{"id":332984,"date":"2025-10-26T03:50:25","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T03:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/332984\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T03:50:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T03:50:25","slug":"tear-gas-deployed-in-irving-park-and-avondale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/332984\/","title":{"rendered":"Tear gas deployed in Irving Park and Avondale"},"content":{"rendered":"

Federal immigration agents<\/a> again deployed tear gas on Chicago streets Saturday despite mounting scrutiny<\/a> from a judge over their use of the chemical weapons, sparking fury from fearful residents who had been bracing for the raids to hit their streets next.<\/p>\n

Agents were seen deploying tear gas in the Irving Park and Avondale neighborhoods on the Northwest Side. It was the latest flashpoint in President Donald Trump\u2019s crackdown in the nation\u2019s third-largest city, one that again saw aggressive arrest tactics and local outrage after agents took neighbors, including an elderly citizen and a tortilla delivery driver.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Videos from one scene, at North Kildare Avenue in Old Irving Park, showed a group of neighbors marching down the street, filming and blowing whistles<\/a> as they cussed out federal agents, who were wearing Border Patrol insignia and\u00a0all masked, some wearing sunglasses. One of the white SUVs they got inside didn\u2019t have license plates displayed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe (expletive) out of there, man! The (expletive) are you guys doing here? Get out of our city,\u201d Carlos Rodriguez, the resident who filmed the videos, can be heard saying on the recording.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

A different video captured after agents unleashed tear gas showed plumes of smoke billowing down the street as the crowd\u2019s piercing shouts and whistles reached a fever pitch. Onlookers scurried to the sidewalk to get away from the chemicals, with one neighbor, Brian Kolp, seen walking away barefoot and in Chicago Blackhawks pajamas.<\/p>\n

Kolp, 41, said he was drinking coffee on his couch and watching the news as he always does on Saturday morning when he saw what\u2019s become an all-too-familiar scene unfold outside his window.<\/p>\n

Two U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents were tackling a man to the ground on his front yard. Meanwhile, Kolp\u2019s TV continued to blare a news segment discussing the ongoing temporary restraining order restricting federal immigration agents\u2019 use of tear gas.<\/p>\n

Kolp, a former prosecutor with the Cook County State\u2019s Attorney\u2019s office, sprang into action as he sometimes wondered he would have to do throughout the Trump administration\u2019s \u201cOperation Midway Blitz\u201d these last two months. He didn\u2019t even have time to put on his shoes or change out of his pajamas, he said, drawing jeers from one of the agents as he screamed \u201cNazis!\u201d and \u201cGestapo!\u201d at the agents.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuite honestly, when all this started happening, I thought to myself that if the opportunity ever came my way to have to get involved in one of these situations, I was certainly going to do what I could to make sure that they weren\u2019t openly and flagrantly violating the law or the Constitution,\u201d Kolp said. \u201cAnd yet, they just went ahead and did it anyway.\u201d
\n\"BrianBrian Kolp carries tear gas near his home that was used by border patrol officers at the scene where residents say a landscaper worker, a resident of the area, and a woman on a bike were detained on the 3700 block of North Kildare Avenue Saturday Oct. 25, 2025 in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez\/Chicago Tribune)
\nThe chaotic scene came to a head on his front lawn when agents released what Kolp believed to be tear gas, he said, pointing out a canister still sitting on his porch. But he said he didn\u2019t know why agents thought that necessary and alleged they violated the federal judge\u2019s order to give a warning before deploying the chemical.<\/p>\n

Another video posted in a neighborhood forum shows federal officers kneeling on the back of a man, pinning his face against the ground as people yelled, \u201cHe\u2019s a senior citizen.\u201d Agents then placed him in the back of a white SUV. Neighbors and Ald. Ruth Cruz, 30th, said the man was believed to be between 68 and 70.<\/p>\n

Kolp said the detained man was his neighbor, who lives with his wife. She was still inside the house Saturday afternoon and \u201cpretty upset,\u201d he said. A landscaper and a rapid response team member were also taken into custody, from what Kolp observed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI have a lot of close contacts within law enforcement at the state, local and federal level, and almost to a person, none of them support these actions,\u201d Kolp said. \u201cAs a lawyer, someone who adamantly believes in the rule of law, watching it in open sight in front of my house just be completely eroded \u2026 it\u2019s upsetting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer Cook County prosecutor Brian Kolp kept the tear gas canisters used by border patrol officers in Irving Park. Residents say a landscaper worker, a resident of the area, and a woman on a bike were detained on the 3700 block of North Kildare Avenue Saturday Oct. 25, 2025 in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Rodriguez said the street has upwards of 25 children who were excited for a Halloween block party. After Saturday\u2019s skirmish, some families have said they\u2019re scared to go outside.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re terrorized right now,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cHow do you explain that to a child?\u201d<\/p>\n

Saturday was Rodriguez\u2019s first experience with immigration enforcement, though he said he is part of multiple Rapid Response groups on the Northwest side and has helped patrol local schools at drop-off and pick-up times to ensure students are safe.<\/p>\n

The federal enforcement officials \u201cjust started throwing teargas around,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez said he was stunned to see an immigration enforcement incident right outside his door, but he was heartened by his neighborhood\u2019s response.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are organizing and resisting,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cI love the fact that so many of my neighbors that I didn\u2019t know are already trained as Rapid Responders and how to talk to people and how to film things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later Saturday afternoon, more federal agents were spotted at the rideshare parking lot of O\u2019Hare International Airport. Bailey Koch, a spokesperson for the Illinois Drivers Alliance, confirmed about 10 arrests in the latest apparent crackdown at the airport, after over 40 drivers have been detained there so far this month.<\/p>\n

Service Employees International Union organizer Herman Rome, who was at O\u2019Hare to speak with rideshare drivers about establishing a union in the state, looked down at his phone to send a text. When he looked up, there were 15 to 20 officers in tactical gear questioning about a dozen people who were later taken away in the back of a cargo van, Rome said.<\/p>\n

\"HermanHerman Rome, a union organizer with the SEIU, walks near some of the half a dozen abandoned vehicles whose drivers were detained by federal agents in the Alpha Lot just outside of Chicago O\u2019Hare International Airport on Oct. 25, 2025, in Chicago. The lot is frequented by rideshare drivers. Rome estimates 10-15 drivers were detained when federal agents swept the lot shortly after 1 pm. (Stacey Wescott\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could be pulling in, you could be pulling out, you could be sitting in your car,\u201d Rome said. \u201cPeople were just kind of scrambling, trying to find different forms of documentation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s 2025. We shouldn\u2019t be scared to go out of our houses.\u201d Geri Venieris, a single mom of four teen girls who works as a rideshare driver for extra income. The Skokie woman says she now carries her passport just in case.<\/p>\n

Rome said the detainees were composed. He, however, said he was \u201calmost to the point of tears angry.\u201d<\/p>\n

A DHS spokesperson didn\u2019t immediately respond to inquiries about Saturday\u2019s raids and arrests.<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, immigration agents have tear-gassed Logan Square, Albany Park, Brighton Park<\/a>, Little Village<\/a>, East Side<\/a> and Lakeview,<\/a> drawing intense criticism and legal scrutiny over allegations of excessive force and claims that they are violating a federal court order aimed at curbing use of the chemical weapons.<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis ordered Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino to appear in court personally on Tuesday as part of an ongoing inquiry into potential violations of her restraining order on crowd-control tactics used during Operation Midway Blitz, including tear gas.<\/p>\n

The credibility of federal officials has been questioned repeatedly amid the Trump administration\u2019s Operation Midway Blitz, including by U.S. District Judge April Perry, who recently said the federal government has a credibility problem that made many of their claims \u201cunreliable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Department of Homeland Security previously defended using tear gas in Little Village on Thursday, initially saying that its agents were surrounded by protesters who hit Bovino in the head with a rock.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the department released a statement defending its use of tear gas in Lakeview, saying they were \u201cswarmed by agitators\u201d who allegedly tried to deflate a vehicle\u2019s tires. The department did not immediately comment on the latest use of tear gas on the Northwest Side that morning.<\/p>\n

In the Avondale neighborhood, a tinted vehicle parked outside Adrian\u2019s Fresh Market initially didn\u2019t appear too out of the ordinary to the Saturday crew working the grocery store. But suddenly, masked agents jumped out and made a beeline for the tortilla delivery driver known as \u201cNacho,\u201d witnesses said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was scary,\u201d said store manager Adrian Guallpa, 24. \u201cMy dad said he\u2019s a citizen, so (the agents) left him, but they were more focused on Nacho, so they went to go grab him \u2026 and when he tried to go inside the store, they followed him in and pulled him out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Security video footage that Guallpa provided to the Tribune shows a man in a blue cap fleeing from a federal agent by scrambling inside the store, but the agent grabs him\u00a0from behind as he bursts through the door. The two struggle for a bit before the man crawls to the ground and disappears inside the store.<\/p>\n

In another video shot inside the store, the man in the blue cap falls backwards through the door and into the store, struggling to free himself from a federal agent who then pins him to the ground.<\/p>\n

Two other agents burst inside, one helping to restrain\u00a0the man as his hat falls off. The three drag him outside as a concerned man and woman follow behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the cashiers cried because they know him, like they\u2019ve been working with him for a long time,\u201d Guallpa said. \u201cI feel angry because he\u2019s very committed to his work. He comes every day on time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guallpa said he doesn\u2019t know much about Nacho\u2019s personal life, as the driver\u00a0for the Atotonilco tortilla factory liked to keep their conversations focused on business and their day-to-day activities. A weekend manager for the business said they could not immediately comment on Saturday.<\/p>\n

As for what Guallpa plans to do the rest of the day, he said: \u201cTry to keep the business running for a bit because we still have to help the community that\u2019s still coming to the store.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Tribune\u2019s Laura Rodriguez Presa contributed reporting.<\/p>\n

Originally Published: October 25, 2025 at 11:54 AM CDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Federal immigration agents again deployed tear gas on Chicago streets Saturday despite mounting scrutiny from a judge over…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":332985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,6513,69,5410,5386,1818,409,59700,154385,165101],"class_list":{"0":"post-332984","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-court-order","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-ice","12":"tag-il","13":"tag-illinois","14":"tag-immigration","15":"tag-irving-park","16":"tag-tear-gas","17":"tag-whistles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115438435334028409","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}