Agents working for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are under fire after they were seen in Chicago forcing themselves into people's homes and dragging children out.
Witnesses in the area said that the ICE agents broke down residents' doors, smashed furniture and belongings, and dragged dozens of individuals, including kids. They then placed the people they detained in U-Haul vans.
ICE Agents Raid Chicago Homes
A local, Rodrick Johnson, who lives in the building that was raided by ICE agents, said that federal officials broke down his door, put him in zip ties, and kept him detained outside of the building for about three hours before releasing him.
He added that he asked the agents why they were holding him if he was an American citizen. The officials then answered by saying that he had to wait until they looked him up. The resident asked the ICE agents if they had a warrant before asking for a lawyer, who never came, according to Common Dreams.
Another resident who lived in the same building as Johnson, Pertissue Fisher, backed up the former's statements. She said that ICE agents forcibly removed all residents from their homes regardless of their legal status.
Read more: Guatemalan Children Speak Out About Traumatic Efforts by Trump Administration To Deport Them
In a statement, she said that the federal officials treated them like they were nothing and piled them up in the back on the other side, leaving them no room to move anywhere. A resident who lives across the street from the building, Ebony Sweets Watson, said she saw children being dragged out of the building by ICE agents.
Many posts on social media platforms also noted how ICE agents allegedly separated residents they took into custody by race. Users called the incident an assault on Black and Latinx Chicagoans, the Hindustan Times reported.
Allegedly Targeting Criminals
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said officials targeted members of an infamous Venezuelan gang, the Tren De Aragua gang. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said it assisted in the efforts.
The DHS added that it targeted individuals who had drug trafficking offenses, weapons charges, and immigration violations. However, officials declined to say the identities of the people who were arrested and why they were detained.
After the incident, community activists said that many of the undocumented immigrations who came to South Shore left their countries for a chance to have a better and safer life. Another resident, Veronica Castro, said that hundreds of masked agents knocked down doors in the middle of the night, some holding unclothed babies, as per CBS News.
