A large presence of federal agents on Chicago’s North and Northwest Sides Friday sent people onto the streets and schools into soft lockdowns. Agents dropped tear gas canisters on a residential street in Lakeview.
Ald. Bennett Lawson, who represents the 44th Ward, said federal agents pulled one of four workers doing construction on a home on Lockwood in the Lakeview neighborhood. Dozens of neighbors came out to protest the arrest; they surrounded the agents’ car, and that’s when the agents set off tear gas.
“Construction workers, landscapers and nannies seem to be a target,” Ald. Lawson said. “There’s no name involved, there’s no reading of rights. They’re just grabbing people.”
“They stopped, rolled their windows down, dropped the tear gas and continued on driving,” said Andrew Diehl, a neighbor who got tear gassed. “There is a school two blocks down the road. People were walking their dogs. Children get walked here frequently. It’s Friday in the middle of the day.”
Lawson said this was the second construction site where someone was detained in his ward on Friday. The other was at Broadway and Belmont, where Chicago police said they responded to a call for a battery in progress. When they arrived, they saw federal agents in a physical altercation with two people.
Chicago police said they worked to de-escalate the crowd, then left once the federal agents had gone. CPD did not make any arrests.
That incident happened outside the Laugh Factory, who confirmed on social media their night manager was detained.
In West Town, there were reports of a man detained by federal agents while waiting for his pregnant wife outside a medical clinic on West Superior.
Video shows federal agents using their vehicles to block the man in his car. Witnesses said the driver refused to answer their questions, or leave his vehicle, so they smashed the driver’s side window, dragged him out and took him away.
Video shows a confrontation between people surrounding a car and federal agents outside the clinic.
“This is kidnapping,” said an immigration advocate at a news conference after the arrest. “I am calling on the State’s Attorney to start looking into these cases of people being snatched off the street and being kidnapped. We cannot stay silent any longer.”
“The president has continuously talked about causing fear in our communities,” said 36th Ward Ald. Gilbert Villegas, who represents that area. “We’re going to do our part to push back, but we have our limits as well.”
Hours after the incident, West Town residents gathered outside and remained vigilant, even calling out potential sightings of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
“What ICE is doing is causing terror and scaring the people in the community,” said Cristina De La Rosa, executive director of Erie Neighborhood House, a nonprofit providing support to immigrant families. “As horrific as these experiences are, it’s wonderful to see how the community does come together.”
Meantime, students inside a preschool and music school along Milwaukee Avenue near Western Avenue witnessed ICE activity Friday morning right outside their windows.
Video provided to CBS News Chicago from inside the Bucktown preschool showed federal agents detaining two people Friday before noon. Students can be heard crying in the background.
“They were all masked up, so obviously it was ICE, and I opened the door, and I heard some commotion,” said Alexander Vega, who works in a barber shop across the street. “I didn’t see much, just them driving off.”
A.N. Pritzker Elementary School in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood went into soft lockdown after reports that federal agents were conducting immigration enforcement operations in the area.
In a message to families, principal Dr. Joenile Albert-Reese said the school received reports that ICE agents were seen in the area of the school, which is on Schiller Avenue.
Albert-Reese said the school was placed on soft lockdown as a precaution, and emphasized this is not an emergency but an action taken for the safety of the school. In the soft lockdown, all doors to the school remain locked and will not be opened to anyone until further notice. The daily schedule will continue as normal.
“Please know that these steps are being taken to ensure you feel safe and supported while you are here at school,” Albert-Reese wrote.
She also asked parents to notify staff of a trusted adult if they are not able to pick their child up in person at dismissal.
Several other schools in Wicker Park and Bucktown also reportedly took safety precautions or went into soft lockdown Friday, including Mitchell Elementary, Pulaski International and Rauner College Prep.
This week, Chicago Public Schools formed a command center to help provide quicker responses to schools impacted by federal immigration agents near their campuses.
There is current a federal court order in place designed to limit the use of force by federal agents, including not using tear gas while on the ground in Chicago.
In an interview with CBS News, top border agent Gregory Bovino defended agents’ behavior, saying he won’t let any violence be perpetrated against his officers.
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