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"Our message for ICE is simple: Get the hell out," said Evanston, Illinois Mayor Daniel Biss.
Officials in Evanston, Illinois are accusing federal immigration officials of "deliberately causing chaos" in their city during a Friday operation that led to angry protests from local residents.
As reported by Fox 32 Chicago, Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss and other local leaders held a news conference on Friday afternoon to denounce actions earlier in the day by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials.
"Our message for ICE is simple: Get the hell out of Evanston," Biss said during the conference.
In a social media post ahead of the press conference, Biss, who is currently a candidate for US Senate, described the agents' actions as "monstrous" and vowed that he would "continue to track the movement of federal agents in and around Evanston and ensure that the Evanston Police Department is responding in the appropriate fashion."
As of this writing, it is unclear how the incident involving the immigration officials in Evanston began, although witness Jose Marin told local publication Evanston Now that agents on Friday morning had deliberately caused a car crash in the area near the Chute Elementary School, and then proceeded to detain the vehicle's passengers.
Videos taken after the crash posted by Chicago Tribune investigative reporter Gregory Royal Pratt and by Evanston Now reporter Matthew Eadie show several people in the area angrily confronting law enforcement officials as they were in the process of detaining the passengers.
“You a criminal!” Evanston residents angrily confront immigration agents pic.twitter.com/t7jVaC4czq
— Gregory Royal Pratt (@royalpratt) October 31, 2025
Another video of ICE grabbing at least two people after a crash on Oakton/Asbury in Evanston
Witnesses say at least three were arrested by Feds pic.twitter.com/DStgCrKWTA
— Matthew Eadie (@mattheweadie22) October 31, 2025
The operation in Evanston came on the same day that Bellingcat published a report documenting what has been described as "a pattern of extreme brutality" being carried out by immigration enforcement officials in Illinois.
Specifically, the publication examined social media videos of immigration enforcement actions taken between October 9 to October 27, and found "multiple examples of force and riot control weapons being used" in apparent violation of a judge's temporary restraining order that banned such weapons except in cases where federal officers are in immediate danger.
"In total, we found seven [instances] that appeared to show the use of riot control weapons when there was seemingly no apparent immediate threat by protesters and no audible warnings given," Bellingcat reported. "Nineteen showed use of force, such as tackling people to the ground when they were not visibly resisting. Another seven showed agents ordering or threatening people to leave public places. Some of the events identified showed incidents that appeared to fall into more than one of these categories."
"Community members are being kidnapped off the streets, packed in hold cells, denied food, medical care, and basic necessities, and forced to sign away their legal rights," said the lead attorney for the case.
A few weeks after a federal judge sided with journalists and protesters attacked by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement outside of an ICE building in the Chicago suburb Broadview, detainees on Friday sued over "deplorable and inhumane conditions" inside the "de facto immigration detention facility right outside the city limits."
"Huge numbers of people are being arrested and detained" as part of President Donald Trump's "massive and inhumane immigration enforcement operation in the Chicago area—Operation Midway Blitz," notes the class action complaint, filed in the Northern District of Illinois by the ACLU of Illinois, MacArthur Justice Center, and Chicago office of the law firm Eimer Stahl.
Like plaintiffs Pablo Moreno Gonzalez and Felipe Agustin Zamacona, most immigrants targeted in the operation have been brought to the Broadview facility. There, the complaint states, federal defendants "have created a black box in which to disappear people from the US justice and immigration systems," and they "are perpetrating mass constitutional violations."
The suit names not only ICE and key agency leaders—Acting Director Todd Lyons, Enforcement and Removal Operations Executive Associate Director Marcos Charles, and Interim Chicago Field Office Director Samuel Olson—but also the US Department of Homeland Security, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Customs and Border Protection, and CBP Commander-at-Large Greg Bovino.
"DHS personnel have denied access to counsel, legislators, and journalists so that the harsh and deteriorating conditions at the facility can be shielded from public view," said ACLU of Illinois legal director Kevin Fee in a statement. "These conditions are unconstitutional and threaten to coerce people into sacrificing their rights without the benefit of legal advice and a full airing of their legal defenses."
Echoing recent reporting by Chicago journalists, the filing features several anecdotes from attorneys and people who have been detained in Broadview, where "there is blood, other bodily fluids, and hair in the sinks and on the walls," and holding rooms are "infested with cockroaches, centipedes, and spiders."
"This is a vicious abuse of power and gross violation of basic human rights by ICE and the Department of Homeland Security."
One person quoted in the complaint said that immigrants at Broadview were confined in cells "like a pile of fish," while another said that "they treated us like animals, or worse than animals, because no one treats their pets like that."
In September, Fredy Cazarez Gonzalez was "held in a small room with hundreds of people" and "forced to lay down near the toilet, where there was urine on the ground," the filing says. He "was unable to shower for the five days he was at Broadview. Officers did not give him any soap, toothpaste, a toothbrush, or anything else to clean himself with."
Juan Gabriel Aguirre Alvarez "saw a man get sick and vomit in and around the toilet in his holding room. The officers did not provide medical care, nor did they clean up the vomit," the document details. "On the final night that Aguirre Alvarez was detained at Broadview, another man in the room defecated in his pants. The man's soiled pants were placed in the garbage. No staff members came to clean it up, so it was left there the entire night and smelled terrible."
"Jose Guerrero Pozos was detained with some individuals who were diabetic, but they received the same food—a small amount of bread—as all the other detainees, which can lead to dangerous and uncontrolled surges in blood sugar," according to the complaint.
The details alleged in the suit get pretty lurid. Per multiple declarations, detainees are forced to sleep on the floor, amid "urine and dirty water" caused by clogged toilets. The suit also claims there are cameras pointed at the toilets, causing detainees anxiety and concern over sexual abuse.
[image or embed]
— Dave Byrnes (@djbyrnes1.bsky.social) October 31, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Alexa Van Brunt, director of the MacArthur Justice Center's Illinois office and lead counsel on the suit, stressed in a statement that "everyone, no matter their legal status, has the right to access counsel and to not be subject to horrific and inhumane conditions."
"Community members are being kidnapped off the streets, packed in hold cells, denied food, medical care, and basic necessities, and forced to sign away their legal rights," she said. "This is a vicious abuse of power and gross violation of basic human rights by ICE and the Department of Homeland Security. It must end now."
Chicago, the third-largest US city, has been a primary target of Trump's immigration crackdown and his attempt to deploy National Guard troops—the latter of which is before the US Supreme Court after being blocked by a federal judge in response to a suit filed by the Democrat-led city and state.
However, "the conditions at Broadview are not an anomaly," the complaint highlights. "Similar overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, lack of basic hygiene, insufficient food and water, inadequate sleeping conditions, substandard medical care, and extreme restrictions on attorney-client communications are pervasive at immigration facilities in New York, Baltimore, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Alexandria, and other cities throughout the country."
"Incommunicado detention is not tolerated in our democracy. Defendants have an obligation under the US Constitution and federal law to provide the people they detain with due process and to treat them with basic decency," the filing declares, imploring the district court to "order defendants to stop flouting the law inside Broadview."
"Accountability has begun, and we now hope the court will impose a meaningful sentence that reflects the severity of these crimes and the life that was lost," said attorneys for Massey's family.
A southern Illinois jury on Wednesday found Sean Grayson, a white ex-cop, guilty of second-degree murder for fatally shooting Sonya Massey in her Springfield home last year after the unarmed Black woman called 911 to report a suspected prowler.
"Grayson had been charged with three counts of first-degree murder," WBEZ noted. "The jury's decision to convict on a single lesser count of second-degree murder averted a potential lifetime sentence in prison that first-degree murder charges carried in some instances."
The former Sangamon County sheriff's deputy, who now faces up to 20 years behind bars, is set to be sentenced in January. Reactions to the verdict were mixed, with some saying that the jury didn't go far enough.
"Sonya Massey called for help and was killed for it. This isn't justice. Justice is Sonya Massey still being alive. This is merely accountability," said Nina Turner, a senior fellow at the Institute on Race, Power, and Political Economy. "Thinking about her family and loved ones today."
WBEZ reported that "Sonya Massey's mother, Donna Massey, had tears streaming down her face as the verdict was announced. Sonya Massey's teenaged daughter, Summer, broke down in sobs as she and her family exited the courtroom, screaming that Grayson should have been convicted of first-degree murder."
Massey's father, James Wilburn, described the outcome as a "miscarriage of justice," according to the Associated Press. Springfield civil rights activist Teresa Haley told reporters outside the courthouse: "She called for help and she was murdered in her own home... Second-degree murder—that is not right. That is not justice for anybody's family."
Nationally renowned attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, who represented Massey's family—which secured a $10 million settlement for her wrongful death earlier this year—said in a Wednesday statement that "while we believe Grayson's actions deserved a first-degree conviction, today's verdict is still a measure of justice for Sonya Massey."
"Accountability has begun, and we now hope the court will impose a meaningful sentence that reflects the severity of these crimes and the life that was lost," the lawyers said. "We will continue to fight for Sonya’s family and for reforms that protect everyone from unlawful use of force."
"The family extends deep gratitude to Sangamon County State's Attorney John C. Milhiser and his entire office," the pair added. "They handled the case with professionalism, transparency, and compassion. Prosecuting a police officer is never easy but this team did it with courage and integrity."
After Grayson murdered Massey on July 6, 2024, various reports exposed his history of misconduct. Wednesday's verdict came two months after Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed legislation named for Massey that requires police agencies to comprehensively review an applicant's employment history before making a job offer.
"When Sonya Massey feared for her safety, she did what anyone would do—she called law enforcement for help. Communities should be able to trust that when they call the police to their home, the responding officer will be well-trained and without a history of bias or misconduct," Pritzker said at the time. "Today, I sign Sonya Massey's Bill to help prevent these tragedies, to better equip law enforcement to keep our communities safe, and to continue working to build a justice system that protects all of our citizens."
Also welcoming the new law, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton said in August that "because of the strength that exists in Sonya Massey's family and the resilience that lives in the community she left behind, a bunch of individual people took their pain and made a difference. This is what happens when we meet each other with humanity."
In response to the verdict, Stratton declared: "Say her name: Sonya Massey. Sonya Massey's life mattered, and she should be alive today. Though nothing we ever say or do will bring Sonya back, today's verdict is one step closer on the long path towards justice."
"Her final moments were a devastating example of how a system meant to protect and serve can fail, but the accountability we saw today is a reminder to keep hope alive for a world where tragedies like Sonya's no longer occur," said Stratton, one of several Democrats running to replace retiring US Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).
"I offer my love and continuing prayers to her mother Donna, and Sonya's entire family as they relive the trauma of her passing yet remain determined to enact change," she added. "May we speak her name and remember her for the fullness of her life: Sonya Massey will not be forgotten."