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Chicago is safe, beautiful and vibrant. In fact, it was just voted the best big city in America [ [link removed] ]for the ninth year in a row. If the jaw-dropping images [ [link removed] ] you’ve seen recently on TV or social media make it look like a war zone, that’s on Donald Trump.
A pastor being shot in the head with a chemical projectile [ [link removed] ]
That same minister pepper sprayed in the face [ [link removed] ]
A peaceful protestor carrying the American flag [ [link removed] ]through a cloud of tear gas
A masked ICE agent pointing a huge weapon out a car window [ [link removed] ] directly at a local resident
Another masked ICE agent atop an armored vehicle pointing a long gun [ [link removed] ] at a crowd of peaceful protestors
ICE dropping a chemical agent out of a car window in the middle of a busy neighborhood [ [link removed] ]
One congressional candidate was thrown to the ground, [ [link removed] ] another one gassed [ [link removed] ] and a member of the Chicago City Council handcuffed [ [link removed] ] all by federal agents
Dozens of heavily armed, combat ready agents chasing a bike riding food delivery worker [ [link removed] ]
Assaulting and arresting suburban cemetery workers [ [link removed] ] with tear gas
A midnight raid with hundreds of troops using flashbangs, chemical agents and a military-grade Blackhawk helicopter; terrifying residents, zip-tying children and leaving their apartments uninhabitable [ [link removed] ]
Troops marching through the heart of downtown [ [link removed] ] and floating down the Chicago River with guns drawn [ [link removed] ]
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I hope everyone is startled by what they see here. The small pockets of chaos and brutality captured by fearless journalists and vigilant local residents [ [link removed] ] are grotesque. Some of the most shocking examples of ICE gone wild [ [link removed] ]have come from Chicago residents who grabbed their phone and hit record just like Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has been suggesting. On Wednesday, he said it again [ [link removed] ]: “Pull out your phones and film everything you see.”
That’s exactly what happened in suburban Berwyn this week when this disturbing incident was captured on film. It shows a masked agent aiming a weapon directly at a woman who is filming ICE activity. This photo was shared by Chicago Tribune reporter Lauren Rodriquez Presa who later added a 2nd photo showing another angle of the same incident [ [link removed] ] and updated the details about who took the original photo.
Chicago’s professional news photographers [ [link removed] ] have also taken some chilling images that capture the violence by ICE but also the determination of Chicagoans. One is the photo by Chicago Sun Times photo editor Ashlee Rezin of Rev David Black’s reaction [ [link removed] ]as ICE shoots tear gas and pepper-balls directly at him outside the DHS immigration facility in suburban Broadview. Black is the same pastor who can be seen on this video taken by Chicago writer and activist Kelly Hayes [ [link removed] ]being hit in the head by a chemical agent fired directly at him [ [link removed] ]by a rooftop ICE sniper. The pastor describes what happened here.) [ [link removed] ]
Another photo of this frightening time in Chicago shows the steely resolve and patriotism of the people who live here. It was taken by the Chicago Tribune’s Stacey Wescott as former U.S. Marine Curtis Evans carried an American flag [ [link removed] ]through a cloud of tear gas at that same Broadview facility. Both photos ricocheted across the internet, racking up views and shares.
In addition to the incredible photojournalism, local news outlets and individual reporters here in Chicago have been doing meaningful, timely work documenting the ICE activities and impacts. [ [link removed] ]Some examples include:
South Side Weekly’s follow-up [ [link removed] ]on the infamous overnight apartment raid.
WBEZ’s Chip Mitchell’s report on ICE admitting it’s doing racial profiling here. [ [link removed] ]
Essential on the ground video updates from Independent journalists Steve Held and Raven Geary [ [link removed] ].
The Triibe on tracking ICE movements [ [link removed] ]through the city.
Multiple news outlets with aggressive fact checks on what really happened when ICE killed Silverio Villegas González [ [link removed] ]in September.
The Chicago Sun-Times fact checking government claims after ICE shot a Chicago woman. [ [link removed] ]
CBS 2’s Dave Savini on how ICE is accused of making false 911 calls. [ [link removed] ]
Chris Bury, former ABC News correspondent and now a journalism educator at Chicago’s DePaul University, told me the press here has:
“done an excellent job of covering the unprecedented surge of federal agents conducting the most aggressive and haphazard campaign of immigration enforcement in our lifetimes. Thanks to local reporting from major outlets and smaller, independent news organizations such as Block Club Chicago, [ [link removed] ] Chicagoans have learned that federal agents routinely sweep up U.S. citizens, separate children from their parents, snatch hard working Latino men and women off the streets and conduct performative exercises designed for Department of Homeland Security propaganda videos.”
Many of these reporters have themselves been targeted by ICE. CBS2 Chicago reporter Asal Rezaei has crowd control munitions shot directly at the vehicle she was driving [ [link removed] ]. Others have been tear gassed [ [link removed] ]. At least one local journalist was detained, [ [link removed] ] then released, by ICE. A group of Chicago journalists have now sued ICE [ [link removed] ] and Trump over the ill treatment of the press over the past few weeks. “Four of our journalists have been shot with pepper-spray bullets and tear-gassed while covering protests outside the Broadview ICE facility,” wrote Block Club Chicago [ [link removed] ], one of the plaintiffs.
Capitol News Illinois reports [ [link removed] ]that on Thursday, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order that “bars federal agents from arresting peaceful protesters or journalists covering immigration protests. It also bars them from using harsh crowd control methods such as tear gas and other “less-lethal” weapons and ammunition. in the suit that is working its way through the federal court system.”
Meanwhile, the national media needs to step up its coverage of what’s happening here in Chicago. There has been some solid coverage but not nearly enough. This is ‘lead story, headline news, continuous coverage, send your reporters and lead anchors here to report on what’s happening’ time. MSNBC’s Jacob Soboroff [ [link removed] ]is here doing on-going, live reporting. Where’s everyone else?
Chris Bury says:
“I am not so surprised that the national media have, for the most part, missed the Chicago story. Even though the major networks have bureaus in Chicago, it has historically been difficult to break through the myopia of New York and Washington D.C. based news managements. The New York Times has not given the Chicago incidents the comprehensive coverage that they deserve. The best national account I have seen came from Jonathan V. Last of xxxxxx, who wrote a detailed summary of the ICE and Border Patrol incidents in Chicago.” [ [link removed] ]
The national media did a decent job reporting on ICE and national guard deployments in Washington, D.C. The abuses of federal power are far worse here in Chicago, and Americans deserve to see at least as much attention paid to that as Trump’s misguided DC effort.
In the meantime, here in this most American city, our own news organizations are stepping up to tell the story. Yet another reason to support local news.
Jennifer Schulze is a longtime Chicago journalist. She’s on Bluesky @newsjennifer.bsky.social [ [link removed] ] and Substack at “Indistinct Chatter [ [link removed] ].” Read the original column here. [ [link removed] ]

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