USA13 May, 20263 min read
ICE Agents Storm Chicago South Shore Apartment, Residents File Tort Claims After Operation Midway Blitz
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Federal tort claims seeking damages after militarized South Shore apartment raid. Heavily armed federal agents conducted a night raid with helicopters and a dog.
South Shore raid allegations
On Sept. 30, during Operation Midway Blitz, federal agents stormed a South Shore apartment building at 7500 S. South Shore Drive in Chicago, and immigration advocacy groups filed federal tort claims on behalf of 17 residents who said they were arrested illegally and brutalized overnight.
The Chicago Tribune described accounts in which one man said he was awakened by helicopters and then beaten with a rifle in front of his wife and three young daughters, while another said a large black police dog clamped down on his leg and he was allegedly zip-tied by agents.
ProPublica similarly recounted how Tolulope Akinsulie, a Nigerian man in Unit 215, said he felt the jaws of a large dog biting his right ankle as heavily armed federal agents rushed into his apartment.
Akinsulie said, “There was no reason to do me like that,” and the claims allege agents didn’t have warrants before entering apartments and caused physical injuries, emotional trauma, “brutal detention” and financial loss.
The filings also allege agents took city of Chicago identification cards and ripped them up in front of a Mexican man, and ProPublica reported that the tenants’ claims were submitted to DHS and several other federal agencies including U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Damages sought and denials
The tort claims are described as a prerequisite to a lawsuit against the federal government, and the Chicago Tribune said each of the 18 claimants is seeking about $5 million in damages for alleged emotional distress, lost wages and items lost due to the unlawful raid.
ProPublica reported that each claimant—15 are immigrants and two are U.S. citizens—is seeking about $5 million, and it quoted Susana Sandoval Vargas saying, “It is about holding the federal government accountable for their unlawful actions.”
A DHS spokesperson told ProPublica that the “operation was performed in full compliance of the law” and said tenants are not owed compensation, while the spokesperson did not respond to questions about Akinsulie’s injuries.
ProPublica added that if the agency does not respond or settle a claim within six months, or if it denies a claim, individuals can then file a lawsuit under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
In the Chicago Tribune’s account, the filings were submitted by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the MacArthur Justice Center, the Immigration Clinic of the University of Chicago and the National Immigrant Justice Center, and it said the raid was led by then-Border Patrol Cmdr. Greg Bovino.
Broader crackdown and visibility
Separate reporting tied the Chicago raid to the wider enforcement push, saying Border Patrol Cmdr. Greg Bovino returned to the Chicago area on Tuesday to lead immigration raids about a month after leaving to lead operations in other cities.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Bovino returned to the predominantly Mexican-American neighborhood of La Villita, where the Chicago Sun-Times photographed him and videos obtained by The Associated Press showed agents launching bolas de pimienta and detaining a man.
In the same Los Angeles Times account, the DHS subsecretaria Tricia McLaughlin said, “no nos estamos yendo de Chicago y las operaciones continúan,” while Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker complained he was not notified and asked how long Bovino and additional agents would stay.
The Chicago Tribune’s tort-claim narrative described the raid as “shocking” and alleged agents stormed the building without warrants and rounded up adults and children alike at gunpoint, with a Department of Homeland Security camera crew filming footage later posted to government social media accounts.
ProPublica framed the South Shore tenants’ claims as the first step toward seeking accountability for what it called a key moment in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Chicago, and it reported that DHS would not say how many claims have been filed since last year.