On the South Side of Chicago last fall, dozens of federal immigration agents swarmed an apartment building in the middle of the night. Some of them rappelled down from a Black Hawk helicopter and banged on doors. Many residents were restrained outdoors and forced to wait while agents checked their identities.
By the end of the night, at least 37 people, mostly Venezuelan nationals, had been arrested, and the building was left in disarray. The Sept. 30 raid was one of the most aggressive in the early months of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration. It raised questions about why a random, blighted building in Chicago’s predominantly Black neighborhood of South Shore had been targeted for such a large show of federal force.
At the time, Trump administration officials said they were targeting a number of unauthorized Venezuelan immigrants living in the building, some of them with purported ties to criminal gangs.
But on Wednesday, Illinois officials said they have opened a new investigation into claims that building managers had contacted the federal government with a tip about Venezuelan immigrants who were not authorized to be living in the building. State officials say it may have been an illegal attempt on the managers’ part to force Black and Hispanic tenants, including U.S. residents, out of the building.
In the aftermath of the raid, residents described years of conflicts among tenants, building management and city officials over claims of inadequate maintenance, safety hazards and frequent instances of crime. The building’s ownership has countered that it had spent $2 million on repairs, maintenance, security and evictions since 2020, but had been unable to keep squatters and criminals out.
In a document filed to support the new investigation, state officials said that the building’s management had tipped off federal officials in September that Venezuelans “who were unauthorized occupants and had threatened other tenants” were living in the building without the owners’ permission. During the raid, the document said, federal agents removed dozens of Black and Hispanic tenants from their homes and separated them outside the building based on race and national origin.
State officials said they would look into whether the tip about Venezuelans was in fact an attempt to “intimidate and coerce the building’s Black and Hispanic tenants, as well as the Venezuelan immigrants, into leaving the building.”
The state said the raid effectively targeted the entire 130-unit building, “terrorizing all tenants, knocking down doors, clearing units and destroying tenants’ property.”
The investigation, which will be led by the Illinois Department of Human Rights, will also look into claims that within hours of the raid, workers employed by building management were clearing out units whose tenants were arrested and throwing out those tenants’ belongings.
The investigation was formally opened against Strength in Management LLC, 7500 Shore A LLC and Trinity Flood, three companies that owned and operated the building. None of them responded to requests for comment on Wednesday.
The Department of Homeland Security also did not have an immediate comment on the new investigation. At the time of the raid, a senior Border Patrol official said that among those arrested were people officials believed to be members of the Venezuelan criminal gang Tren de Aragua.
Weeks before the raids, the Department of Homeland Security said at the time, a man had been fatally shot, execution style, in the building by an undocumented man from Venezuela.
It is unclear exactly how many of those arrested had criminal records or whether they faced new charges after they were taken into custody. It was also not clear whether any of them was deported.
Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois said in a statement that the claims of housing discrimination “raise serious concerns for people struggling to maintain housing — and the communities that have been profiled and relentlessly targeted by the federal government during its violent immigration enforcement operations.”
The filing on Wednesday does not mean that the Illinois Department of Human Rights has already made any findings, but it allows department investigators to begin interviewing witnesses and gathering evidence. If the department finds substantial evidence of discrimination and the matter cannot be settled, then the department can file a formal complaint on behalf of the tenants with the Illinois Human Rights Commission.
The raid came in the middle of a large-scale immigration crackdown in the Chicago area, which federal officials called Operation Midway Blitz, that brought dozens of immigration agents to the city and its suburbs for weeks. The operations prompted protests and lawsuits against the federal government over claims that agents had used aggressive tactics and racially profiled residents.
But it appeared that there had long been issues between tenants and building management. In interviews after the raid, former and current residents described a history of issues at the apartment complex, including complaints about prostitution, drug and gang activity at the building.
Residents described squalid conditions, including mold, broken pipes and trash in the hallways. In the aftermath, some said that it was difficult to distinguish what mess had been caused by federal agents and what was already there.
The state cited some of these previous complaints in the document it filed on Wednesday,
“7500 S Shore building management unlawfully discriminated against their tenants when they refused to make maintenance and repairs and then tipped federal officials, alleging that the Venezuelan tenants of the building were unauthorized occupants and had threatened other tenants,” the charging document said.
Jim Bennett, the director of the Illinois Department of Human Rights, said in a statement that the claims against the owners and managers of the building reflected “more than isolated harm.”
He added, “It describes a pattern of intimidation that reverberates through our communities.”
Julie Bosman and Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs contributed reporting. Kirsten Noyes contributed research.
Jesus Jiménez is a Times reporter covering Southern California.
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