Chicago police release redacted video of peripheral role in controversial South Shore immigration raid

Sam Charles, Caroline Kubzansky and Rebecca Johnson, Chicago Tribune on Oct 17, 2025

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CHICAGO — Newly released — though heavily redacted — video footage released by Chicago police sheds new light on the arrest of a U.S. citizen the night that federal immigration agents stormed a troubled South Shore apartment building as part of the immigration crackdown known as “Operation Midway Blitz.”

The body-worn camera footage, released to the Tribune on Friday through a public records request, offers a small window into the Sept. 30 military-style enforcement operation some have suggested was largely made for cameras and the Trump administration’s social media feeds. But the video itself was blurred by the Chicago Police Department, further limiting its value in showing what occurred that night.

It also backs up CPD’s assertion in the first days after the raid that its officers did not participate in the mission itself. Officers instead arrived at the building to collect 46-year-old Nathan Howard, whom federal officials had detained alongside about three dozen others and found to have a warrant.

The three videos released to the Tribune total more than 76 minutes in length, though all are visually redacted so that no faces are recognizable. A spokesperson for CPD said the blurred video and sometimes-muted audio was within the department’s records release policy and done for expediency as the CPD receives scores of requests for video footage.

Less redacted footage may be made available after further consultation with CPD’s FOIA office, the department said in a letter to the Tribune.

In the footage, a responding South Chicago (4th) District officer asks a Border Patrol agent — initially identified as the arresting officer — about how the man was taken into custody.

“Just tell me who handcuffed ’em and what time frame,” the CPD officer said.

“Everybody was detained by the special ops guys and brought here to a prisoner housing area,” the agent replied. “I took his information, I determined he was a U.S. citizen, I ran his info and he has a bench warrant.”

Cook County court records show that Howard missed a court date for a case stemming from charges that he’d been selling crack cocaine a block away from the building in April 2022. Cook County Judge Laura Ayala-Gonzalez had signed a warrant for his arrest Sept 23, records show.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement that agents ultimately arrested at least 37 people in the early morning raid at the building, located at 7500 S. South Shore Drive.

Residents reported that agents indiscriminately kicked down doors, dragging out residents regardless of their immigration status. Others said their hands were zip-tied while helicopters flew overhead.

Various constitutional law experts say these actions may have violated their Fourth Amendment rights.

Meanwhile, DHS said it was a “targeted operation” that resulted in the arrests of members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and other “violent criminals.” It said some of the people it detained were involved in weapons crimes and drug trafficking and distribution. The Tribune hasn’t been able to independently verify these accusations.

DHS has also posted various videos from that night on social media, including one from two days after the raid of agents entering the building. Another, more recent post, seemingly shows body cam footage of agents knocking down doors with Rihanna’s “S&M” playing in the background.

President Donald Trump’s administration has said it is targeting the “worst of the worst” during its latest immigration in Chicago, called “Operation Midway Blitz.”

The tactics used by federal immigration officers during the raid faced a wave of backlash from Democratic politicians across the Chicago area, including Mayor Brandon Johnson who called it a “show of authoritarianism.” A Chicago federal judge also cited the raid during a recent ruling where he found that ICE had made “warrantless arrests” before and during Operation Midway Blitz.

Howard appeared in court later in the morning of Sept. 30, court records show, and was released pending trial on electronic monitoring and a 7 p.m. curfew. However, a pretrial monitoring report shows that officials had not been able to reach him beginning Oct. 9. After he he missed a status hearing Friday morning. Ayala-Gonzalez signed a new warrant for his arrest.

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