The state of Illinois is launching a probe into what might have led to the immigration raid of a South Side apartment complex during the summer season of 2025, stating it believes potential housing discrimination could be involved. The Illinois Department of Human Rights is investigating whether a landlord or building management of an apartment complex tipped off Homeland Security, which then led to the raid in September 2025, during “Operation Midway Blitz.”
The raid, which took place in the middle of the night, involved Border Patrol officers, FBI agents, and other federal law enforcement officials. The officers dropped from helicopters and then stormed the building located at 7500 S. Southshore Drive. The Trump administration promptly released a high-quality video of the operation, which they said was to nab members of a violent Venezuelan gang known as Tren de Aragua.
A total of 37 individuals were taken into custody, though the Illinois state government says that DHS never provided them with an update concerning official charges or deportations. “So we were very suspicious for a long time that the landlord or the property manager was involved in calling for this raid, and really outraged by that, and the impact that doing that had on the people of the building,” Jonah Karsh with the Metropolitan Tenants Organization said of the raid.
According to ABC7 Chicago, a new filing reveals that Illinois officials are claiming that agents pulled tenants and their families, including children, outside and separated them based on race, ancestry, and national origin, leaving them zip-tied for hours. The building owner and landlord are now being accused of telling federal authorities about immigrants living in the building with the purpose of intimidating and coercing Black and Hispanic tenants to leave the complex.
Following the highly controversial raid, the 130-unit building was then deemed unfit for habitation. In December 2025, all the remaining residents were forced to vacate the premises. Earlier in the summer, tenants had been attempting to create a union, bringing a number of concerns about unsafe living conditions to advocates and the City Council Committee on Housing.
“We cannot normalize that when we are using federal enforcement as retaliation, when people may be behind rent and not being able to make payments,” Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, Chair of the Housing and Real Estate Committee, said about the situation. “That is what the due process, and that’s what it’s important that we get to the bottom of it so this does not become the norm.”
One individual living in the building spoke with local media saying that days before the raid took place, maintenance went through the facility and marked specific doors with an X, which they claim was to direct authorities which apartments to raid. “It wasn’t over everybody’s door, it wasn’t over my door, it wasn’t over my neighbor’s door, but it was over specific units, mainly squatting units or just vacant units,” the tenant explained.
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“If these allegations are substantiated, it appears that the landlord and property manager may have been using the federal agents as sort of a private eviction force,” Karsh stated. “If that can happen in this building, and it can happen somewhere else, yeah, I mean, it’s incredibly egregious.” Illinois officials are hoping the probe into the cause behind the raid will help warn other landlords about due process.
“That these illegal practices will not be tolerated and will be investigated and there will be accountability and justice,” Sigcho-Lopez remarked. Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker released a statement saying, “These allegations 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. State law prohibits discrimination, and that includes aiding or abetting conduct intended to interfere with housing and civil rights.”
A spokesperson for Homeland Security responded by saying, “This operation was performed in full compliance of the law. Given that two individuals of a Foreign Terrorist Organization were arrested, at a building they are known to frequent, we are limited on further information we can provide.”
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video