Operation Midway Blitz<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Border](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/CTC-L-ICE-activity-1031-19_246083278-e1761950017561.jpg\")
Border Patrol officers detain a person in the Albany Park neighborhood in Chicago on Oct. 31, 2025. (Armando L. Sanchez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
Neighborhood resident Olivia Dunn and Alivia Olson said they were walking back from a coffee shop when they saw three agents, two clad in camouflage, handcuffing their friend, a U.S. citizen who lives in the same building as them. Video from the scene shows their friend face down on the pavement in front of a business on Lawrence. One agent is heard in the video telling both women that their friend assaulted a federal agent.<\/p>\n
The video goes on to show their friend being led into the back of a black truck with a Missouri license plate.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s horrible,\u201d a visibly shaken Dunn said of her friend\u2019s arrest.<\/p>\n
Moments after their friend was detained, federal agents arrested a second man, who witnesses said had tried to intervene as agents were trying to yank someone from a vehicle that pulled out of an alley and into their path.<\/p>\n
Video from the scene shows a dark-colored Toyota Prius trying to turn onto Lawrence from an alley. The Prius appears to be unable to leave amid the crowd of people. An agent approaches and opens the driver\u2019s side door. A woman in pink tries to step between the agent and the driver.<\/p>\n
![\"Border](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/CTC-L-ICE-activity-1031-04_246076298.jpg\")
Border Patrol officers detain a person in Chicago’s Albany Park neighborhood on Oct. 31, 2025. (Armando L. Sanchez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
As an agent tries to move her, she leans down into the open driver\u2019s seat while 33rd Ward Ald. Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez opens the passenger side door and, with a second person, pulls the woman free from the agent\u2019s grasp.<\/p>\n
The agents continue trying to grab someone from the Prius. One stops to shove Rodriguez-Sanchez as she approaches them, then a man steps in front of the driver\u2019s open door. The agent turns back, grabs the man around his shoulders and slams him to the street.<\/p>\n
Someone in the crowd screams: \u201cDon\u2019t (expletive) touch him!\u201d<\/p>\n
A masked agent is seen holding what looks to be a pepper ball gun. Multiple white chalk-like marks were visible on the street where witnesses said agents fired pepper balls toward the ground to disperse the crowd. Video shows the Toyota driving from the scene.<\/p>\n
Chicago police arrived and helped clear a path for agents to leave, drawing sharp rebukes from those gathered on the sidewalk.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear why agents were in the neighborhood. A Border Patrol spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
![\"Members](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/CTC-L-ICE-activity-1031-09_246077338.jpg\")
Members of the community yell at U.S. Border Patrol officers while they detain a person in the Albany Park neighborhood in Chicago on Oct. 31, 2025. (Armando L. Sanchez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
After agents and police left, Rodriguez-Sanchez talked about the arrests on social media, saying she understood both men arrested by agents were U.S. citizens.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey came to terrorize our community,\u201d she said of the federal agents, before thanking the community\u2019s response.<\/p>\n
\u2018State sponsored terror\u2019<\/p>\n
Perhaps the most troubling clashes between federal agents and the public played out in Evanston.<\/p>\n
A 54-year-old Evanston resident told the Tribune that she saw agents detain two of her neighbor\u2019s landscapers Friday morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s when I said to myself, \u2018You know what, I should be recording this.\u2019 And so I ran into my house to get my phone,\u201d said the woman, who asked her name not be used.<\/p>\n
The officers tried to grab a third landscaper, but they let him go after he insisted he was an American citizen, according to a video the woman shared with the Tribune. Her daughter\u2019s middle school went on soft lockdown shortly after.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels like state-sponsored terror,\u201d the woman said. \u201cThe two men that they took today, they probably have children. Their kids were probably expecting them to come home and go trick-or-treating with them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The most chilling part, she added, was that an hour and a half later the landscaping company returned with a new set of workers to finish the project on her neighbor\u2019s yard.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you believe that? Like, that\u2019s the people that they\u2019re taking,\u201d the woman said. \u201cIt is so upsetting to me. I just think that these are not hardened criminals. This is really intended to just scare people.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a separate Evanston incident, librarian Kerry Littel captured on video a federal agent kneeling on a man\u2019s back and apparently punching him on the side of the head while residents shouted, \u201cHe can\u2019t breathe!\u201d<\/p>\n
The man was apparently detained after a crash with officers. Littel said she did not see the crash but was told it was caused by federal agents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey had yanked his shoes off, they were shoving him on the ground multiple times. It got to the level where they punched him. They kicked him. They slammed his head on the ground,\u201d Littel said. \u201cI\u2019m angry that I stopped the video. The community just started coming and trying to protect this kid. This kid needs help. He seriously was battered.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Near](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/CTC-L-Evanston-immigration-2_246086788.jpg\")
A federal agent kneels on a man’s back, apparently punching him on the side of the head, while residents shout, “He can’t breathe!” during a standoff between immigration agents and community members on Oct. 31, 2025, near Oakton Street and Asbury Avenue in Evanston. The man was apparently detained after a crash with officers. (Provided video)<\/p>\n
Lindsey Rose, a school administrator at Evanston Township High School, also witnessed the scene at Oakton and Asbury and called the punches \u201cviolent and horrific.\u201d She said it appeared like the man had a concussion after the incident because \u201chis eyes were like gone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rose said another agent, on the passenger side of their vehicle, repeatedly pointed a weapon at onlookers while attempting to restrain a woman. She said the agent started getting \u201cfrustrated\u201d while trying to force the woman in the car, and then he \u201cwhipped out his gun.\u201d<\/p>\n
A video she took shows the agent at least twice pulling a weapon out of his holster while people shout \u201cput the gun away.\u201d Rose said other agents pointed what appeared to be pepper spray at them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were screaming and filming, and that\u2019s when the officer pulled the gun out and pointed it at us and threatened to shoot us,\u201d Rose said. \u201cWe were posing no immediate threat to him, and we were filming and making noise.\u201d<\/p>\n
She described the scene as something out of an \u201capocalypse movie,\u201d and questioned how it could be real.<\/p>\n
![\"After](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/CTC-L-Evanston-gun-ICE-01_246086752-e1761954658494.jpg\")
After a car accident in Evanston, a federal immigration agent points a weapon at least twice toward onlookers while attempting to restrain a woman on Oct. 31, 2025. (Lindsey Rose)<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was terrifying,\u201d Rose said. \u201cI mean, they had the most soulless eyes, it was so horrific. How could you treat a human like this?\u201d<\/p>\n
The Evanston Police Department said its officers responded to the crash while paramedics gave medical care to those exposed to pepper spray. The enforcement actions drew a swift rebuke from local leaders, who held a news conference blasting the presence of federal agents on streets hours before children were expected to trick-or-treat for Halloween.<\/p>\n
Littel, meanwhile, said she was \u201cstill shaking\u201d well after recording the encounter.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they think this is creating safety by quote unquote removing criminals, this is creating a much more dangerous situation,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m blown away. I\u2019m flabbergasted. I\u2019m still trying to process what just happened and the aggression and the physical force that was used. It just doesn\u2019t make sense to me. I can\u2019t wrap my head around what I just saw.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019m not proud\u2019<\/p>\n
While agents were leaving Albany Park, 25 miles west in suburban Hoffman Estates, Efrain Cuevas said he saw eight vehicles with black-tinted windows surround 30 to 40 workers on a window improvement project at an apartment complex.<\/p>\n
Everyone yelled \u201cICE\u201d and scattered, Cuevas said. Agents gave chase, detaining three people. The agents asked for the workers\u2019 wallets and documentation, he said, and searched through the vehicles of those who didn\u2019t respond.<\/p>\n
![\"Efrain](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/CTC-L-ICE-hoffman-estates003_246043332.jpg\")
Efrain Cuevas, 24, stands among window replacement supplies strewn outside of Hoffman Hills Apartments after federal agents raided the complex and detained three window installers on Oct. 31, 2025, in Hoffman Estates. (Stacey Wescott\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
Cuevas, 24, said he trained with the U.S. Marine Corp for four months.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember when I first went to boot camp I was proud to wear the uniform, proud to say I was a Marine,\u201d Cuevas said. \u201cNow it\u2019s something I don\u2019t share anymore, because I\u2019m not proud. Now we live in a world that looks like the government is turning the military against the citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018I didn\u2019t vote for this\u2019<\/p>\n
Around 11 a.m., a caravan of federal agents was spotted on Chicago\u2019s Northwest side and nearby suburbs. Led by Border Patrol Cmdr. Greg Bovino<\/a>, a dozen agents detained people in Edison Park, Skokie and Niles. They stopped landscapers, house painters and laborers to ask for proof of citizenship or legal residency, taking those who couldn\u2019t immediately prove their status into custody.<\/p>\nA man was tackled on the sidewalk in front of Frederick Stock Public School while a resident watched and asked, \u201cAre you proud of yourselves?\u201d<\/p>\n
The detainees were put into SUVs, then driven to an industrial area where they were loaded into passenger vans and spirited away.<\/p>\n
One carpenter ran when he saw the patrol. When the agents caught the man, they seemed surprised that he was able to prove he was legally in the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did you run?\u201d the agent asked.<\/p>\n
The agents also confronted a man pouring concrete in Edison Park on Chicago\u2019s Far Northwest Side. When he showed them his proper paperwork, Bovino complimented the man on his concrete-pouring skills.<\/p>\n
![\"Border](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/CTC-L-ICE-activity02_246063922.jpg\")
Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino makes small talk with a concrete worker after his agents questioned the man for his citizenship documents on Oct. 31, 2025, in Chicago’s Edison Park neighborhood. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
Skokie resident Morgan Krupinkski said two workers from an American company, The Scottish Plumber, were doing flood control work on his property in the 8300 block of Harding Avenue when federal agents\u2019 vehicles came down the residential street. The agents stopped and demanded documents from both workers, who were able to produce evidence they were U.S. citizens.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m angry,\u201d said Krupinski, who identified himself as a Republican and a conservative. \u201cAs someone who believes in the Constitution, for someone to be stopped by federal agents because of the color of their skin and their appearance, and to be asked for papers is completely unimaginable and completely unconstitutional, because where is probable cause? Where is reasonable search and seizure? They\u2019re working in a residential neighborhood.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd as someone who voted for this president, I didn\u2019t vote for this. I didn\u2019t vote for people to be harassed, I didn\u2019t vote for people to be brought out at gunpoint with machine guns, and to harass Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chicago Tribune\u2019s Stacey Wescott and Pam DeFiglio contributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Albany Park, they fired pepper-spray balls to disperse an angry crowd and arrested two U.S. citizens. In…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":346804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[2330,960,5386,1818,78513,170285],"class_list":{"0":"post-346803","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-border-patrol","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-illinois","12":"tag-pepper-spray","13":"tag-pepper-spray-balls"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115471716896945757","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346803","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=346803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}