Stories in Illinois
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“ICE never really left:” car crashes and courthouse arrests mark spring escalation
Videos show federal agents pointing weapons at bystanders and trying to access state property as rapid response groups have reported at least 80 detainments across Chicagoland in the last five weeks.
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North Riverside police decline to charge off-duty Forest Park cop who pointed gun, dragged woman from car
The Cook County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident involving Lieutenant Daniel Miller. The cop, who also owns Stars and Stripes Sports Lounge in Indian Head Park, has been involved in at least two deaths on duty.
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Feds “conducting surveillance” at domestic violence courthouse, internal documents show
A court general order and new state law have not stopped ICE from increasingly staking out Chicago area courthouses for arrests since February. Sightings of federal agents near court continue this week as “processing” of detainees at Broadview has accelerated.
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Protesters mock ICE, Broadview police at dildo day of action outside detention center
The spectacle saw hundreds of phallic items, big and small, flood the designated free speech zone—a small barricaded area where people have been permitted to demonstrate since President Trump’s mass deportation blitz swept through Chicagoland.
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Chicago cop who killed Anthony Alvarez in 2021 engaged in fatal unreported police chase last year, new lawsuit alleges
Attorneys say they have evidence showing Evan Solano, who chased and shot Alvarez in the back, initiated a deadly “ghost” pursuit that killed 29-year old Eliseo Maya late at night on the Northwest Side in February 2025.
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“Urgency was left in the dust long ago”—few answers from Chicago police superintendent on department collaboration with ICE
Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling defended his officers’ actions amid the Trump Administration’s mass deportation campaign in Chicago, waving off community criticism as people not having an “open mind.”
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“Pressure, influence, and intimidation”—house call by former Chicago cop sparks dispute among police oversight officials
Retired Chicago police sergeant Lee Bielecki’s snooping at the home of a member of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability is part of a pattern of intimidation and attempts to influence the nomination process for the commission, activists and police district councilors say.
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Border Patrol agents ignored orders to end car chase before gassing Chicago neighborhood
DHS claimed federal agents intentionally hit a fleeing vehicle to try to stop the driver in Chicago’s East Side neighborhood last October—but videos of the 18-minute high-speed pursuit show they actually blew a tire and crashed after ignoring a supervisor’s commands to end the chase.
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Cook County State’s Attorney has “taken no action whatsoever” against feds, new lawsuit alleges
The suit seeks the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate potentially unlawful conduct by federal agents in Illinois.
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CPD leaders knew cop proposed hiring hitman to kill fellow detective, new federal lawsuit alleges
The lawsuit alleges an officer faced years of violent abuse and threats at the hands of another detective while top brass and city officials have refused to investigate or discipline him.
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Identified: federal agents who pointed gun, punched detainee in Evanston
Unraveled has verified a hate speech-laden X account belonging to U.S. Border Patrol agent Timothy Donahue, who was seen in numerous viral videos during Operation Midway Blitz. He and another agent, Thomas Parsons, have now been identified via public records released by the City of Evanston.
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“Nobody deserves to go through what I went through”
Ex-Waukegan cop, convicted of felony misconduct for 2019 beating, gets jail time on delay.
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Ex-Waukegan cop guilty of official misconduct, cleared on aggravated battery charge
Lake County judge returns mixed ruling in the first of two criminal trials against ex-police officer Dante Salinas.
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Aggravated battery trial begins for ex-cop also accused of murder
Fired Waukegan police officer Dante Salinas faced trial Monday on felony charges stemming from an August 2019 arrest in which he’s accused of breaking bones in a man’s face. He faces separate murder and manslaughter charges for fatally shooting a Black teen in October 2020.
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What happened to Silverio Villegas González
Immigration agents shot and killed an unarmed 38-year-old father outside Chicago on Friday—and their initial narrative of events was quickly disproven by videos captured by witnesses.
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Eyes on the heartland
A vast network of new license plate cameras has exploded across Illinois in recent years—paid for by state grants to fight retail crime. With the federal government clamoring for more information on people’s movements, how worried should we be about leaving our privacy in the hands of Flock Safety?
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Chicago police, suburban departments seen assisting ICE during chaotic immigration enforcement blitz
Despite official claims to the contrary, federal agents separated families with crowd control support from local police.
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The 15th floor
Inside immigration court in Chicago, where expedited removal has now hit the “sanctuary city” thousands of miles away from the border.
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Exposed: White nationalist group responsible for hate spree across Chicagoland
Members of the Windy City Active Club include a USPS worker, a recent finance grad from DePaul, and a Polish American tied to other hate groups.
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“SheepdogCPD” Detective Shawn Popow faces termination
Superintendent Larry Snelling concurred with the recommendation of an exhaustive 36-page report outlining the officer’s racist social media posts.
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“No, it’s just fireworks!” Chicago cop opens fire on child with fireworks after ShotSpotter gunshot alert
Body-worn camera footage of the January 25 incident in Gresham was released by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability today.
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Former CPD deputy chief on the ShotSpotter sales team shilling lies about the faulty tech
Kevin Johnson, like other former police officers on the customer success team, is entitled to a police pension in addition to any salary he collects from SoundThinking.
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Crooked Chicago cop crew seen in videos stealing guns, drugs, and cash
Four Calumet District tactical unit officers were stripped of their police powers after filing false reports—in one instance, they even let a man wanted for murder walk away smoking his blunt.
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CPD detective who tweeted selfie at Ariana Grande under investigation for racist and transphobic comments
Dozens of shockingly racist and transphobic social media posts from Detective Shawn Popow are currently under investigation by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.
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Barrington library board candidate Chase Heidner is deep into QAnon
Heidner and her partner Benjamin Jinno, who shared on social media that he was at the January 6 Capitol riot, have amassed hundreds of thousands of followers on their frequently suspended conspiracy theorist TikTok accounts.
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Antisemitic flyers found hours before gun rights activists and extremists packed DuPage County board meeting
Residents discovered bags packed with gun control-themed Goyim Defense League propaganda and rat bait in their suburban Winfield neighborhood.