State Police,
A 24-year old Honduran national was struck and killed on a highway as he tried to escape ICE agents who stopped his vehicle, officials said.
Jose Castro-Rivera was in a vehicle that was stopped on I-264 eastbound in Virginia around 11 a.m. local time on Thursday, according to Virginia State Police, who were responding to a report of a vehicle-pedestrian crash at the Military Highway interchange.
When they arrived, troopers found an adult male who had been hit by a 2002 Ford pickup truck. The man was identified as Rivera, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
A preliminary investigation by VSP found that he was “fleeing from a pursuit initiated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement when he exited his vehicle and attempted to cross the interstate.”
Officials from VSP were not involved in the pursuit but are investigating the pedestrian crash, which remains under investigation.
A spokesperson from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said ICE stopped the vehicle in which the Honduran national was traveling as “part of a targeted, intelligence-based immigration enforcement operation.”
“Upon determining that the occupants were in the United States illegally, officers began detaining the occupants of the targeted vehicle. However, one of the vehicle’s occupants, Jose Castro-Rivera, resisted heavily and fled the scene onto a busy highway, creating a significant safety risk to himself and the general public,” the agency said. “Unfortunately, a passing vehicle struck Castro-Rivera.”
One of the ICE officers gave Castro-Rivera CPR before he died, the DHS spokesperson said.
“The officer then informed the three detained aliens that their friend had deceased,” the DHS spokesperson said.
Earlier this week, nine immigrants from Africa suspected of being in the country illegally were taken into custody by Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents during what DHS called a “targeted, intelligence-driven enforcement operation on Canal Street in New York City focused on criminal activity relating to selling counterfeit goods.”
ICE deported about 140 individuals back to Venezuela in its latest removal flight on Oct. 15.
A 24-year old Honduran national was struck and killed on a highway as he tried to escape ICE agents who stopped his vehicle, officials said.
Jose Castro-Rivera was in a vehicle that was stopped on I-264 eastbound in Virginia around 11 a.m. local time on Thursday, according to Virginia State Police, who were responding to a report of a vehicle-pedestrian crash at the Military Highway interchange.
When they arrived, troopers found an adult male who had been hit by a 2002 Ford pickup truck. The man was identified as Rivera, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
A preliminary investigation by VSP found that he was “fleeing from a pursuit initiated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement when he exited his vehicle and attempted to cross the interstate.”
Officials from VSP were not involved in the pursuit but are investigating the pedestrian crash, which remains under investigation.
A spokesperson from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said ICE stopped the vehicle in which the Honduran national was traveling as “part of a targeted, intelligence-based immigration enforcement operation.”
“Upon determining that the occupants were in the United States illegally, officers began detaining the occupants of the targeted vehicle. However, one of the vehicle’s occupants, Jose Castro-Rivera, resisted heavily and fled the scene onto a busy highway, creating a significant safety risk to himself and the general public,” the agency said. “Unfortunately, a passing vehicle struck Castro-Rivera.”
One of the ICE officers gave Castro-Rivera CPR before he died, the DHS spokesperson said.
“The officer then informed the three detained aliens that their friend had deceased,” the DHS spokesperson said.
Earlier this week, nine immigrants from Africa suspected of being in the country illegally were taken into custody by Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents during what DHS called a “targeted, intelligence-driven enforcement operation on Canal Street in New York City focused on criminal activity relating to selling counterfeit goods.”
ICE deported about 140 individuals back to Venezuela in its latest removal flight on Oct. 15.
A planned immigration crackdown by federal agents has been canceled for the entire Bay Area for now, Mayor Barbara Lee of Oakland said Friday.
“I spoke with Alameda County Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez, who confirmed through her communications with ICE that Border Patrol operations are cancelled for the greater Bay Area – which includes Oakland – at this time,” Lee said in a statement obtained by CBS News Bay Area.
A spokesperson with the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office told CBS News Bay Area that Sanchez spoke with ICE Thursday afternoon, who stated that the operations were cancelled at this time.
So far, there’s been no confirmation from the Department of Homeland Security.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff was among the tech leaders who asked the president to reconsider, Mr. Trump said. Benioff had previously urged the president to deploy the National Guard to San Francisco to address public safety, comments which he later apologized for.
On Wednesday, U.S. officials told CBS News that Border Patrol agents would stage at the U.S. Coast Guard base in Alameda for a planned operation. Border patrol commander Gregory Bovino, one of the most visible faces of the Trump administration’s nationwide immigration crackdown, was expected to be involved.
Following reports of the crackdown, protesters gathered outside Coast Guard Island early Thursday morning, with demonstrators attempting to block vehicles from entering the island. The day-long protest ended late Thursday after a U-Haul truck attempted to back into a line of U.S. Coast Guard and law enforcement, which led to Coast Guard security personnel opening fire at the truck.
The driver of the truck was wounded in the stomach and was being held for a mental health evaluation, the Department of Homeland Security announced Friday. Meanwhile, two civilians who were injured are expected to survive, while a bystander struck by a fragment was treated at a hospital and released.
Lee also issued a statement about the shooting incident at Coast Guard Island, saying “The Oakland Police Department is assisting the Alameda Police Department in securing the perimeter of the scene. The FBI is the lead agency investigating the incident, and I will continue to gather available information as it becomes accessible.”
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and other federal officials will be in Minneapolis on Friday for what they are calling a discussion on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations and to give an update on President Trump’s immigration enforcement operations in the region.
A news conference with Noem is scheduled for Friday afternoon in Minneapolis. No other details about the event were immediately provided.
Mayor Jacob Frey said in a written statement ahead of Noem’s visit on Friday, “Minneapolis doesn’t flinch when it comes to our values. We stand with our immigrant neighbors — not just in words, but in the laws we’ve passed, the policies we enforce, and the way we show up for each other every day.”
Minneapolis City Councilor Jason Chavez wrote a letter to his constituents on Thursday, saying he was “concerned” after hearing about Noem’s scheduled news conference. Chavez went on to write about the city’s lawsuit with eight other local governments against the Trump administration regarding the conditions it set for millions of federal dollars for emergency and disaster preparedness.
Late last month, the United States Department of Justice sued the state of Minnesota, as well as the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, over so-called “sanctuary city” policies. In the 34-page lawsuit, the department asked a judge to invalidate sections of the state constitution, city codes in St. Paul and Minneapolis and Hennepin County administrative orders. Federal prosecutors claim the collective policies that prevent local cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement are unconstitutional.
Both Minneapolis and St. Paul have city ordinances that prohibit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. The state of Minnesota has no law making it a “sanctuary state” for undocumented immigrants.
After word spread about Noem’s news conference, groups announced plans to gather in protest.
WCCO reporter Frankie McLister will be following this story. Check back for updates.
Gov. JB Pritzker signed an executive order on Thursday aimed at addressing federal enforcement in Illinois, telling CBS News that his newly created Illinois Accountability Commission will serve as a permanent record of alleged civil rights abuses by federal agents in Chicago.
Pritzker told CBS News, in an exclusive interview, the state is documenting “unlawful attacks” by ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers under Operation Midway Blitz.
“They are attacking people on the ground — ICE, CBP — going after people just because they’re Brown or Black,” Pritzker said. “No one above them is holding them responsible. Greg Bovino, who is running the operation in Chicago, isn’t holding them accountable. No one is. So we’re going to have to keep a record.”
Pritzker’s office said the task force will consist of nine people appointed by him to capture and create a public record of federal law enforcement, ultimately recommending actions to hold the federal government accountable for operations taking place here.
“The commission will be charged with three core missions. One, creating a public record of the abuses; two, capturing the impact on families and communities; and three, recommending actions to prevent further harm and pursue justice,” Pritzker said at a press conference announcing his executive order.
He said members will be supported by the Department of Human Rights, and he expects hearings to launch “several weeks from now.”
“Since this began, I have encouraged the people of Illinois to use their phones and to record everything they are witnessing and post it on social media,” Pritzker said. “We have a duty to ensure that the truth is preserved.”
The governor said hundreds of videos and firsthand accounts have already been collected and will be preserved for use in future legal proceedings.
“These people need to be held accountable,” he said. “And they will be — by the judiciary now, and by Congress or the next administration later.”
Former Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Ruben Castillo, will lead the commission as chair.
“This commission is about civil rights. This commission is about the Constitution. This commission ultimately about human rights, Castillo said.
Pritzker emphasized that Illinois is not waiting for Washington to act, pointing to recent legal victories against federal enforcement actions.
“We’ve won at the circuit court level. We’ve won at the appeals court level. We are taking action now. But it’s appalling that the people committing these crimes are still on the job,” Pritzker said. “Let’s be clear: Congress isn’t doing anything right now. They’ve become sycophants to the President. They’re not holding hearings or asking questions.”
He described reports of Black Hawk helicopters, military-style weapons, and the mass detention of civilians, including children being zip-tied.
“There are people who just don’t believe it until they see it,” he said. “We’ve seen pastors hit with pepper balls while praying outside ICE facilities. Peaceful protesters tackled or shot with tear gas and rubber bullets for exercising their First Amendment rights. … That’s why we’re telling everyone: record it, document it, send it in.”
In his interview with CBS News, Pritzker detailed the timeline on these accountability efforts.
“We are taking those cases to court, and again we are winning. So we’re taking action now. I don’t want to make it seem like nothing is happening,” he said.
The governor said they’re taking cases to court now, but other actions could take years, when there’s a change in administration at the White House.
“Someone’s got to hold them accountable, and whether it’s the courts now or the elected officials later, we’ve got to make sure we have a record to show,” he said.
Pritzker said a report will be issued this January related to the work of the commission. They’ve created a website people can use to track this work and to report activity at ilac.illinois.gov.
“The courts have done a very good job stopping the worst offenses, but I’m disturbed that the Supreme Court might allow federalized National Guard troops when there is no insurrection, no rebellion,” he said.
Pritzker said he welcomes help from the FBI, DEA, and ATF to combat illegal guns and drugs, but rejected any military-style presence.
When asked what he’d say directly to CBP Chief of Patrol Bovino, who oversees the federal operation, Pritzker offered a pointed message: “Follow the law. Follow your own protocols. Do right by the citizens of the United States who live here in Illinois. And, finally, pronounce the name of our state correctly. It’s Illinois, not Illinoise.”
Bovino defends enforcement actions, claiming “absolute chaos in the streets”
On Thursday, Bovino also talked with CBS News and pushed back on Pritzker’s claims.
“Pritzker probably ought to set a hotline up for himself, for all the abuses that illegal aliens perpetrate on American citizens,” Bovino said, accusing him and other Democratic leaders of spreading “fake news” about racial profiling. He denied that CBP agents have targeted neighborhoods by race or acted outside policy.
“We’ve arrested individuals from 30 non-Latino countries,” he said. “We go where the threat is.”
Bovino defended his agency’s tactics, saying federal agents in Chicago have made nearly 2,700 arrests since Sept. 6 and used “exemplary” force amid what he called “absolute chaos in the streets.”
“We’ve arrested a lot of very bad individuals: Latin Kings members, bona fide terrorists, and things like that,” Bovino told CBS News.
Bovino said roughly 70% of arrests nationwide involve people with “criminal or immigration history,” though he declined to provide specific figures for Chicago, when pressed repeatedly. Earlier this month, CBS News Chicago dug into the data behind the arrests, and found some of the numbers reflected people arrested outside of Illinois.
Bovino also defended agents seen deploying tear gas and pepper balls at protesters outside the Broadview detention facility, despite a federal court order restricting chemical agents.
“The use of force I’ve seen has been exemplary, the least amount necessary to accomplish the mission,” he said. “Those protesters were trespassing and had been given multiple warnings. That was absolutely in line with policy.”
Bovino dismissed concerns that agents fired from elevated positions or above the waist, insisting, “It doesn’t matter where you fire from. That’s not a violation of policy.”
Asked if any agents had been disciplined for excessive force, Bovino said, “To my knowledge, no.”
He also defended the possible deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago, saying they would guard federal facilities, not patrol city streets.
“That was fake news,” he said. “It was never the intention for National Guard to be on the streets.”
Bovino described Chicago as a “model” for nationwide immigration enforcement and said CBP’s mission will continue until “we arrest them all or they self-deport.”
“We’re here to protect taxpayers from violence and crimes by illegal aliens,” Bovino said. “We’ve had enough, and we’re not going anywhere.”
CBS News Chicago reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment and is waiting to hear back. This story will be updated if we receive a response.
Ofelia Torres has spent almost every day of the past month at Lurie Children’s Hospital, where the 16-year-old Lake View High School student is fighting cancer.
After a tough few weeks where the disease spread through her body and doctors inserted a drain in her abdomen to relieve fluid, the Torres family worked with her oncologist to arrange a short getaway over the weekend, where she and three of her closest friends could enjoy a Saturday of simple pleasures and normalcy before a scheduled return to the hospital and chemotherapy.
The girls were getting their nails done as Ofelia’s father, Ruben Torres Maldonado, was at work.
Hours later, he called his wife Sandibell Hidalgo from a number that came up on caller ID as “prison / jail.”
“It’s me,” he said. “They got me.”
In that moment, the Torres family experienced the pain of separation gripping hundreds of immigrant families across Chicago and the suburbs since Donald Trump’s administration last month launched “Operation Midway Blitz,” the president’s aggressive deportation plan.
Now they’re fighting cancer and the United States government. Their attorney, Kalman Resnick, filed a petition in federal court to have him freed while Torres’ deportation case proceeds.
His family needs him, they say.
A photo of Ofelia Torres and her father, Ruben Torres Maldonado, on display in the family’s living room in Chicago on Oct. 20, 2025. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Ruben Torres and Sandibell Hidalgo are parents of not only Ofelia, but also a 4-year-old son, Nathan. The father, a 40-year-old painter and home renovator, is the primary breadwinner in a household with carefully balanced child care responsibilities in their Portage Park bungalow. The mother often sleeps at the hospital while he takes care of their preschooler.
“He will take Nathan to school every morning and make sure he leaves from work in time to pick him up and then comes home, gives him dinner and takes him to see us,” Hidalgo said in an interview at her home. “Every day, he was doing the same thing. I’m like, how am I going to be able to do this?”
Resnick said he will try to prevent Torres’ deportation “on account of his many years of residence in the U.S., his good moral character, and the exceptional and extremely (unusual) hardships his children will experience if he were removed from the United States,” he wrote.
In a statement, Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin accused Maldonado of “habitual driving offenses” and said he backed into a government vehicle while attempting to flee. She called his legal filing “nothing more than a desperate Hail Mary attempt” to keep him in the country.
Meanwhile, his wife sat in the living room of the family home Monday. Her husband renovated their bungalow basement. Medical instructions from Lurie on how to care for their daughter sat on a table nearby.
“We came because this is a great country, because our lives were gonna be better,” Hidalgo said. “He belongs with her, and especially in this portion, because we don’t know if she’s gonna make it. She has Stage 4 cancer, she has it all over her bones. The treatment is so aggressive, that it will put her down for days. Her mental and spirit, it’s amazing, but her body is sometimes getting tired. Who knows how long the body’s gonna take it? So he deserves to be with her.”
Ofelia told the Tribune her father instilled in her the value of independence. For her 15th birthday, he took her to the Chicago Cultural Center for traditional quinceanera photos but instead of spending money on a big party, he bought her a car.
Torres carefully searched Facebook Marketplace listings looking for the perfect vehicle. When he saw a candidate, he meticulously inspected the vehicle and took it on test drives.
“He would examine every little corner of this car. Under the car, the wheels, this and that,” Ofelia said. “He’s like, this car, this car’s not good, this car’s not good. It wasn’t taken care of.”
Eventually, they found a 2006 Ford Mustang with 39,000 miles on it that had been well cared for and largely kept in a garage.
“My dad test drove it. He was like, this car, this is your car,” Ofelia said. “On my birthday, the day of my birthday, he bought me my car.”
One day, Ofelia drove home with the top down as her dad was sitting on the stairs. He stared at her quietly and intently, she recalled. She asked if there was something on her face and he said no.
Later, he told her, “that day that you came home with your car, I felt like I had done it. I made it in life. Everything I had done, everything I worked for, everything I sacrificed, everything I suffered, was worth it because that’s what I wanted to see.”
Growing up, he took Ofelia to boxing and karate classes. He would coach her on how to fight. “It just made me stronger and that was our bonding,” she said.
“His number one goal with raising at least me, was making sure that I never had to rely on anyone,” she said. “That once I moved out of the house, that I grew up, that I knew how to take care of myself. He wanted me to be an independent person.”
While the family is close-knit and supports one another, Hidalgo said the father has taken his daughter’s health problems hard.
“One thing he always says, especially when things don’t go right with the treatment or she has to go through a procedure and he sees all the pain that she’s going through. He says, why us? We’re not bad people. We don’t kill, we don’t steal. We’re just hard workers,” Hidalgo said. “We just came to this country to make our lives better and there’s people out there that do so bad in this world and nothing happens to them. Why us? Why are we going through this? My answer was, like, ‘God only knows.’”
The family is well-known and beloved in their pockets of Chicago. Ofelia’s teacher, Valerie Wadycki, described her as a girl who donated nutrition shakes she didn’t like to a food pantry rather than throwing them away.
Earlier this year, Ofelia did a research project for Wadycki about the cost of health care that spread her story further.
Impressed by Ofelia’s interest in the subject, Wadycki introduced her to her friend, state Rep. Laura Faver Dias from Grayslake, who had an hourlong discussion with the teenager.
“She is smart, funny, inquisitive, engaging. We just talked about state health care policy. We talked about her fears, our shared fears about what happens to Medicaid for her and her family as she is navigating cancer,” Dias recalled in an interview. “The hoops her mom has had to jump through to make sure they get the best care possible because they’re on Medicaid.”
Dias introduced Torres to the family’s state representative, Will Guzzardi, who was inspired by the girl’s sharp mind.
“This family is going through so much. They’re so strong,” Guzzardi said. “Ophelia is so brave.”
Ald. Matt Martin, 47th, whose ward includes the high school, noted cancer patients need an ironclad support network.
“As a father, I find it nearly impossible to put into words how horrific this situation is,” Martin said. “At a time when Ofelia and her family need their father the most, ICE has torn their family apart.”
Over the weekend, Ofelia took to work fighting for her father. She made a video that has since been published on a GoFundMe page by her teacher about the situation.
“I find it so unfair that hardworking immigrant families are being targeted because they were not born here,” Ofelia said in the recording.
Speaking to the world, Ofelia said she was making the video “to spread awareness and remind the public that immigrants are humans with families and deserve to be treated with love and respect like anyone else.”
Portland resident says ICE agents entered home without a warrant – CBS News
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A Portland resident is speaking out after she says immigration agents broke into her home without a warrant, looking for someone who didn’t live there. Camilo Montoya-Galvez reports.
Tear gas used on protesters outside Portland ICE facility as concerns grow over feds’ tactics – CBS News
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Officers repeatedly used tear gas and pepper spray Saturday night on the crowd of hundreds outside an ICE facility in Portland, Oregon. Camilo Montoya-Galvez is there with the latest.
Farmers look to robots for field work as immigration raids upend labor – CBS News
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Harvests are at risk in California. Part of the reason: immigration raids that have left as many as 70% of field workers too scared to show up. Itay Hod reports how some farmers are looking to technology for help.
Many undocumented immigrants across the United States say they are too afraid to attend church, after President Trump, on his first day in office, ended an old policy of designating places of worship as sensitive locations that were off-limits to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Priests and pastors at congregations across the country tell CBS News that attendance has dropped sharply as a result. Now, pastors are taking unprecedented measures — like locking doors during services and hiring volunteers at the doors to make sure ICE agents don’t enter, welcoming worshippers into their homes for private gatherings, and delivering communion directly to their doors — to ensure their communities can still practice their faith, even in hiding.
The Trump administration is awaiting word from the Supreme Court after asking it to allow the immediate deployment of National Guard troops to Illinois to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. A lower court blocked the move. Camilo Montoya-Galvez reports from Portland, Oregon, where tensions are rising over ICE tactics.
Chicago — The rules of engagement for federal agents amid President Trump’s immigration crackdown have come under scrutiny, with one former Immigration and Customs Enforcement director telling CBS News that agents have been put “in a terrible position” and are being tasked with operations “in a city where they don’t belong.”
From vehicle crashes to forceful takedowns, encounters with federal agents captured on cellphone video have gone viral amid the crackdown. Recent incidents have involved ICE as well as U.S. Border Patrol, whose agents are trained to catch drug traffickers and human smugglers in the deserts along the U.S. southern border. Now, though, many of those Border Patrol agents have been deployed on the streets of cities like Chicago.
“What strikes me immediately is how this administration has put these agents in a terrible position,” John Sandweg, former acting director of ICE, told CBS News. “…These are units that are designed to address high-risk threats and bring overwhelming force to bear. And I think the big flaw here is, not, I don’t blame these agents. I blame the administration for putting agents, who are trained in this manner, in a city where they don’t belong.”
Federal agents deployed tear gas on a crowd on Tuesday on the South Side of Chicago following a crash involving a federal vehicle. That use of tear gas prompted a federal judge Thursday to express concern and issue an order Friday that agents in Chicago wear body cameras in response to a lawsuit brought by several media organizations over allegations that forceful tactics were being used by federal agents against protesters and journalists.
“I’m glad that the judge is stepping up, doing the right thing,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker told reporters. “I think we’re going to see more cases brought against ICE and CBP.”
ICE and Border Patrol are part of the Department of Homeland Security. Sandweg says the rules of engagement for agents within DHS are “generally” the same as those for local law enforcement.
“The use of force policies for DHS are pretty consistent with law enforcement agencies around the country,” Sandweg said. “The use of force that you use needs to be reasonable to the threat that you face. You are required to try to de-escalate a situation first.”
CBS News showed some of the viral clips to DHS. In response, a DHS spokesperson told CBS News in a statement that the videos show “a growing and dangerous trend of illegal aliens and agitators obstructing and attacking law enforcement.”
Jerry Robinette, who has 34 years of law enforcement experience as a police officer and a special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations, an agency within DHS, said the situation is “stressful” for “both sides” – the protesters and the federal agents.
“The agents have a mission, and they’re only going to tolerate so much,” Robinette said. “And when somebody crosses that line, you know, the administration has pretty much given them orders that they are not to back down.”
Robinette said he believes the U.S. is in uncharted territory as it relates to these immigration raids and the protests that have stemmed from them.
“We’ve never had to deal with these kinds of extreme confrontations,” Robinette said. “You know, there have been isolated incidents, but nothing like we’re seeing today. And for us, obviously, this is something totally foreign to us.”
WTOP spoke with members of the D.C. region’s immigrant community for their feedback on President Donald Trump’s moves against immigrants and how the community has responded.
President Donald Trump’s return to the White House brought along a sweeping immigration crackdown when he said he would deport “the worst of the worst.”
That pledge has led to raids and arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, including many people currently detained with no criminal convictions. According to a Department of Homeland Security report in September, over 2 million people have been deported or willingly left the United States since Trump’s inauguration.
A Pew Research Center analysis found that as of June 2025, 19% of the U.S. labor force were immigrants, down from 20%, with Trump’s anti-immigrant actions becoming a main factor for the drop.
Those actions have brought fear and anxiety to the immigrant communities throughout the nation.
WTOP spoke with members of the D.C. region’s immigrant community for their feedback on Trump’s moves against immigrants and how the community has responded.
Finding work
José arrived in the United States from Mexico in 1995. He’s been living in the D.C. region for over a year, working either for companies in plumbing-related jobs or for the Workers Co-op Without Borders through CASA, one of the largest immigration rights organizations in the country.
While he has been able to find work, José told WTOP he knows many of his friends and co-workers are struggling to make ends meet.
“I have heard that for many people, jobs are scarce because of what’s happening,” José said in Spanish.
Yet, the recent government shutdown is affecting José and others as work has dried up.
“A lot of the work the companies got was from government workers,” José said. “And now, they don’t want to spend.”
‘Risks of being profiled’
Cesar Garzon, a naturalized citizen from Venezuela, works for a worker-owned landscaping company, the Swamp Rose Co-op, based out of Silver Spring, Maryland. He said while the economic outlook led to some cancellations, he and his team have remained busy with steady work for the last eight months.
However, Garzon admitted it has been harder to find people who can help provide an additional hand.
“There has been a reducing workforce,” Garzon said. “A lot of people have kind of decided to either leave or they’re just not working.”
With the current political climate, Garzon said he and his co-workers established some strategies in case they are wrongly identified during a possible interaction with an ICE agent, including setting up a contact person.
“We face the risks of being profiled, and of course, that’s not fun,” Garzon said.
New skills to find new jobs
Lindolfo Carballo, senior director of the community economic development department for CASA, told WTOP that he has seen an uptick in immigrants applying for jobs at the organization’s job centers. However, he has also seen an increase in immigrants attempting to learn skills for different types of work.
But there is still some fear in the community. Carballo said the Trump administration’s continued actions are making it difficult for employers to hire workers and for workers to find jobs.
“The truth of the matter is that there is a need for workers,” he said. “It’s a very large need of workers.”
Carballo encourages those immigrants who are still in the U.S. to continue fighting for their rights.
“We need to fight back,” Carballo said. “We need to be resilient. We need to stand up for our rights and, of course, right now, it’s very difficult. But we know that we will overcome.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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ICE tactics in U.S. cities under scrutiny as videos show forceful takedowns – CBS News
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The Trump administration’s illegal immigration crackdown continues to intensify, but some of the tactics used in the operations are coming under scrutiny. Anna Schecter examines the rules of engagement.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — President Donald Trump, members of his administration and conservative influencers painted a bleak portrait of Portland, Oregon, at a roundtable event at the White House Wednesday, alleging that the city has been besieged by violence perpetrated by “antifa thugs” and that it is essentially a war zone.
“It should be clear to all Americans that we have a very serious left-wing terror threat in our country, radicals associated with the domestic terror group antifa that you’ve heard a lot about lately,” Trump said.
But the reality on the ground in Portland is far from the extremes described at the White House.
Here’s a closer look at the facts.
The protests
TRUMP: “In Portland, Oregon, antifa thugs have repeatedly attacked our offices and laid siege to federal property in an attempt to violently stop the execution of federal law.”
THE FACTS: There have been nightly protests outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland for months, peaking in June when police declared one demonstration a riot. There have also been smaller clashes since then: On Labor Day, some demonstrators brought a prop guillotine — a display the U.S. Department of Homeland Security blasted as “unhinged behavior.”
The protests at the ICE facility, which is outside downtown, have largely been confined to one city block and have attracted a range of participants. During the day, a handful of immigration and legal advocates mill about and offer copies of “know your rights” flyers. Daytime marches to the building have also included older people and families with young children. At night, other protesters arrive, often using megaphones to shout obscenities at law enforcement.
While the administration claims protesters are antifa, short for “anti-fascists,” antifa is not a single organization but rather an umbrella term for decentralized far-left-leaning militant groups that confront or resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demonstrations.
The building was closed for three weeks from mid-June to early July because of damage to windows, security cameras, gates and other parts of the facility, federal officials said in court filings submitted in response to a lawsuit brought by Portland and Oregon seeking to block the Trump administration’s deployment of the National Guard. The building’s main entrance and ground-floor windows have been boarded up.
Protesters have also sought to block vehicles from entering and leaving the facility. Federal officials argue that this has impeded law enforcement operations and forced more personnel and resources to be sent from other parts of the country.
However, in the weeks leading up to the Trump administration’s move to federalize 200 members of the Oregon National Guard on Sept. 28, most nights drew a couple dozen people, Portland police correspondence submitted to the court shows.
Since June, Portland police have arrested at least 45 people, with the majority of those arrests taking place in June. Meanwhile, federal prosecutors have charged at least 31 people with crimes committed at the building, including assaulting federal officers; 22 of those defendants had been charged by early July.
Is Portland on fire?
TRUMP: “The amazing thing is, you look at Portland and you see fires all over the place. You see fights, and I mean just violence. It’s just so crazy. And then you talk to the governor and she acts like everything is totally normal, there’s nothing wrong.”
THE FACTS: Fires outside the building have been seen on a handful of occasions. In June, a man was arrested after he lit a flare and tossed it onto a pile of materials stacked against the vehicle gate, according to federal prosecutors, who said the fire was fully extinguished within minutes.
More recently, social media videos of the Labor Day protest showed a small fire lit on the prop guillotine. And in early October, following the announcement of the National Guard’s mobilization, videos on social media showed a protester holding an American flag on fire — and conservative influencer Nick Sortor stomping the fire out.
There have also been some high-profile confrontations between protesters and counterprotesters. In late September, conservative media figure Katie Daviscourt was hit in the face with a flagpole and suffered a laceration, police logs show. In early October, Sortor, who has more than 1 million followers on X, was arrested along with two other protesters following an altercation. Local prosecutors ultimately declined to charge him after finding that one of the protesters had pushed him and that “any physical contact he had with other persons was defensive in nature.”
While Portland police correspondence submitted to the court notes a few instances of “active” energy and disturbances between protesters and counterprotesters, many entries describe low energy and “no issues” in the weeks leading up to the National Guard’s mobilization.
A new tongue-in-cheek website has also launched in recent days: isportlandburning.com shows multiple live cameras in the city and near-real-time data from the city’s fire department.
Shops and sewers
TRUMP: “I don’t know what could be worse than Portland. You don’t even have sewers anymore. They don’t even put glass up. They put plywood on their windows. But most of the retailers have left.”
THE FACTS: This is false. Portland does have sewers — its sewer and stormwater system “includes more than 2,500 miles of pipes, nearly 100 pump stations, and two treatment plants,” according to the city’s website. The largest sewer pipe is the East Side Big Pipe, which has an inside diameter of 22 feet, while the smallest are only six inches in diameter.
Local and state officials have suggested that many of Trump’s claims appear to rely on images from 2020. Portland famously erupted in more than 100 days of large-scale unrest and violent protests after George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police that year. Police were unable to keep ahead of splinter groups of black-clad protesters who broke off and roamed the downtown area, at times breaking windows, spraying graffiti and setting small fires.
But Portland has largely recovered from that time. Under a new mayor and police chief, the city has reduced crime, and the downtown — which has more than 600 retail shops, many with glass storefronts — has seen a decrease in homeless encampments and increased foot traffic. This summer was reportedly the busiest for pedestrian traffic since before the coronavirus pandemic, and a recent report from the Major Cities Chiefs Association found that homicides from January through June decreased by 51% this year compared to the same period in 2024.
Gov. Tina Kotek said she told Trump during a phone call that “we have to be careful not to respond to outdated media coverage or misinformation that is out there.”
Accusation of a cover-up
KRISTI NOEM, Homeland Security Secretary: “I was in Portland yesterday and had the chance to visit with the governor of Oregon, and also the mayor there in town, and they are absolutely covering up the terrorism that is hitting their streets.”
THE FACTS: Noem did visit Portland on Tuesday and met with Kotek and Mayor Keith Wilson. Both officials disagree with Noem’s narrative.
Kotek has repeatedly said that “there is no insurrection in Portland,” including in conversations with Trump and Noem, and that the city does not need “military intervention.” She has also continually called for any protests to be peaceful and said that local law enforcement can “meet the moment.” After Trump threatened to send the National Guard to Portland, Wilson said in a statement that the city has protected freedom of expression while “addressing occasional violence and property destruction.”
Observations on the ground in Portland support Kotek’s statement. While the nightly protests at the ICE facility have been disruptive for nearby residents — a charter school relocated this summer to get away from crowd-control devices — life has continued as normal in the rest of the city. There is no evidence of the protests in other areas of the city, including the downtown area about two miles away.
Portland residents have taken to social media to push back against the Trump administration’s statements about their city with the hashtag #WarRavagedPortland, posting photos and videos that show protesters in inflatable unicorn and frog costumes, along with people walking their dogs, riding their bikes and shopping at farmers markets.
A Facebook group that shared information on sightings of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the Chicago area was taken down by Meta following pressure from the Justice Department, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The Facebook page ICE Sighting-Chicagoland had over 70,000 members in recent weeks as the Trump administration’s “Operation Midway Blitz” has ramped up in Chicago and the suburbs. With federal agents making arrests in unmarked vehicles and appearing everywhere from outside schools to shopping plazas, rapid response networks formed to record and disrupt raids.
The Department of Homeland Security announced Oct. 1 it had made 800 arrests in the area since the mission began at the beginning of September.
“The wave of violence against ICE has been driven by online apps and social media campaigns designed to put ICE officers at risk just for doing their jobs,” Bondi posted on X Tuesday morning. “The Department of Justice will continue engaging tech companies to eliminate platforms where radicals can incite imminent violence against federal law enforcement.”
Meta spokesperson Francis Brennan said the page violated its policies on coordinating harm. The policy states that content “outing the undercover status of law enforcement, military, or security personnel if the content contains the agent’s name, their face or badge” would be removed.
Brennan joined Meta as its strategic response public affairs manager in January and was director of strategic response for Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign, according to Politico.
Earlier this month, Bondi and the Department of Justice pressured Apple to remove the app ICEBlock from the App Store.
“We are incredibly disappointed by Apple’s actions. Capitulating to an authoritarian regime is never the right move,” the app’s creators wrote after the removal.
“Apple has claimed they received information from law enforcement that ICEBlock served to harm law enforcement officers. This is patently false. ICEBlock is no different from crowdsourcing speed traps, which every notable mapping application, including Apple’s own Maps app, implements as part of its core services. This is protected speech under the first amendment of the United States Constitution.”
Chicago Tribune’s Gregory Royal Pratt contributed.
A teen in Hoffman Estates was thrown to the ground by what appeared to be a federal agent this past weekend, and the teen and two of her friends were detained for hours before they were released.
Her parents spoke out Monday after they say their daughter, 18-year-old Evelyn, is still shaken from the experience.
Evelyn’s parents said her boyfriend got a call that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were in his neighborhood. They went to warn people who live there and recorded the officers. This led to a violent arrest, in which the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it did not take part.
Video from the Friday incident shows sirens and undercover law enforcement cars flooding the Hoffman Estates neighborhood where the arrest happened.
The video shows Evelyn getting pulled out of the passenger seat. She is then thrown to the ground, all while saying she is not resisting arrest, as the officer handcuffed her and appeared to put a knee on her back.
“I couldn’t protect my child,” Gerado said.
Evelyn’s parents, Gerardo and Jazmin, said the images from the incident are something they cannot get out of their minds.
“They were telling them they were U.S. citizens, and they didn’t care. It was very scary to see that video,” Jazmin said.
Jazim and Gerado said their daughter and her two friends were taken in cars to the Hoffman Estates Police Department parking lot, where they sat for hours.
“While we were there, we were asking when they were going to be released, and what were going to be the charges, trying to figure out some kind of information because they weren’t giving us any information,” Gerado said.
At that point, Gerado and Jazmin said they didn’t know if they would see their daughter again. She and her friends were all released after hours of waiting, but there was confusion about the department to which the officers belonged.
In a post on X, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin commented on Evelyn’s arrest video, saying, “Imagine being so desperate to demonize law enforcement you post a video from a burglary arrest Chicago police made over a year ago. This isn’t even ICE.”
Hoffman Estates police, however, said ICE was in the area on Friday.
A statement sent to CBS News Chicago reads in part, “The only interaction we had with ICE was when they came to the police department to file a police report reference an incident that occurred during their enforcement. They ultimately decided to complete the report this week with us and have not completed that yet.”
Evelyn’s parents said they want someone to hold accountability.
“Isn’t the government supposed to protect and serve?” Gerado said. “Isn’t the law officers are supposed to protect and serve? Why would we lie about this?”
Evelyn’s parents said they are taking legal action.
CBS News Chicago reached out to the Department of Homeland Security to confirm whether agents were in Hoffman Estates on Friday, but did not hear back.
On Monday, U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Illinois) came to the ICE facility in west suburban Broadview along with former U.S. Rep. Luis Gutiérrez. Krishnamoorthi spoke there about the teenager’s detainment.
He said the post from the DHS official on the incident “spread misinformation,” and he called for transparency in that incident and others.
“This has got to end. ICE is acting out of control at this point, and they need to be held accountable,” Krishnamoorthi said. “They need to be held accountable to their citizenry, who don’t appreciate what’s going on at all.”
Krishnamoorthi also criticized DHS for not allowing him inside the Broadview ICE facility Monday. He said if people are being detained inside, he should be allowed to enter without notice under the Appropriations Law.