Dramatic Chicago ICE raid touted as anti-terror win results in no criminal charges

Amna Nawaz:

Well, there were more arrests in the Chicago area today, as protesters clashed with police in a demonstration outside an ICE facility. Four officers were injured and 21 people were arrested after a fight broke out.

Protesters are demanding an end to ICE's methods and raids that have been a constant in Chicago since the administration launched what it called Operation Midway Blitz in September. The allegations around a number of those raids are being sharply questioned.

The latest comes from a new investigation by ProPublica that finds a recent raid hailed by the Trump administration as a major strike against terrorism did not live up to those claims.

Ali Rogin tells us more.

Ali Rogin:

Amna, the raid on September 30 is etched into the minds of some residents after they watched hundreds of federal agents rappel from Black Hawk helicopters, use drones and flashbang grenades to storm an apartment building in the city's South Shore neighborhood.

Dozens of Venezuelan migrants who were found to be undocumented were detained, with officials alleging they are members of a dangerous gang called Tren de Aragua, which has been designated as a terrorist group.

But the investigation by ProPublica paints a different picture. It found that many of those arrested had no criminal records and the government has provided no evidence tying them to terrorism.

I'm joined by Melissa Sanchez, who co-authored this article after a monthslong investigation.

Melissa, thank you so much for joining us.

First of all, what have government officials been saying in order to justify this raid and what did your reporting find out?

Melissa Sanchez, ProPublica:

Well, the government has claimed that the Venezuelan gang — the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua had taken over this building on the South Side of Chicago and that there were guns and explosives and drugs inside the building.

But our reporting has found, like, little evidence to back up this claim. The government has provided little — no proof at all that this is true. They haven't even revealed the names of any of the immigrants that they detained.

We were able to identify 21 of the 37 immigrants. And we were — and I spoke with 12 of them. And we looked up all their criminal records. Very few of them had any. And the records that we did find showed zero mentions of gang membership.

Ali Rogin:

And of those 37 individuals who were arrested, there were no criminal charges filed against them. Why is that? What did you find out about that?

Melissa Sanchez:

So, we spoke with federal — former federal prosecutors.

And what they have told us is that if the government had a good case, we would have seen charges filed in federal court, and we haven't seen any yet. So that suggests that maybe no charges are coming.

And kind of to add to that, we have gone to a lot of these men's immigration court hearings. We have gone to eight of them so far. And in not one of those hearings as a government lawyer made any reference to criminal cases or to gang membership.

So all of that makes it really difficult to believe that — believe what the government is saying about gang membership.

Ali Rogin:

There is tremendous video evidence showing this dramatic entrance into this complex. Did agents have warrants to forcibly enter the apartments that they did that night?

Melissa Sanchez:

That's a great question. I wish I could tell you that we knew the answer. The government won't tell us. We have found no evidence of warrants filed in federal court, although they could be under sealed. But we have asked the government, and they haven't answered. They said they have done everything according to the law.

Ali Rogin:

I want to ask you about what the administration has said in response to your story.

A Homeland Security spokesperson said agents arrested two — quote — "confirmed members" of Tren de Aragua and that children were taken into custody for safety, but that they were not handcuffed. How does that jibe with your reporting?

Melissa Sanchez:

Well, the part about the kids being handcuffed, I do want to make clear to your audience that none of the 12 Venezuelans who we spoke to said that they saw kids being zip-tied, so that — just to be clear.

But we have seen no evidence about these two gang members. We were able to identify one of the two people that the government says is a gang member. We were able to run his name against these lists from Interpol and from Venezuelan police of gang members, and he doesn't appear on that list.

We spoke with him. He said he's not a gang member, that when I talked to him on the phone while he was in jail, that was the first he'd ever heard of any allegation that he was a member of the Tren de Aragua. We looked up his criminal record. He had gotten arrested once in Chicago for driving without a license.

During that stop, they found some marijuana and coke on him. It was a minor amount. That charge was dropped. That's all that we could find on that.

Ali Rogin:

I do want to note that your reporting and that of others does show that this building was dilapidated. Many residents cited feeling a sense of danger. Some men carried guns openly. A Venezuelan resident was arrested for murder of a fellow countryman in an apartment over the summer.

So, what did residents tell you about the safety of this building and also, though, what they thought about the proportionality of this particular law enforcement action?

Melissa Sanchez:

Yes, so the building was unsafe. Everything you said is true. There was a murder there over the summer. We have the records from court and police. Nothing in those records indicates anything about Tren de Aragua.

Some of our colleagues ran the numbers on 911 calls to that building. And it's high compared to — there's a high volume of calls to police, but it's not any higher than it is in other parts of that neighborhood. That's sort of typical for that part of the neighborhood.

And, beyond that, I think the residents that we spoke with, they were really shocked by what happened. I mean, this building was all that they could afford. None of the people we spoke to had gotten hurt at that building. And there were people maybe that they were suspicious of, but they kind of all kept to themselves. And nobody reported any problems with any of their neighbors at that building to us.

Ali Rogin:

Some of the individuals that were apprehended have been detained. And others have been deported back to their home countries. You have spoken with many of them. What have they been telling you?

Melissa Sanchez:

So the ones who are in detention still are really desperate. They want to get out. They have been in custody now for six or seven weeks at this point, and they want to go back to Venezuela at this point. A lot of them don't have passports, so getting back to Venezuela is a little bit tricky.

The ones who have already been deported, I think every single one of them has told me that they have returned with less than they had left that country with years ago. I mean, a lot of them fled Venezuela years ago because the country has a collapsed economy, an authoritarian government, and it's really difficult to get a job and support your family there.

And, here in the U.S., they had jobs. They had bought used cars. They had bought clothes and shoes and tablets for their kids, and all of that is gone. So I think they have returned to a country that's difficult to survive in, and they don't have anything to make a life anymore.

Ali Rogin:

Melissa Sanchez with ProPublica, thank you so much.

Melissa Sanchez:

Thank you.