Chicago federal intervention: Tracking surge in immigration enforcement operations

Concerns are growing over federal operations in the Chicago area.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security responded Sunday to an incident that appeared to involve federal agents deploying tear gas on Chicago's Northwest Side.

On Saturday, federal agents deployed what appeared to be tear gas in Chicago's Old Irving Park neighborhood.

DHS is once again defending their agents actions, saying they were acting in self-defense when they lobbed tear gas onto a residential street in Old Irving Park on Saturday. The man they were after, they say, had previously been arrested for assault.

Cell phone video showed the moment Border Patrol agents deployed tear gas on North Kildare Avenue near Waveland. It happened after residents who were outraged by the arrest of construction worker Luis Villegas came out to protest the immigration enforcement agents presence in their neighborhood.

"It was horrific. It is traumatic," resident Melanie Franke said. "It is not anything that anyone should be subjected to."

Responding to the incident on Sunday, Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin defended the use of tear gas, saying in part, "Border Patrol agents were surrounded and boxed in by a group of agitators. Federal law enforcement issued multiple lawful commands and verbal warnings, all of which were ignored... Border Patrol had to deploy crowd control measures."

The statement however runs contrary to what others in the neighborhood, including what resident and former Cook County prosecutor Brian Kolp saw and heard.

"They deployed the smoke canister, the one I showed you a picture of, with no audible warning whatsoever," Kolp said.

The distinction is crucial. As district court Judge Sarah Ellis gets ready to question Border Patrol Commander at large Gregory Bovino on Tuesday, the public face of "Operation Midway Blitz" was himself photographed hauling a tear gas canister at protesters in Little Village last week. Ellis, who is presiding over an ongoing lawsuit regarding the feds' treatment of protesters, has forbidden agents from deploying chemical agents indiscriminately, and without at least two prior warnings.

"There are going to be pointed questions from Judge Ellis about whether or not he understood what her order is, or whether or not he complied with her order and if he didn't why not?" former federal prosecutor Christopher Hotaling said.

And because Ellis has also ordered all agents with body worn cameras to activate them, Hotaling says finding out who is telling the truth during these now routine tear gas deployments should not be difficult, if the cameras were rolling.

"She could ask for all the body cam footage," Hotaling said. "The option is contempt. She could pursue contempt proceedings against Mr. Bovino for willfully violating her order."

Homeland Security's McLaughlin said of Bovino's upcoming testimony last week, the agency can think of no better person to correct what they believe are the judge's deep misconceptions about their mission in Chicago.

A statement from DHS on the incident involving Bovino claims that he was hit on the head by rocks and other objects being thrown at agents during the Little Village confrontation. A court filing by plaintiffs' lawyers Sunday called that statement a lie.

The family of Luis Villegas says he was working on a now-unfinished project before he was chased down and arrested by federal agents in front of a house in Old Irving Park. That's when neighbors came outside their homes in his defense before, witnesses say, tear gas was deployed. The concern impacted a Halloween tradition in the neighborhood for kids.

A teenager pleaded with federal agents as his oldest brother was led away in handcuffs by immigration officers.

"It takes a toll on me because I'm the one that's responsible for him, at the end of the day," Julian Villegas said. "He's working over here for me, and all this happening, putting him in danger is just... I feel guilty."

It happened Saturday morning while Luis Villegas, a 35-year-old father and construction worker with his brother's business, was working on this home near Kildare and Waveland. Neighbors were seen trying to assist as whistles are blaring.

Villegas' family says he is an undocumented immigrant and has lived in the Chicago-area for most of his life after coming from Mexico with his family at 4 years old.

Witnesses say a woman and man, seen in a video obtained by ABC7, were detained. ABC7 has blurred their faces since it's unclear if they face charges.

"The man is my neighbor, who lives right here. He's 70-years-old or about," neighbor Brian Kolp said. "They essentially hauled him out the driver side of his car and threw him on the ground."

During the confrontation, apparent tear gas was deployed, clouding the very street where kids, in their costumes, were supposed to march in a neighborhood Halloween parade.

"We were supposed to be standing on this corner with hundreds of families just walking around, and we're just being terrorized by ICE," neighbor Anna Ware said. "Instead, we're keeping ourselves together, resisting with joy at Disney II [Magent School], doing a parade around the track."

City leaders are condemning the federal actions that unfolded.

"Lawyers are doing their job of holding these agents accountable, and working through the courts, using the legal process that we have to challenge what is happening," said Beatriz Ponce de León, Chicago Deputy Mayor of Immigrant, Migrant and Refugee Rights.

ABC7 reached out to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Border Patrol for comment on Saturday's operations but have not heard back.

The stepped up ICE activity on the North Side disrupting the school day at Burr Elementary and other schools as multiple arrests played out on nearby streets.

CPS parents and 32nd Ward Alderman Scott Waguespack confirmed a handful of schools in the Bucktown-Wicker Park area were placed on soft lockdown. That meant no outdoor recess, in response to ICE arrests in the neighborhood.

Chicago federal agent activity caused fear near multiple North Side schools. Also, feds detained a man in West Town and a Laugh Factory manager.

ABC7 obtained multiple videos from Bucktown-Wicker Park residents showing arrests in and around the neighborhood. At least one showed a gardener who a resident says was hired to plant a tree in her backyard. Another, according to a witness, involved the employee of a car dealership.

"The kids aren't playing outside because there's been a huge amount of ICE presence in the neighborhood, just driving up and down the streets, just kind of terrorizing the neighborhood," CPS parent Nicole Van Haperbeke said.

Alderman Waguespack says he's been inundated with messages and witnessed first hand ICE agents driving dangerously in the neighborhood.

"We saw them backing up into intersections where we've got daycare children walking across the street," Waguespack said. "You've got mothers with strollers. You've got a fun run right up here at St. Mary's, and they're driving without stopping at stop signs, blowing through alleys."

Wicker Park's A.N. Pritzker School also said it was on soft lockdown Friday, and all after-school programs, with the exception of Wicker Park Kids and Apollo, were canceled.

In light of the school lockdowns Mayor Brandon Johnson is urging Governor JB Pritzker to allow for a remote option for CPS students. That's something the state has to sign off on, but the governor says he's opposed to that idea because of the impact it could have on the students' education.

SEE ALSO | Some Chicago Board of Education members call for CPS remote learning amid immigration operations

Democratic members of Congress held a special hearing in Chicago on Friday to shine a spotlight on the enforcement tactics used by federal agents as part of "Operation Midway Blitz."

The "shadow hearing" included some powerful testimony from community members impacted by the raids. It was part fact-finding mission and part a show of solidarity among democrats who have from the beginning decried the way ICE and Border Patrol agents have carried out their immigration enforcement mission.

For weeks now, communities across the Chicagoland area have been responding to ICE agents targeting their neighborhoods, like Little Village, with large crowds trying to disrupt those efforts.

Protesters have frequently surrounded ICE vehicles and used cell phones to document what's happening, sometimes prompting agents to deploy tear gas to disperse crowds. That has happened despite a judge issuing a temporary restraining order limiting the use of chemical agents.

House democrats from across the country, including most from the Chicago region, held an unofficial immigration hearing to get testimony from impacted community members.

The Trump administration has said agents are going after violent criminals who are in illegally, but communities members said frequently not turned out to be the case.

Mayor Brandon Johnson later joined the members of Congress in a show of unity, thanking the congressional delegation for raising awareness of what's happening in Chicago.

"I'm grateful that you all are here to shed light today on Trump's unlawful and increasingly aggressive actions taken against our city and cities across America. What we heard today in the hearing was alarming stories of protesters being attacked, children being traumatized and communities living in fear," Johnson said. "Our standing here today, standing here proudly, unapologetically sends a very clear message to Donald Trump. Chicago will not be silent, we will not bend, we will not cower and we will certainly not break."

Among those testifying was a pastor, David Black with First Presbyterian Church Chicago, who was hit in the head with pepper balls while praying outside the ICE detention facility in Broadview.

"Temporary restraining order issued by Judge Sarah Ellis should be improving the conditions of those exercising their First Amendment right in Chicago Bovino and his henchmen are showing mocking contempt for the rule of law," Pastor Black said.

The committee members have already been in Chicago two days, talking to community groups gathering information and feedback. Before they return to Washington, they plan to meet with business groups and educators as well.

"May my colleagues take this conviction back, as we remind those in leadership in Congress that it is our moral responsibility to defend our communities," Rep. Delia Ramirez said. "The greatest threat to public safety in Chicago is ICE AND CBP. I think it's important we lift up just how out of control and unaccountable DHS is."