By Renee Hickman, Kristina Cooke and Ted Hesson
CHICAGO (Reuters) -U.S. Border Patrol agents deployed to Chicago led a late-night raid on an apartment building this week, rappelling from helicopters onto rooftops and breaking down doors in an operation authorities said targeted gang members but which swept up U.S. citizens and families.
The show of force highlighted President Donald Trump’s unprecedented use of Border Patrol agents as a surge force in major cities, rerouting personnel who would normally be tasked with guarding America’s borders with Mexico and Canada.
Naudelys, a 19-year-old Venezuelan woman, says she was in her apartment with her 4-year-old son and another couple with a baby when agents knocked down their door during the raid early Tuesday. Agents told them to put up their hands and pointed guns at them, she said.
Naudelys, whose husband was arrested and detained by immigration authorities three months ago, said she tried to record the scene but an agent knocked away her phone.
The Spanish-speaking agents told them to go back to their country and made a sexualized remark about Venezuelan women, she said. One of the agents hit a man in front of her son, and she begged him to stop, she said.
“My son was traumatized,” said Naudelys, who requested her last name be withheld.
She said authorities alleged her friend’s partner is a member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, something she disputes.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which includes Border Patrol, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Naudelys’ account of the raid.
As part of the raid, some U.S. citizens were temporarily detained and children pulled from their beds, according to interviews with residents and news reports. Building hallways were still littered with debris two days later.
Trump, a Republican, has vowed to escalate immigration enforcement in Chicago and other Democratic strongholds that limit cooperation with federal operations. Border Patrol – staffed with some 19,000 agents and under less pressure with border apprehensions at historic lows – has increasingly taken on a new role in major cities, led by Gregory Bovino, the agency’s commander-at-large.
The incident in the city’s South Side neighborhood, which authorities said resulted in dozens of arrests, was one of the highest-profile immigration actions in Chicago since the Trump administration launched “Operation Midway Blitz” in the city last month. Hundreds of agents swarmed the apartment building during the raid on Tuesday, including some rappelling down to the roof from Black Hawk helicopters, according to NewsNation.
AGENTS TOOK CHILDREN FROM THEIR PARENTS
A DHS spokesperson confirmed the operation, saying it focused on alleged members of Tren de Aragua and that border agents partnered with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Authorities arrested at least 37 people on immigration violations, most of whom were Venezuelan, the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said two people arrested were alleged members of Tren de Aragua. The department identified six people with criminal histories, ranging from battery to marijuana possession and said two people were suspected of being involved in a shooting.
The spokesperson declined to say whether agents had warrants to forcibly enter homes, saying that because Tren de Aragua has been labeled a terrorist organization “there are sensitivities on what we can provide without putting people at risk.”
“This operation was performed in full compliance of the law,” the spokesperson said.
Four U.S. citizen children were taken from their parents during the raid because the parents lacked legal status, DHS said, alleging that one of the parents was a Tren de Aragua member.
“These children were taken into custody until they could be put in the care of a safe guardian or the state,” the spokesperson said.
Naudelys said authorities released her and her son later that day because she has a pending asylum case. Her apartment was boarded up when she returned, she said. Workers opened it for her, but her possessions were gone, she said.
Cassandra Murray, 55, a resident, said she heard loud blasts as the raids occurred.
She said her Venezuelan neighbors arrived about two years ago. At the time, thousands of Venezuelans who had recently crossed the U.S.-Mexico border were being bused to Chicago and other cities by the state of Texas.
“They never made us feel unsafe,” said Murray. “They needed somewhere to live, too.”
One resident, who asked not to be named, reported being made to lie down on the ground by agents during the raid and having his hands zip-tied.
Gil Kerlikowske, who was commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection from 2014-2017 and a former Seattle police chief, said border agents have different training and protocols than local police and worries more aggressive tactics could erode trust.
“Policing an urban environment is totally, completely different,” he said.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have also come under scrutiny over the use of tear gas against protesters at one of its Chicago facilities and the fatal shooting of a Mexican man.
‘WE ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE’
In Los Angeles over the summer, Border Patrol agents conducted immigration sweeps in Home Depot parking lots and other public areas that contributed to a federal judge’s decision to block overt racial profiling in the area. The Supreme Court in September sided with the Trump administration, allowing it to resume the tactics.
Bovino, who oversaw the L.A. operation, arrived in Chicago several weeks ago. He frequently posts to social media about his agency’s work, often in brash terms.
“We are here, Chicago, and we are not going anywhere,” Bovino said on X last month alongside a video of the arrest of a man he said was a Venezuelan gang member in a Home Depot parking lot, edited to a song by rapper Travis Scott.
A viral video this week showed masked and armed Border Patrol agents chasing a man on an e-bike in downtown Chicago after he taunted them and said he was not a U.S. citizen.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, criticized the deployment of armed Border Patrol agents and other personnel to the city, calling it “authoritarianism” at a press conference on Monday.
“Gregory Bovino has been leading the disruption and causing mayhem while he gleefully poses for photo ops and TikTok videos,” he said.
(Reporting by Renee Hickman in Chicago, Kristina Cooke in San Francisco and Ted Hesson in Washington; Editing by Mary Milliken and Deepa Babington)
