Federal tort claims filed for people arrested in 'shocking' military-style raid on Chicago building

Madeline Buckley, Jason Meisner and Laura Rodríguez Presa, Chicago Tribune on May 13, 2026

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CHICAGO — Immigration advocacy groups on Wednesday filed tort claims against the Department of Homeland Security alleging 18 people were illegally arrested and brutalized in a controversial overnight raid in a South Shore apartment building during Operation Midway Blitz last fall.

The tort claims, a required prerequisite to a lawsuit against the federal government, foreshadow what would be the first litigation filed in connection with the military-style immigration enforcement raid at 7500 S. South Shore Dr. that unfolded in the middle of the night with helicopters, snipers and bright spotlights.

The filings allege federal agents stormed the U-shaped building in the dead of night on Sept. 30, broke down doors without warrants, and rounded up adults and children alike at gunpoint. The complaints describe individuals being held at gunpoint, physically kicked or struck by rifles, and marched outside in little to no clothing or pajamas.

“Amidst the chaos, a DHS-hired camera crew and drones followed agents and filmed the operation inside and outside the building; footage was later released on DHS’ social media accounts as promotional content,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys said in a news release.

The claims, filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act, were made on behalf of 18 plaintiffs by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, MacArthur Justice Center, the Immigration Clinic of University of Chicago, and the National Immigrant Justice Center.

The filings document the first-hand experiences of several people who were arrested that day.

“This raid is among the most abhorrent actions of Operation Midway Blitz, part of the current administration’s militarized campaign targeting communities of color in cities across the country,” said Susana Sandoval Vargas, MALDEF Midwest Regional Counsel. “We are pleased to represent courageous clients who have decided to stand up against this abuse of power and hold the federal government accountable for its actions.”

Officials with DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The raid, which was led by then-Border Patrol Cmdr. Greg Bovino, was one of the most shocking episodes during the Trump administration’s Operation Midway Blitz, which resulted in the arrests of thousands of immigrants and numerous clashes with citizens on city and suburban streets throughout the fall and early winter.

During the events that happened overnight on Sept. 29 and Sept. 30, agents dressed for combat rappelled from helicopters onto the roof of the five-story brick building. They broke through windows and stormed inside, where they crashed through doors and placed residents in zip ties and on buses or in the back of box trucks. Many Venezuelan migrants lived in the building and were taken in the raid.

The assault on the building in a majority Black neighborhood on the city’s South Side was widely condemned, and the Illinois Department of Human Rights earlier this year launched an investigation into the owner’s role. The state has alleged that the owner prompted the September raid by telling the federal government there were Venezuelan immigrants living in the complex who were “unauthorized occupants and had threatened other tenants.”

Though the Trump administration often justified their deportation operation by claiming to pursue people who posed a safety risk to the public, no criminal charges were filed against anyone in connection with the raid, either in U.S. District Court or in Cook County.

DHS had previously said the raid was the result of federal criminal warrants, though none were made publicly available. Two immigrants who were detained in the raid had no felony criminal record or presented any risk to flee, yet were improperly subjected to “warrantless arrest,” according to a federal judge who reviewed allegations of warrantless arrests by agents.

Two days after the raid, DHS featured it in a video on social media with instrumental music, the sound of the helicopters and spotlights on the building.

Building residents continued to face problems in the weeks and months following the raid. They formed a tenant union after a Cook County judge appointed a third-party receiver to manage the property and ordered the building to be vacated.

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