Chicago Mayor Seeks to Limit Where ICE Can Conduct Immigration Raids

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

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

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