Chicagoans Denounce Vicious Government Raid Aimed at Terrorizing Black Community
March October 1, 2025,
in downtown Chicago
In a military-style night raid with drones, helicopters and flashbang grenades, vanloads of federal agents, masked and in riot gear -- guns and rifles drawn -- attacked a Black community on Chicago's south side, home to most of the city's Black population. The flashbangs shocked people awake with loud bangs while also emitting blinding light. About 300 agents surrounded and then stormed an apartment complex with 130 units and emptied the building. Women and children were taken from their beds, zip-tied and then left standing outside for hours or detained for hours at a public school taken over by the federal forces. No warrants, no warning, just an all-out raid. Residents themselves sensed the military nature of the raid, condemning the war zone purposely created and being treated as "enemy combatants."
Agents from several agencies, including Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the FBI treated residents as if they were guilty of a crime -- interrogating them, demanding documentation, and detaining people whatever their status, it did not matter. People were forced to pull up their shirts or nightgowns as agents worked to humiliate everyone under the guise of looking for tattoos. Some people remain missing, with residents fearing they have been disappeared, as has occurred with other government raids.
Apartments were ransacked, furniture destroyed, windows broken, toys smashed, all in the name of finding individuals connected with the group Tren de Aragua, from Venezuela, with little known presence in Chicago. It was known that some people from Venezuela seeking asylum had been given housing in the area by the federal government. They were made targets and simply their existence as Venezuelans was used to justify the raid.
In a community more than 90 per cent Black, this racist attack was recognized for what it was: an effort to further terrorize and intimidate the people of metro Chicago and its large Black community, 1.6 million, known for its militancy. It was also another slap at Venezuela and an effort to say the problems concerning immigration are foreign based -- including a claimed "foreign invasion" -- to justify these raids and use of the National Guard and military. Daily experience is making clear the problem is the government demanding that these brutal racist policing agencies carry out completely lawless raids, detentions, and deportations.
ICE Out of Illinois
rally, October 3, 2025
The presidency is using these raids as joint live war exercises to eliminate any humanity among the policing forces and ensure they will carry out the lawless orders. Meanwhile it is attempting to divide and terrorize the people into submission as Trump organizes to eliminate the "enemy within."
Protests immediately took place in the community and downtown, denouncing the raid and demanding ICE Out of Chicago! These continue daily as people stand united in defence of the rights of all.
(Photos: Block Club CHI, Mo Ryan)
This article was published in
Volume 55
Number 44 - October 21, 2025
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2025/Articles/TS55444.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca