Transcription
Early Tuesday morning, while people, children, men, women, asleep in their beds, hundreds of federal agents armed to the teeth, masked, huge weapons, some repelling off the roof after being deployed from helicopters, busting down doors, kicking down doors, smashing windows, cutting through fences. Why? For an immigration crackdown. For an immigration raid, dragging half-naked, naked men, women, and children into the street, zip-tying them, arresting them, not giving a [ __ ] if they're US citizens, not separating children from their parents, screaming, crying, total destruction, total [ __ ] chaos on the south side of Chicago.
This is where it happened. Of course, it's Chicago. Convicted felon Donald Trump has declared war on blue cities and blue states. He's targeting Chicago, Portland, Memphis, LA. I mean, you name it. He wants to go after those cities. And he called this Operation Midway Blitz. He launched it September 8th. And it's involving federal agents, again, armed to the teeth, strolling through neighborhoods of Chicago. Uh, just a couple of weeks ago, Christine Noom was in person filming propaganda as they used flashbang and grenades to be able to enter a home in Elgen, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. 35 people arrested in that operation. On that Tuesday, early Tuesday morning operation, 37 allegedly having some type of immigration problems or immigration issues. They were arrested. But when I tell you civil rights were violated, that's an understatement. It was illegal.
I want to play for you right now an ABC7 Chicago newscast. It was done on Tuesday after that raid happened in those early morning hours. I want you to listen to what the residents say. I want you to listen to how they described that event. I spoke to one woman who actually lives in this building and she says she was detained by ICE agents overnight and she says they took everyone and then asked questions later. They just treated us like we were nothing. Paticio Fischer said she came out to the hallway of her apartment complex on the corner of 75th and Southshore Drive in her nightgown around 10 Monday night only to find ICE agents yelling police. It was scary because I've never had a gun put in my face. They asked my name and my date of birth and asked me did I have any warrants and I told them no I didn't. She says she was then handcuffed and released around 3:00 a.m. Fischer says she was told if anyone had any kind of warrant out for them, even if it was unrelated to immigration, they would not be released.
Citizen video shows the chaotic scene overnight. Neighbors tell us there were dozens of ICE agents. Neighbors like Ebony Watson says they ducked for cover as they heard several flashbangs go off. They was terrified. The kids was crying. People were screaming. They looked very distracted. I was out there crying when I seen the little girl come around the corner. They cuz they was bringing the kids out too. Had them zip tied to each other. That's all I kept asking. Where's the morality? Where's the humanity? They one of them literally laughed. He was standing right here. He said, "Them kids." Watson says budget trucks and military-style vans were used to separate parents from their children. Other neighbors say they saw agents destroying property to get in the building and they had a big 15-inch uh chainsaw with a round blade on it cutting this fence down. "We're under siege. We're being invaded by our own military."
The FBI did confirm this morning that they did help the US Border Patrol carry out a targeted immigration enforcement operation in this area. And they say they have been supporting these efforts at the direction of the US attorney general. Did you hear what that woman said? Terrified, crying children zip-tied to each other. Some of them not even clothed, crying, and they're being dragged into the street by federal agents that are wearing tactical gear with all of those masks and all of those high-powered rifles and weapons. And when she's saying, "Where's the humanity?" One of the agents says, "Fuck them, kids." No. [ __ ] you. [ __ ] you, ICE. [ __ ] you, DHS, CBP, whoever in the hell had their hands on this. What a disgusting display of terror on fellow fellow Americans. It's just outrageous. The other gentleman in that newscast said, "What? Quote, we're under siege. We're being invaded. We're being invaded by American American soldiers, American National Guard, American federal agents."
Let's get into a little bit about what happened on early Tuesday morning. So apparently nearly 300 federal agents from various agencies targeted that apartment complex on the south side because federal officials alleged, of course with no evidence, that it was frequented by members of the Train de Aragua gang. TDA border patrol officials said, and this is a New York Times article, snipers, snipers repelled down from helicopters on top of the apartment complex and they took into custody 37 people, quote, "without legal immigration status." Those were arrested. Governor JB Pritsker telling Donald Trump, "Get out of Chicago, you are not helping us." And you know, it's kind of outrageous because if you look at the the statistics, because remember Donald Trump is making it sound like this is just one huge, you know, burning down the city energy kind of thing that is happening here. But consider this. In the last several years, crime has decreased sharply in Chicago with double-digit drops in shootings, robberies, burglaries, and car thefts. Murders have dropped nearly 50% in the last four years. A 68-year-old marketing writer from the north side of Chicago says it's a continued breakdown of norms and constitutional protections, saying it's unnecessary to have National Guard troops in Chicago. Another woman, a retired hospital administrator, saying she's worried that Trump is trying to normalize a military presence in American cities. Quote, "People need to study and see how things in the past happened in other countries." Isn't she right?
And as I referenced, you know, Christy Noom, she she wouldn't miss a photo opportunity uh photo op ever. She actually posted her social media account when there was a helicopter and tens of federal officers wearing military-style tactical gear with high-powered rifles and flashbang grenades descending on a home in Elgen, Illinois. And again, 35 arrests. There's already a legal challenge to that courtesy of the National Immigrant Justice Center and the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois concerning those arrests, saying among other legal arguments that it violated a prior consent decree that limited ICE from conducting warrantless arrests and traffic stops in Chicago. I mean, I I want to refer now um and I'm grateful to the Times for that coverage, but I want to refer to the Chicago Sun Times and to Block Club Chicago, which are local publications. I want to talk about really like how this went down in the early morning hours of Tuesday and and kind of the fallout from it because we need to hear from our local journalists. We need to know exactly what's happening from the boots on the ground there. This is important information I want to share with you.
Yeah, the Chicago Sun Times interviewed residents from that apartment building, this five-story apartment building on the south side, and they reported that armed federal agents in military fatigues busting down doors overnight, pulling men, women, and children from their apartment, some of them naked. Agents approached or entered nearly every single apartment in that five-story building, and United States citizens were detained for hours. One gentleman who was interviewed, Dan Jones, jolted awake at 1:00 a.m. in the morning with federal agents trying to bust down his door. They couldn't get through the double bolts and so they left. When he gets home from work, he finds all of his electronics, all of his furniture missing, all of his clothes and shoes thrown and strewn about on the floor. Nobody is answering his questions from local law enforcement. He has no idea where his [ __ ] is now. On Wednesday, toys, shoes, food still in piles in the hallways of the building. Property managers seen throwing mattresses and broken doors into dumpsters.
So, who was involved in this? DHS, FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Border Patrol. They arrested 37 people, as I've already mentioned, in that raid. DHS offered this quote, "Some of those arrested are believed believed, again, no evidence, believed to be involved in drug trafficking and distribution, weapons crimes, and immigration violations." The feds are claiming that this Southshore building and neighborhood is a location known to be frequented by Train de Aragua members and their associates. But again, no evidence, no proof.
Another gentleman who is a resident in that building, Rodri Johnson, aged 67, was detained by federal agents during that raid. He said agents broke down his door, dragged him out into the street, and zip-tied him. He was left tied up outside of the building for nearly 3 hours before agents let him go. Mr. Rodrik Johnson is a citizen of the United States. He said, quote, "I asked agents why they were holding me if I was an American citizen, and they said I had to wait until they looked me up. I asked, do you have a warrant? And I asked for a lawyer. They never brought one." As in the lawyer.
Neighbors say that they witnessed these federal agents using flashbang grenades to burst through the building. Several drones and helicopters were deployed and flying in the neighborhood. One resident saying she saw agents dragging the residents, including small children, out of the building with no clothes on and into U-Haul vans. Kids being separated from their mothers. As we heard from that other woman who was interviewed, this woman said stuff was everywhere. You could see people's birth certificates and papers thrown all over. Water was leaking into the hallway. It was wicked crazy because she went into the building afterwards and saw it for herself.
I also quickly want to note from Block Club Chicago and other local publication. They interviewed a man, an Army veteran, after three decades of working for the United States Postal Service who lived in the building, now retired. They pounded on his door at 2 a.m. Tuesday morning. He heard people dropping onto the roof. FBI agents then kicked in his door. He was stuffed inside a van with his neighbors for hours until he was released. Never told why he was being detained. And then they left everybody's doors open, wide open, if there were doors still left. There was money, whatever, personal property, firearms, just sitting there right there in the open.
Now, isn't it funny? These 300 federal agents allowed News Nation to tag along and film while they were doing all of this. And this gentleman, this Army veteran who went blind recently said, "My nerves were shook. I was trying to protect myself." And he actually told Block Club Chicago, he's like, "Please don't use my name. I'm terrified. Don't use my name." Unsigned waivers allowing DHS to disclose quote "records about you to a third party" found on the front gates near "Know Your Rights" flyers. Broken windows scattered everywhere. I mean, one guy said, "It looks like hell. ICE is really just a gang."
It occurred to me while I was reading this, watching the news coverage, learning more about it. Not only was it illegal and unconstitutional, but it occurred to me, think about this. You know what hasn't been reported? It hasn't been reported that a single federal agent was shot at, harmed, injured in any way. Dead of night, 1:00 a.m., agents repelling, snipers repelling down the building after they've been dropped off by helicopters on the roof, tactical military uniforms, armed agents, and they're storming like it's [ __ ] Fallujah, right? They're storming this five-story apartment building. And according to them, all these dangerous, horrible people are in this building. Gang members from Train de Aragua. All these horrible people are living in this building alongside men, women, and children, half-dressed, naked, dead of night, sleeping. How is it possible that not a single federal agent was injured in any way? I mean, if these are violent gang members, you don't think that they were armed and shooting back when the doors are busted down? You think that they leave their firearms in some room 400 ft away? That they weren't prepared for something? I mean, cuz they're gang members, right? It just strains credibility for the federal government to suggest that this is making America safe.
Let me be clear. Y'all know me. I'm a former prosecutor. I don't support gangs. I don't support criminals. I support due process. I support a criminal justice system. Frankly, any judicial system that abides by the United States Constitution and all applicable laws and procedures. That's what I support. Raids happen all the time. Local law enforcement can do stuff. Heck, even the FBI and the ATF can do stuff. But it's targeted people, isn't it? I have a warrant. I know where I'm going. I am going to a specific union. I'm going to specific house. I am targeting specific people. It is based on credible, articulable criminal activity. It is not kicking down, busting down doors, busting through windows, cutting through fences, terrorizing children in the middle of the [ __ ] night. That is not law enforcement. That's not enforcement of [ __ ] because it's not legal.
These are the outrageous times we find ourselves in. But this is why our outrage has to be louder and has to spread further and farther than what these people are lying about. It's not just going to be Chicago. It's not just going to be DC. It's not just going to be LA. It's not just going to be Portland. They're going to move into each and every American city if they have the chance. I am not saying that the response should be violence, but I am saying civil disobedience, it works and there's good trouble to be had. But this is not right. It's about time that people know, people in the administration, felon Trump, that they know that we're not going to take this. October 18th, folks, right around the corner. Today is Friday, October 3rd, two weeks from tomorrow. No Kings Day 2.0. Go to nokings.org. Check out that website. Find a protest. Find the movement in your home city. Drive to one if you have to. Take to the streets and let this administration know that we're not going to stand for federal agents saying [ __ ] them kids, that our answer is [ __ ] you because we're Americans and you can't treat us this way.
Katie Fang here. We launched the Katy Fang News Channel in partnership with the Midas Touch Network so we could bring you the latest in legal and political news. Straight no chaser. So, if you're a fellow truthteller, hit that subscribe button and share the word about this channel so we can build a high-information America.