Shock and awe? Against residential Americans asleep at night in their homes, collectively, and say you've an excuse? You have none. The conduct is reprehensible. It shocks the conscience. It is what Israelis are doing to Gazans, (absent airplanes bombing only}, then you are doing war crimes against your citizens and are animals, not humans. It is inexcusable.
AJ general video. From Chicago. An area worried over gentrifying being picked to invade, a predominantly black and immigrant occupied building chosen, as if standards differ for "them," Trump you are a vile racist in managing those under your dominion - your storm troops - your ICE.
A TIME item carried by MSN -
At
around 1 a.m. on Tuesday morning, armed federal agents rappelled from
helicopters onto the roof of a five-storey residential apartment in the
South Shore of Chicago, according to witnesses and local reporting.
As they worked their way through the building, they kicked down doors,
threw flash bang grenades, and rounded up adults and screaming children
alike, detaining them in zip-ties and arresting dozens, they said.
The
military-style raid was part of a widespread immigration crackdown in
the country’s third-largest city as part of the Trump Administration’s “Operation Midway Blitz,” which has brought a dramatic increase in federal raids and arrests.
The
raid has drawn outrage throughout Chicago and the state, with rights
groups and lawmakers claiming it represents a dramatic escalation in
tactics used by federal authorities in the pursuit of Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown.
Read More: Trump Vowed His Mass Deportation Efforts Would Target ‘the Worst of the Worst.’ Here’s What the Data Shows
'Military-style tactics'
Pritzker
said that he would work with local law enforcement to hold the agents
accountable in a statement condemning the raid. “Military-style tactics
should never be used on children in a functioning democracy,” he said.
“This didn’t happen in a country with an authoritarian regime – it
happened here in Chicago. It happened in the United States of America – a
country that should be a bastion of freedom, hope, and the rights of
our people as guaranteed by the Constitution,” he added.
The
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has touted some 900 arrests in
its Chicago operation since it began in early September, as well as the
37 arrests made in the nighttime raid on Tuesday, all of whom it said
were “involved in drug trafficking and distribution, weapons crimes and
immigration violators.” The DHS said the building was targeted because
it was “known to be frequented by Tren de Aragua members and their
associates.” The DHS posted video of the raid
on social media, overlaid with dramatic music, showing helicopters
shining bright lights onto the apartment building while people were
being led out in cuffs.
A DHS spokesperson told CNN
following the raid that children were taken into custody “for their own
safety and to ensure these children were not being trafficked, abused
or otherwise exploited.” The DHS also said that four children who are
U.S. citizens with undocumented parents were taken into custody.
Zip-ties and guns
In the aftermath of the sweeping raid, residents and city lawmakers have been demanding answers from the federal government.
Ed
Yohnka, from the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois (ACLU),
told MSNBC on Saturday that the raid represented “an escalation of force
and violence” from the federal government in Chicago.
“What
we saw was a full-fledged military operation conducted on the south
side of Chicago against an apartment building,” he added.
“They just treated us like we were nothing,” Pertissue Fisher, a U.S. citizen who lives in the apartment building, told ABC7 Chicago
in an interview soon after the raid. She said she was then handcuffed,
held for hours, and released around 3 a.m. This was the first time she
said a gun was ever put in her face.
Neighbor
Eboni Watson, who witnessed the raid, also told the ABC station that
the children were zip-tied—some of them were without clothes—when they
were taken out of the residential building by federal agents. “Where’s
the morality?” Watson said she kept asking during the raid.
“As
a father, I cannot help but think about what it means for a child to be
torn from their bed in the middle of the night, detained for no reason
other than a show of force,” National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) president Derrick Johnson said in a statement. “The trauma inflicted on these young people and their families is unconscionable."
ICE and DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TIME.
ICE’s tactics were denounced again on Friday, when Chicago Alderperson Jessie Fuentes was handcuffed by
federal immigration agents at a Chicago medical center after
questioning agents about their warrant to arrest at the medical center.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson called Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s tactics “abusive.”
The
raids come just days after President Donald Trump signaled a desire to
make greater use of the U.S. military in American cities during a speech
to top military leaders, as he assailed a “war from within” the nation.
“We
are under invasion from within,” he said, “no different than a foreign
enemy, but more difficult in many ways, because they don't wear
uniforms.”
He called for U.S. cities to be “training grounds” for the military, as he continues to threaten Chicago with his newly named “Department of War,” and has said that he plans to deploy the National Guard to the city to crack down on crime and immigration enforcement.
CBS News also reported:
Federal agents detained 37 people in an immigration raid in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood, and the Department of Homeland Security claims it was targeting members of an infamous Venezuelan gang.
People
were jolted out of their beds in the early hours of Tuesday morning by
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and other federal
agents, armed and in full military uniform.
Cell phone video
captured by a neighbor shows agents leading people in zip ties to a
school parking lot near 75th and South Shore around 1 a.m. Tuesday.
Women and children were among those detained, at least briefly.
The
FBI confirmed they were assisting in a "targeted immigration
enforcement operation" at the apartment building, and DHS now says the
targets included members of the infamous Tren De Aragua gang. But
information about who was actually picked up and why is sparse, nor do
we know how many of the arrests made actually involved gang members.
DHS
also said it was targeting people with drug trafficking offenses,
weapons charges and immigrations violations, but again officials have
declined to say who was actually arrested and why.
Community activists said many of the undocumented immigrants who came
to South Shore left their countries for a chance at a safer life.
"Hundreds
of masked agents knocking down doors and dragging families out in the
middle of the night. holding babies that were unclothed. that's not
right. Folks that were just trying to live their lives in this
community. Does that look like safety to you? No!" said Veronica Castro
of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
CBS
News Chicago has continued to reach out to DHS for more information
about the South Shore raid, though answers may be further delayed. A
post to the agency's website says its press page is not being managed at
the moment due to the government shutdown.
A conspiracy of silence, by our Government, timed shortly after the shutdown took effect. Or just depopulate the 5-story of "da po' people" while Wells Fargo is foreclosng - see here and here?
Trump's a real estate guy, is that a factor?
CNN covered the invasion of the residents - ending
In its statement addressing the raid, DHS noted it was still
gathering information about those arrested “due to the size” of the
operation and will provide more information.
“Federal law enforcement officers will not stand by and
allow criminal activity flourish in our American neighborhoods,” DHS
said.
No, the fuckers do it, rather than allow it, and "still gathering information?" WTF don't know what you've done but know you did it with a fucking hellicoptor with rappelling down from it to the rooftop? Christ! Nazis were better on top of Krystal Nacht. They knoe what they were doing, but they'd had more months of exercising their tactics, give Krisi Noem that, she's just beginning. Homan, won't get any better.
I don't know how this rings with you, but I am heart-broken and astounded, taxpayers getting this in return:
The
protesters were charged with aggravated battery to a peace officer and
resisting and obstruction, the Cook County Sheriff's Office told the
outlet.
The protesters were part of a larger crowd that had gathered to
demonstrate against ICE raids in Illinois, as Noem visited the
facility.
As the arrests were unfolding below, Noem was seen on the roof of the
Broadview facility surrounded by armed agents and a camera crew.
The arrests come days after ICE agents in military gear raided a
Chicago apartment building, frightening residents and arresting 37
people. Law enforcement officials acknowledged shortly after the raid that some U.S. citizens were "briefly" detained.
Kristi sight-seeing? Damned the extra expense, this gets the lady off like shooting a puppy.
Close it with EmptyWheel analyzing Pritzker's lawsuit against Trump's disturbers of the peace.
BOTTOM LINE: Shameful abuse of authority by Trump's warriors, under Trump's orders, or prove me wrong.
The whole world is watching. The nation is in distress. Dark forces are afoot. And it will worsen.
