SOUTH SHORE — Federal agents detained four children who are United States citizens during an ICE raid this week in South Shore, according to a report.
The children were held “until they could be placed in the care of guardians,” according to a New York Times report, which cited Department of Homeland Security officials. No further details were immediately available.
Gov. JB Pritzker on Friday cited “widespread reports of children being zip tied, separated from their parents, and detained for several hours” during the raid in directing the state’s Departments of Child and Family Services and Human Services to aid and evaluate the treatment of the children involved.
“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, and detaining you in a dark van for hours,” Pritzker said in a statement blasting the use of military-style tactics on children. “This didn’t happen in a country with an authoritarian regime — it happened here in Chicago.”
Pritzker said that if DCFS receives allegations of suspected abuse or neglect by federal agents, “the state will take formal steps to pursue every possible avenue to ensure the safety and well-being of children, including collaborating with local law enforcement as necessary.”
This is not the first time federal agents have detained a U.S. citizen since launching operations Midway Blitz and At Large in September, seeking to increase immigration enforcement in Chicago and throughout Illinois. But it is the first time they’ve publicly acknowledged detaining American children during the operations.
The raid happened early Tuesday at an apartment building at 7500 S. South Shore Drive. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said federal agencies arrested at least 37 people in the operation at the building, which they claimed is frequented by members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
About 300 federal agents, some landing on the roof from helicopters, descended upon the building, according to NewsNation, which was invited along for the operation.
The report didn’t mention women and children appear to be among the detained, said Brandon Lee, a spokesman with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. Organizers worry many people were taken without warrants.
“These were families with their children escorted out in the middle of the night,” Lee said. “This administration is using PR efforts to try to turn communities against their neighbors.”
Residents told Block Club that agents busted open residents’ doors and took away neighbors, leaving behind ransacked units.
Rodrick Johnson, who lives in the buildling and is a U.S. citizen, said he heard “people dropping on the roof” before FBI agents kicked in his door. He was stuffed inside a van with his neighbors for what felt like several hours until agents told them the building was clear, he said.
“They didn’t tell me why I was being detained,” Johnson said. “They left people’s doors open, firearms, money, whatever, right there in the open.”
The building has long had issues, neighbors said, but agents broke open its doors, allowing others to come in and steal from tenants in the hours after the raid.
On Wednesday, walls on the building’s second floor were spray-painted with “Venezuela,” but it was unclear how long the graffiti had been there. Many of the floor’s units had broken doors and appeared to be home to young children.
South Shore had been a landing spot for many Venezuelans when tens of thousands of migrants were bused from the southern border to Chicago and other Democrat-led cities.
“People stayed at shelters there and then found apartments,” Lee said.
Listen to the Block Club Chicago podcast:
