US Citizens detained for hours during massive immigration raid that empties Chicago apartment building in the middle of the night

Stories are piling up of American citizens and those otherwise legally in the United States being arrested or detained by federal agents carrying out warrantless raids.

Americans being stopped, brutalized, and detained by federal agents have become known as the "Kavanaugh Stop," [after] U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who wrote in a ruling that American citizens were not being swept up in the federal raids.

"If the officers learn that the individual they stopped is a U.S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, they promptly let the individual go."

[Clearly that doesn't describe the OP. Or many other incidents.]

One such incident happened last week when hundreds of federal agents descended upon an apartment building in Chicago, detaining and handcuffing people inside, including children. Over and over, American citizens tried to tell agents who they were, but were ignored. The ACLU of Illinois revealed in an interview with MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace that one man asked to see the warrant granted for the raid and demanded a lawyer. He received neither.

It's unclear whether a warrant was even obtained, wrote Legum, noting that feds haven't responded to requests to view one.

essentialsaltes said:

They are targeting brown people at Home Depot parking lots. They are mostly not finding criminals, much less terrorists.

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DHS spox McLaughlin: "[Gov. Pritzker] said there's racial profiling, which is absolutely false. Our officers use reasonable suspicion. That's protected under the US Constitution 4th Amendment."

The 4th Amendment requires probable cause, not reasonable suspicion.

Reasonable suspicion is a legal standard of proof that in United States law is less than probable cause, the legal standard for arrests and warrants

essentialsaltes said:

Federal officials said 37 people were arrested, but several days after the raid, they have not been identified or charged with a crime.

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It's been a month.

So far the government has alleged only two gang members were among those arrested. This is what required helicopters and zip-tying citizens.

Takeaways from AP report on a Chicago raid that signals a major escalation of immigration crackdown​

The raid, led by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, targeted the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, though officials said only two of the 37 immigrants arrested were gang members.

rjs330 said:

So there was Tren de Aragua there.

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2, in an entire apartment building that was subject to a military-style raid that swept up the just and unjust alike. All for the benefit of the cameras.

rjs330 said:

And apparently 37 other illegals immigrants.

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Well, 35.

rjs330 said:

The fact that there were at least 2 is good enough for me.

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I've seen what makes you cheer.

essentialsaltes said:

So far the government has alleged only two gang members were among those arrested. This is what required helicopters and zip-tying citizens.

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Reporting Highlights​

• Chicago Raid: Agents rappelled from a helicopter to raid an apartment complex “filled” with Tren de Aragua gangsters. ProPublica found little to support the government’s claims.
• Immigrants Speak Out: Federal officials declined to release the names of 37 immigrants detained in raid. ProPublica has identified 21 of them and spoken with a dozen.
• A Bust? Immigration officials said they arrested just two members of Tren de Aragua. ProPublica talked with one and found no criminal records in his past.

Shortly after midnight on Sept. 30, some 300 agents from Border Patrol, the FBI and other agencies stormed the 130-unit apartment complex. SWAT teams rappelled from a helicopter, knocked down doors and hurled flash-bang grenades. They arrested 37 immigrants, most of them Venezuelans, who authorities say were in the country illegally. Agents also zip-tied and, for several hours, detained many U.S. citizens.

Federal prosecutors have not filed criminal charges against anyone who was arrested. Nor have they revealed any evidence showing that two immigrants arrested in the building belonged to the Tren de Aragua gang, or even provided their names.

That “raises a legitimate question as to whether any of the people in that building were really considered susceptible to prosecution,” said Mark Rotert, a former federal prosecutor and defense attorney in Chicago.

[Propublica identified one of the 'gang members'.] Our review of criminal records indicates that Chicago police arrested Parra for drug possession and driving without a license after a traffic stop last year, but the charges were dropped. We found no other arrest records.

Because of the lack of information provided by DHS, it is difficult to assess the accusations that Parra and another Venezuelan, who has not been named, belong to Tren de Aragua. A DHS spokesperson said one of the two men “was a positive match” on a watch list for terrorists. We checked several lists of alleged gang members that are kept by Venezuelan law enforcement officials and the international law enforcement agency Interpol; Parra’s name was not on those lists.

Nathan Howard, a U.S. citizen, was asleep in a fifth-floor apartment when the raid began. He saw the helicopter and the agents storming into the building from a stairwell on the roof. He was temporarily blinded by bright white lights as agents threw a flash-bang inside the apartment.

“It’s 20,000 of them running through my house like we got Saddam Hussein in the closet,” he said.

Cohen, a 40-year law enforcement veteran and former SWAT team member, questioned the decision to have agents descend from helicopters on ropes. Helicopters are routinely used for observation and support during raids. But in cities, the tactics known as rappelling, in which agents are attached to the ropes, and fast-roping, in which they are not attached, are typically reserved for extreme scenarios such as hostage rescues because of the risks of injury to agents and of a helicopter mishap to the public, experts said.

Cohen said he has done hundreds of searches, including in gang-controlled buildings, but “I have never rappelled out of helicopters in those operations.”