Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have compiled a “damning” list of incidents involving federal immigration officials who they say overstepped their authority while deployed to Chicago.
The congresspeople, more than a dozen in all, included these examples in a Thursday letter to the White House, the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement asking them to “halt these attacks.”
“The federal government has effectively invaded an American city, as gunmen atop armored vehicles train their sights on civilians, agents rappel from Black Hawk helicopters onto an apartment complex rooftop, and officers routinely shoot at and deploy chemical agents against civilians,” Reps. Jamie Raskin, the ranking member of the committee, and Chuy Garcia, who represents the Chicagoland area, wrote in the letter.
The five-page letter from Judiciary Democrats says not only has the Trump administration gone against the wishes of local authorities with its deployment of National Guard troops into Chicago but have taken things a step further by using violent tactics against protesters and journalists.
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“In just the past month,” the letter reads. “DHS personnel have shot two people (one fatally)...handcuffed an Alderperson at a hospital…indiscriminately deployed tear gas in front of a public school and against civilians and local law enforcement, placed a handcuffed man on the ground in a chokehold, shot a pastor in the head with a pepper ball, thrown flashbang grenades at civilians, and raided an entire apartment complex and reportedly zip-tied U.S. citizens, children, and military veterans for hours.”
President Donald Trump ordered the start of “Operation Midway Blitz,” an increased presence of federal immigration enforcement in Chicago, on Sept. 29. Authorities have since reported more than 1,500 arrests.
Earlier this month a coalition of journalism unions and individual protesters filed a 52-page lawsuit against DHS and ICE claiming “extreme brutality” used against press and protesters.
The Democrats’ letter also highlights a series of reported abuses at ICE’s Broadview Processing Center, which has been the scene of many heightened protests in recent weeks. ICE is experiencing one of its deadliest years in agency history, with nearly two dozen detainee deaths reported in fiscal year 2025. Only fiscal year 2004, with 28 deaths, was higher, according to a tally of public data compiled by NOTUS earlier this month.
“The Administration claims the mantle of law and order, yet its actions in the Chicagoland area demonstrate it is a catalyst for lawlessness and dysfunction,” Democrats’ letter reads. “Violently abusing residents, kidnapping parents and children and disappearing them into detention facilities without access to basic necessities, and illegally deploying the military against a great American city does nothing to make anyone safer—in fact, it jeopardizes the safety and well-being of every community member.”
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