As America’s Catholic bishops speak out against “indiscriminate mass deportation of people,” ProPublica reveals that “federal prosecutors have not filed criminal charges against anyone who was arrested” at the Chicago raid punctuated by a Black Hawk helicopter.
Although officials said they had intelligence about guns, drugs and explosives in the building, they have not revealed evidence that they seized anything illicit. The legal justification for agents forcing their way into apartments throughout the building is unclear. In interviews, former SWAT team members and other law enforcement experts questioned the decision to have agents descend on ropes from a helicopter — a tactic that’s rare in urban settings because of the risk to agents and the public. And veteran gang investigators said the post-operation hype reflects a political obsession with Tren de Aragua by the Trump administration that is distorting the threat the gang poses…
“They brought us out like criminals,” said Colmenares, 39, a construction worker and former Venezuelan army paratrooper. Apart from a traffic ticket, the father of four has no criminal record that we could find…
ProPublica’s reporting debunks the idea of a “Tren de Aragua complex” taken over by a horde of terrorists. We found no criminal convictions for 18 of the 21 Venezuelans we identified.
The in-depth investigation reveals details about the raid and apartment complex not known until now, with first hand accounts of being manhandled by ICE agents. They even flash banged a man’s apartment.
This was warrantless behavior which involved knocking down doors and dragging people out of their apartments, hands zip-tied. This week, a federal judge ruled that the warrantless arrests violated a 2022 settlement agreement between the federal government and the Chicago area.
It also reinforces the duplicity — and lies — perpetrated by DHS and ICE.
DHS officials have not explained the nature of the threat motivating extraordinary tactics that generally require high-level approval in Washington, D.C., according to interviews.
This is not the first time DHS has been less than forthright.
Last week, for example, Judge Sara Ellis found that Gregory Bovino, a top Border Patrol official in charge of the immigration crackdown in Chicago, admitted he had lied about being “hit in the head with a rock prior to deploying tear gas.”
Reason magazine reported last month:
When I email DHS for comment about things like the detention of U.S. citizens, I’m given statements contradicted by clear evidence. Worse, these lies attack the reputations of other people, many of them with pending claims of government misconduct.
As one example, Reason cites the case of Debbie Brockman, a producer at WGN-TV. In an official statement, DHS claimed she “threw objects at Border Patrol’s car.” However, (1) she was released without charges and (2) she had been “detained in the agents’ van” according to bystander video evidence. DHS did not update its statement. Rather, Bovino posted her photo on Twitter/X the next day, claiming that she was “throwing an object at Border Patrol Agents conducting lawful duties.”
Known for gnawing at complex questions like a terrier with a bone. Digital evangelist, writer, teacher. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles. @kegill (Twitter and Mastodon.social); wiredpen.com