House Dems Launch Probe Into ‘Violent’ ICE Raid of Chicago Apartment Complex

Democrats on the House Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees on Tuesday announced they were launching a probe into a widely condemned raid by federal immigration officials on a Chicago apartment complex last week.

Led by Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the Democrats said that they are demanding answers from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pamela Bondi about why it was necessary to deploy the Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to conduct a raid reportedly without warrants that left local residents terrified.

"According to media reports, armed federal agents in military fatigues approached or entered nearly every apartment in the five-story, 130-unit apartment building, using flash-bang grenades, busting down doors, and pulling men, women, and children from their beds," the Democrats wrote in a letter to Noem and Bondi. "Agents put residents in zip ties and led them to unmarked vans to wait for hours while handcuffed, with children separated from their parents."

The Democrats also cited reports about "US citizens and military veterans" being "dragged out of their apartments in zip ties and detained for hours" with no explanation. They noted that residents had reported significant property damage after the raid, including doors that were blown off their hinges and holes that were left in their walls.

They also accused the federal government of waging a "violent, heavy-handed immigration enforcement operation" that left an entire community in trauma.

"Treating a US city like a war zone is intolerable," they emphasized. "We urge you to end such violent, middle-of-the-night operations that traumatize entire communities and put innocent men, women and children, including US citizens, at risk."

The Democrats' investigation into the raid comes as President Donald Trump on Wednesday morning pushed for jailing both Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. Trump on Tuesday also deployed Texas National Guard troops to Chicago, over the objections of both Pritzker and Johnson.

The human rights group Amnesty International USA said Tuesday that in addition to "a full independent investigation into the unlawful raid," Congress "must immediately stop funding ICE and hold ICE and other federal agencies accountable for their lawlessness and abuses."

“The government has an obligation to uphold the rule of law and ensure that nobody is above the law,” said Paul O’Brien, the group's executive director. “These raids are an attack on human rights and a threat to everybody in the U.S. Federal officials who committed human rights violations during the raids, including those with command responsibility, must be held accountable.”