Illinois Governor JB Pritzker is directing state agencies to investigate the treatment of children involved in a recent Trump administration immigration raid after witnesses claimed children were zip-tied, separated from parents, and detained for several hours.
Pritzker’s directive was issued Friday after reports emerged that armed federal immigration agents descended on an apartment building on the South Side of Chicago on September 30 and pulled men, women, and children from their beds in the middle of the night.
In an interview with CNN Sunday, the governor cited reports of “children who were zip-tied and held, some of them nearly naked” and “elderly people being thrown into a U-Haul for three hours and detained.” At least one U.S. citizen was detained, Pritzker added.
Federal agents were “just picking up people who are brown and Black and then checking their credentials,” Mr. Pritzker added.
Witnesses told WBEZ Chicago and the Chicago Sun Times that armed agents arrived at the five-story building with U-Hauls and broke down residents’ doors, dragging them out of bed. Some told CNN that a Black Hawk helicopter was flying above the apartment complex.
“Imagine being a child awakened in the middle of the night by a Black Hawk helicopter landing in your neighborhood,” Pritzker said in a statement. “Imagine an armed stranger forcibly removing you from your bed, zip-tying your hands, separating you from your family, and detaining you in a dark van for hours. This didn’t happen in a country with an authoritarian regime – it happened here in Chicago.”
Pritzker said he was “appalled” by the reports and that “military-style tactics should never be used on children.”
The Independent has asked the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
Federal agents and officers with the Department of Homeland Security, Border Patrol, the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives were involved in the immigration raid. Authorities said the neighborhood where the raid was conducted was “known to be frequented by Tren de Aragua members and their associates.”
Eboni Watson, a resident of the building, told WLS that children appeared “terrified” during the raid.
“The kids was crying. People was screaming. They looked very distraught,” Watson said.
“I was out there crying when I seen the little girl come around the corner, because they was bringing the kids down, too, had them zip tied to each other,” Watson added.
Approximately 37 people were arrested in the September 30 raid, some of whom had criminal records related to drug or weapons crimes, DHS said.
President Donald Trump has directed immigration law enforcement and other federal authorities to conduct immigration raids in Chicago, a city he has long targeted due to its “sanctuary city” policies. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have consistently opposed the administration’s tactics.
Pritzker told CNN that the administration was using aggressive tactics because they “want mayhem on the ground.”
