Chicago federal intervention: Tracking surge in immigration enforcement operations | Updates

Agents with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security rolled into Chicago suburbs Tuesday morning, on a mission to make arrests of alleged criminals living here illegally.

But the ABC7 I-Team is looking at the people arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, trying to answer who they are.

It was still pitch dark when masked agents marched a man out of his Elgin home in handcuffs Tuesday morning, his arrest captured in a video posted by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

In the video clip, Noem can be seen boarding an ICE vehicle along with agents, in-person for what her department has dubbed "Operation Midway Blitz."

But when Vanessa Morales-Coix of West Chicago saw the video, she immediately recognized a close family friend: Jose Morales.

"It was hard," Morales-Coix told the I-Team, fighting back tears. "Just because my family and I grew up with him."

Jose Morales was featured in part of the proof of performance video Noem shared on social media, with a caption reading in part, "This morning... DHS took violent offenders off the streets... accused of assault, DUI and felony stalking."

Morales says the man she knows as "Chilez" has lived in Elgin with his cousin as long as she can remember.

"It's sad that, you know, they're saying that they're going after criminals, and neither of them were," Morales-Coix said. "He had his work permit."

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As immigration enforcement operations ramped up throughout the suburbs on Tuesday, people gathered in Melrose Park to rally and march against ICE's presence in Illinois. State lawmakers joined immigration activists as they made their voices heard.

Dozens of protesters marched along North Avenue, flying the flags of various Latin American countries whose native citizens feel increasingly under attack. They include Mexicans, in particular, who are celebrating that country's Independence Day.

"I take very personal that this year has been very different. We are in fear that we cannot celebrate our motherland in the country that I call home today," said Nancy Salgado with the West Suburban Action Project.

Even as immigration officials announced the arrests of whom they say are undocumented criminals around the city and suburbs, those rallying rejected those claims. They are also continuing to call for transparency surrounding the death of Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, who was killed by an ICE agent following a traffic stop in Franklin Park last week.

"They don't want to release it because it's not helping them build the story or the argument that people are here trying to hurt the community," said Marien Casillas Pabellón with the West Suburban Action Project.

ICE said Villegas-Gonzalez struck an officer with his car and dragged him while trying to get away. That officer then fatally shot Villegas-Gonzalez.

DHS said Villegas-Gonzalez was an undocumented immigrant with a criminal history of reckless driving. An officer hurt in the incident is still recovering.

State lawmakers representing Melrose Park and Cicero joined Tuesday's protest.

"When the most powerful court in the nation says racial profiling is OK... we know we have gone backwards," said Deputy Majority Leader and Illinois state Rep. Lisa Hernandez, D-Cicero.

Immigration advocates called for an immediate end to the ongoing detentions. They are struggling to keep track of just how many people have been picked up by federal agents so far.

"Yesterday, there was a big ICE operation in West Chicago. Today, there is a big ICE operation in Elgin. We're continuing to get calls throughout the morning from different suburban and city areas," said Brandon Lee with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

Illinois Congresswoman Lauren Underwood said on Tuesday that according to a recent briefing from ICE, some 250 people from the Chicago area have been taken into custody since Sept. 6. Those who are detained and processed are being transferred to detention centers in Indiana and Wisconsin.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem apparently chose Mexican Independence Day to send a message to the immigrant community, arriving in force on Tuesday morning to an Elgin home and taking four people into custody.

They arrived like a military operation. Agents could be seen in camouflage uniforms with military helicopters circling above at about 5:30 a.m. They broke the front door down and entered the home. Members of Elgin's rapid response teams want to keep their identities anonymous.

"It's terrorizing everyone, putting people back into hiding. People don't know what to do," one team member said.

Noem was apparently on hand and posted footage of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents taking occupants of the home into custody, saying they were violent criminals wanted for crimes like assault and DUI.

The only problem is two of the four people they arrested are apparently U.S. citizens who they released shortly afterward. One of them is a man named Joe, who preferred not to speak on camera.

"I'm just glad I had my wallet, my ID, and I cooperated," Joe said.

That operation was one of several ICE arrests made in the area on Tuesday. A short time later, ICE agents stopped a driver on Route 31, a few blocks away, taking him into custody.

ICE agents arrested another man in the Little Village area a short time after video appeared to capture an arrest at 24th and Albany on Monday.

Just a few few blocks away, agents stopped a Venezuelan man, taking him into custody, as well. Noemi Rivera witnessed it all as they brought him to the car in handcuffs.

In Spanish, Rivera said, "I got very scared and nervous because I saw everything and I shot the video."