DHS is using their own reckless tactics as pretense to call in the National Guard and inflict additional violence on all Chicagoans, citizens and non-citizens alike.

JOINT STATEMENT from the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, and the Southwest Rapid Response team:  

“Today’s ICE and CBP operation on the southwest side of Chicago brought together all of DHS’s brutal tactics in one neighborhood - including their history of lying about their operations. Shooting guns at community members, crashing into civilian vehicles, detaining US citizens, refusing to present warrants, racially profiling community members, and wantonly causing chaos are among the tactics used by Trump’s henchmen today, and have been used for the past weeks on areas across Chicagoland. Today also represents the second shooting of a Chicago resident during this operation, after the murder of Silverio Villegas-Gozalez on September 12. This week the administration's operation has also raided an entire apartment building in the middle of the night, choked and detained a Black community member, and admitted to racial profiling as a means of conducting warrantless arrests in public spaces. 

“It is plain and clear that ICE and CBP are violent forces in our communities, and that Trump and his cronies are using their own actions as pretense for sending in the Illinois National Guard. Our communities have rejected and will continue to reject this violence on our families. Friday was the highest activity day on ICIRR’s Family Support Hotline this year, which shows that people are still looking out for one another, and still want to protect their neighbors.

“ICE and CBP’s out of control activity and dehumanizing PR campaigns are meant to get us to comply in advance with their hateful agenda – but here in Illinois we have shown that we are stronger together. To Illinois residents, please continue to call the ICIRR Family Support Hotline to report ICE presence in your neighborhood, or if someone you know has been detained. In the coming days we will also be making concrete demands of local and state elected officials to take proactive steps to protect our communities.

“Finally, as DHS and ICE are known to lie about the nature of their operations, their statement today is totally inconsistent with our observations in the community. We are sharing our recounting of the events on the southwest side today and the Chicagoland region this week below.”

Today in the area of 4000 S. Kedzie, Rapid Response Teams and community members firsthand witnessed: 

• Federal agents crashed into a civilian vehicle and caused a multi-car collision on Kedzie

• ICE fired approximately 5 shots at a car, one person was shot 

• Stemming from that collision, ICE detained a US citizen who remains in custody

• Multiple uses of pepper spray and tear gas on unarmed community members, including throwing smoke bombs upon exiting the area

• Use of militarized tactical vehicles, including a tank, and helicopters in a residential neighborhood 

• ICE agents were driving recklessly in a residential area

• ICE agents showing extreme aggression and violence towards community members

• ICE agents refused to show a warrant when violently detaining multiple community members in the area

• Teams and community members did NOT witness or participate in any “boxing in” as described by DHS.

In other areas of Chicagoland today, Rapid Response Teams observed: 

• Families being hit by ICE with pepper spray in the parking lot of a Dollar Tree in Little Village

• ICE throwing smoke bombs on residential streets and harming senior citizens with respiratory issues in Brighton Park 

• ICE arrests at the Motel 6 and Home Depot in Waukegan, IL 

• Multiple confirmed ICE abductions, as well as attempted abductions of US citizens in Cicero, IL 

This week, ICE and DHS have already used these violent acts on our communities: 

• Marching through downtown, conducting warrantless arrests, and admitting to racial profiling

• Detaining three Southwest Rapid Response team members and transporting them to Broadview, IL before release

• A violent overnight raid on a South Shore apartment complex, where agents detained all building residents including four US citizen children  

• Choking a Black community member on the West Side

• Handcuffing and threatening to arrest Alderperson Jessie Fuentes

• Using pepper spray on passerby outside of a Home Depot 

• Daily PR stunts featuring members of the administration 

• Ongoing, daily warrantless arrests throughout the city of Chicago and suburban areas