What's Really Happening in Chicago

"Early in September, Donald Trump shared an image, presumably generated by A.I., of himself crouching in front of the Chicago skyline, overlaid with the words "Chipocalypse Now." Part of the President's post read, "Chicago about to find out why it's called the Department of WAR." Two days later, the Administration announced that it was launching Operation Midway Blitz, meant to target "criminal illegal aliens terrorizing Americans" in and around the city."

"In the Broadview neighborhood, protesters have organized demonstrations outside an ICE facility for weeks. In a new report from the city, Geraldo Cadava speaks with one protester, a Presbyterian pastor, who says he's witnessed federal agents shooting protesters with pepper balls, dousing them with pepper spray, throwing flash-bangs, and wrestling people to the ground. The pastor, who has attended political demonstrations for decades, says, "I've never seen the brutality, just completely unprovoked, that I've seen at Broadview.""

Federal agents and military forces have been deployed to U.S. cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles, Portland, and Washington, D.C. Early in September, Donald Trump shared an image, presumably generated by A.I., of himself crouching in front of the Chicago skyline overlaid with the words "Chipocalypse Now" and warned Chicago would "find out why it's called the Department of WAR." Two days after the post, Operation Midway Blitz was launched to target "criminal illegal aliens terrorizing Americans," and about fifteen hundred people in the area have since been arrested by ICE. Protesters, activists, religious leaders, and residents have organized sustained resistance across Chicago, including prolonged demonstrations outside an ICE facility in Broadview. Eyewitness accounts describe federal agents using pepper balls, pepper spray, flash-bangs, and physical force against demonstrators. Immigration attorneys are working to secure due process, delay removals, and slow perceived authoritarian measures within the legal system. The pattern of federal intervention has included National Guard deployments and attempted troop sends to multiple cities.

Read at The New Yorker