Chicago police, suburban departments seen assisting ICE during chaotic immigration enforcement blitz

Scenes of terror played out across the country—and in Chicago—yesterday as ICE ramped up enforcement and removal operations this week. 

Activists report around 10 people total were detained at 2245 S. Michigan in the South Loop yesterday afternoon. People came to the location after being sent text messages asking them to check in with ICE, according to witnesses.

The spontaneous check-ins were reportedly part of ISAP (Intensive Supervision Appearance Program), an ICE-led case management initiative designed to provide an alternative to detention for individuals determined to be a low flight risk. 

Described by DHS as a “compliance tool,” ISAP employs GPS tracking technology and a smartphone app to monitor immigrants facing deportation proceedings. Considerations for a person’s caregiver or medical status can influence the decision to assign ISAP monitoring. 

Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD), an immigrant advocacy organization, identified one woman taken into federal custody yesterday as organizer Gladis Yolanda Chavez Pineda. 

Activists are now circulating a petition calling for her release.

Rapid response protesters were joined by elected officials in an attempt at civil disobedience, but were eventually shoved aside by masked ERO/ICE agents in body armor to make way for unmarked white vans.

Agents brandished collapsible batons at the crowd, and one carried what appeared to be a dispenser for less-than-lethal rounds.

Journalists recorded Chicago police officers at the scene early on. It’s unclear when and how they first arrived, but a CPD spokesperson claimed it was in response to an “officer assist” call.

Photos and video recorded at the scene, however, clearly show Chicago police officers initially assisting with crowd control and perimeter security. Officers told people to remain off private property, according to a witness on the ground.

Top brass arrived soon after, including First District Commander Harris and Chief of Patrol Jon Hein. They were joined by News Affairs Deputy Director (and former ATF Special Agent) Tom Ahern.

These actions could reasonably be interpreted as a violation of the Illinois TRUST Act, which prohibits police departments statewide from “providing on-site support to federal immigration agents, including by coordinating arrests in public facilities, transporting any individuals or establishing a security or traffic perimeter.” 

The Illinois Attorney General’s office has not responded to immediate questions regarding police activity and the TRUST Act. 

Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance also prohibits CPD cooperation with ICE. 

“Officers arrived without knowledge of immigration enforcement occurring at the location,” a police department spokesperson said. “CPD spoke with individuals inside a building at the location, as well as the large crowd gathered outside. CPD was on-site to ensure the safety of all involved, including those exercising their First Amendment rights.”

According to WBEZ Chicago, 35th Ward Alderperson Anthony Quezada witnessed “Chicago police department officers standing by federal agents as they escorted people out” of the building shortly after rapid responders began arriving. 

Arrests continue at immigration court

As the scene unfolded in the South Loop, Unraveled was inside immigration court yesterday.

The DHS-run court operates on the 15th floor of 55 E. Monroe. Our reporter watched as around a half dozen people were detained after their hearings concluded.

In some instances, DHS dismissed cases before moving for expedited removal.

In other cases, the judge had scheduled future court dates, just moments before ICE agents then swooped in after them.

At one point during the hearings, agents nearly arrested a court interpreter in a case of mistaken identity. They separated a husband from his wife, who is an American citizen. She said he has been living in the United States for over two years, which disqualifies him for expedited removal. ICE also told an attorney who asked to see their warrant and tried to speak with her client she was “interfering with law enforcement.”

We witnessed similar arrests two weeks ago in the same hallway. Those individuals are currently being held in a detention facility in Newkirk, Oklahoma.

Suburban police departments respond at Broadview Service Staging Center

After dark last night, activists gathered outside a DHS operating processing center in Broadview, IL. Detainees from Chicagoland are processed at the secure facility before the next leg of their deportation journey.

Witnesses reported seeing three women in shackles brought to the processing center. 

A video shared by the activist group 50501 Chicago shows federal agents picking up and moving a protester blocking a van, presumed to have detainees from the earlier arrests inside.

A federal agent with arm tattoos, brandishing the same pepper ball rifle from earlier in the day in Chicago, is seen telling protesters “not to touch” agents. 

“Why don’t you get a real job?” the videographer shouts back.

Local police officers can be seen outside the facility. Activists reported seeing police from Maywood, Bellwood, and Broadview Police Departments. 

Unraveled has requested service call records from these departments as well as from Illinois State Police, who were reportedly also spotted by rapid response activists outside the facility earlier in the evening. None have responded for comment so far.

“3000 arrests per day”

The court and check-in arrests represent the latest escalation in President Trump’s calls for expedited removal of undocumented migrants. 

People arrive at ICE mandated appointments to make their case as required, but walk into a trap instead. In New York City yesterday, reporters with The City witnessed tearful goodbyes as agents arrested at least 15 people at a Lower Manhattan ICE check-in office.

Top Trump aide Stephen Miller, the architect of the administration’s migrant removal plans, recently set a quota with ICE officials of 3000 arrests per day, according to NBC News. 

On Tuesday, 2300 people were arrested nationwide, according to an ICE spokesperson. 

Protesters gathered in Minneapolis that day as a massive federal task force of agencies (including even TSA and the Coast Guard), alongside local police departments, descended upon a local taqueria. Federal agents, police from neighboring suburbs, and sheriff’s officers were seen on video recorded by bystanders pushing and throwing community members to the ground.