In the early hours of Tuesday morning, the South Side of Chicago woke up to the thunderous roar of Black Hawk helicopters shattered the silence. Snipers rappelled from choppers onto rooftops, agents with rifles and pistols drawn, swarming the building while choppers hovered overhead, and for those watching from the ground, it looked like a military invasion.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s ICE agents weren’t just knocking on doors. They were raining down from the sky.
NewsNation footage captured the surreal scene: agents in tactical gear with rifles and pistols drawn, swarming the building while choppers hovered overhead. The raid, part of the escalating “Operation Midway Blitz,” is reportedly the largest such action taken in the city to date.
“This was the largest action we’ve seen in Chicago,” said NewsNation’s Ali Bradley, who witnessed the operation firsthand.
The scale of the raid was staggering. According to an anonymous U.S. Border Patrol source who spoke to The New York Times, approximately 300 agents from multiple federal agencies participated, with snipers strategically rappelling onto rooftops as a precaution against potential violence.
Gregory Bovino, a U.S. Border Patrol commander-at-large involved in the operation, said the raid went “very smoothly” after days of training. But he was unapologetic about the aggressive tactics and the agency’s growing federal presence in the area.
“Why won’t you live next to them and see how much of a Nazi or Gestapo we are,” Bovino said, pushing back against accusations of heavy-handedness. He described the gang as responsible for “trafficking, prostitution, drugs, and taking advantage of American citizens in a violent way.”
The operation netted around 30 migrants believed to be tied to the gang. But it also pulled in others. Some U.S. citizens, described as squatters by officials, were detained during the raid and later released. ICE defended these arrests, claiming they were necessary to protect civilians during a complex and dangerous operation.
“It felt like we were under siege,” said 63-year-old Chicago resident Darrell Ballard, who watched the raid unfold. The sight of armed agents flooding the streets, coupled with the roar of helicopters overhead, made the scene feel less like law enforcement and more like a military assault.
Chicago, long a sanctuary city and one of the nation’s largest urban centers, has become a focal point in the federal government’s escalating crackdown on undocumented immigrants. The Department of Homeland Security claims to have made 800 arrests in the city as part of this operation — a dramatic increase compared to earlier efforts, including a failed February raid involving 400 agents that netted only one arrest.
Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, both Democrats, have condemned the raid, and thousands of residents have taken to the streets to protest what many see as an overreach.
Watch the report below from Newsnation:
