In the South Shore raid, neighbors said federal agents used #flashbang#grenades to burst through the building & several #drones & helicopters were deployed.
Ebony Sweets Watson, who lives across the street, said it “looked like hundreds” of agents were outside her front door.
Watson said she saw agents dragging residents, including #kids, out of the
building without any clothes on & into U-Haul vans. Kids were #separated from their mothers, she said.
“It was heartbreaking to watch,” said Watson. “Even if you’re not a mother, seeing #kids coming out buck #naked & taken from their #mothers, it was horrible.”
Watson said she went into the building to help one of the residents & was shocked by what she saw.
“Stuff was everywhere,” said Watson. “You could see people’s #BirthCertificates, & papers thrown all over. Water was leaking into the hallway. It was wicked crazy.”
Jones, who lives on the 4th floor, said most of his neighbors were #Venezuelan & often took turns cleaning the hallway because the property owners did little to maintain it.
“They were cool people,” Jones said as he looked into his next door neighbor’s unit. “They didn’t speak a lick of English, but we used translator apps to talk to each other.”
Jones wondered what would happen to his neighbor’s young #children.
Brandon Lee, spox for the #Illinois Coalition for #Immigrant & #Refugee Rights, said the group was working to identify those taken in the raid.
“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, & that is not something that people can easily recover from, whether they themselves were taken or whether they witnessed it.”
“Dozens of federal agents raiding an entire apartment building with kids in it just to see what they can find. It’s the most egregious abuse of our basic rights as Americans I've seen in a long time, maybe in my lifetime,” says Chris Hayes.
#Trump#BorderPatrol agents deployed to #Chicago led late-night raid on an apartment building this week, rappelling from helicopters onto rooftops & breaking down doors in an operation authorities said targeted gang members but which [brutally] swept up #US#citizens & #families.
Naudelys, a 19-yr-old #Venezuelan woman, says she was in her apartment with her 4-year-old son & another couple with a baby when agents knocked down their door during the raid early Tuesday. Agents told them to put up their hands & pointed #guns at them.
Naudelys, whose husband was arrested & detained by #immigration authorities 3 months ago, said she tried to record the scene but an agent knocked away her phone.
The spox declined to say whether agents had #warrants to forcibly enter homes….
4 #US#citizen#children were taken from their parents during the raid because the parents lacked legal status, DHS said, alleging that one of the parents was a Tren de Aragua member.
Cassandra Murray, 55, a resident, said she heard loud blasts as the raids occurred.
She said her #Venezuelan neighbors arrived about two years ago. At the time, thousands of Venezuelans who had recently crossed the US-Mexico border were being bused to #Chicago & other blue cities by the state of #Texas.
“They never made us feel unsafe,” said Murray. “They needed somewhere to live, too."
#JBPritzker calls on state agencies to investigate feds’ treatment of #children at South Shore raid
The governor said that 2 state agencies will contact #families & children impacted by the raid to gather more information & hold #FederalAgents accountable if allegations of #abuse or #neglect emerge.
Gov #JBPritzker is directing the state’s Dept of Child & Family Services & the Dept of Human Services to evaluate how #children were treated during an aggressive #immigration raid on a South Shore apartment building this week….
#DHS said federal agents with #BorderPatrol, the #FBI, & the #ATF arrested at least 37 people in the raid, making it one of the largest operations executed since the start of “Operation Midway Blitz” on Sept 8.
“#Military-style tactics should never be used on #children in a functioning #democracy,” said the governor in the statement. “As more details emerge, I am appalled by the reports of excessive use of force against children as well as the many innocent bystanders who were punished simply for residing in that building.”
#JBPritzker said the 2 state agencies will contact #families & children impacted by the raid to gather information. If they receive allegations of suspected abuse or neglect by #FederalAgents, the governor said the state will move to hold the agents accountable, which could include “collaborating with local law enforcement as necessary.”
“Imagine being a child awakened in the middle of the night by a Black Hawk helicopter landing in your neighborhood. Imagine an armed stranger forcibly removing you from your bed, zip-tying your hands, separating you from your family, & detaining you in a dark van for hours. This didn’t happen in a country with an authoritarian regime — it happened here in #Chicago,” #JBPritzker said in the statement.
“ICE agents🚨in six cars raided a gas station in farmworker town of Oxnard, CA. They surrounded an undocumented father and his two children in a truck, took the father and just left the children behind.
An article excerpt from SFGATE discusses an incident at a gas station involving a man who was surrounded by multiple vehicles, including a Ford Explorer and a Toyota Tacoma. He was taken by ICE agents, leaving his children behind.