Federal agents arrested 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.
contributed to this report.
