Residents of a South Shore apartment building are grappling with the aftermath of a large-scale federal immigration raid early Tuesday morning that saw armed agents force entry into numerous units, resulting in the arrest of dozens of their neighbors.
According to witnesses, heavily armed federal agents in military-style gear descended on the building at 7500 S. South Shore Drive around 1 a.m., breaking down doors and pulling men, women, and children from their homes. Some residents were reportedly removed without clothing. The operation involved flashbang grenades, drones, and helicopters, with agents from Border Patrol, the FBI, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives present.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed that 37 people were arrested, stating some are “believed to be involved in drug trafficking and distribution, weapons crimes and immigration violators.” DHS also claimed the neighborhood was “frequented by Tren de Aragua members,” but provided no evidence that any of those arrested belonged to the Venezuelan gang.
Among those caught in the sweep were U.S. citizens. Rodrick Johnson, 67, said agents broke down his door, dragged him outside in zip ties, and detained him for nearly three hours. “I asked [agents] why they were holding me if I was an American citizen, and they said I had to wait until they looked me up,” Johnson said. “I asked if they had a warrant, and I asked for a lawyer. They never brought one.”
Dan Jones, 27, was awakened by agents attempting to break into his double-locked apartment. When he left for work later that morning, he discovered hallways littered with broken doors and that many of his neighbors were gone. Upon returning home, he found his apartment had been ransacked, with all his electronics and furniture missing. “I’m pissed off,” Jones said. “I feel defeated because the authorities aren’t doing anything.”
The day after the raid, hallways were still filled with scattered toys, shoes, and food, as property managers disposed of broken doors and mattresses. Ebony Sweets Watson, who lives across the street, described a chaotic scene with what “looked like hundreds” of agents. “It was heartbreaking to watch,” Watson said, recounting how she saw children separated from their mothers and taken away in U-Haul vans. “Seeing kids coming out buck naked and taken from their mothers, it was horrible.”
The raid is one of the largest conducted under “Operation Midway Blitz,” a federal initiative launched in September that has increased immigration enforcement in the Chicago area. A similar operation recently occurred in suburban Elgin.
Brandon Lee, a spokesman for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, condemned the operation. “It was a violent show of force in the middle of the night,” Lee said. “Taking families out of an apartment building in a residential neighborhood like that is harmful, is traumatic, and that is not something that people can easily recover from.”
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