Chicago and Evanston Show the Way
We Will Take the Win
Rarely have I been so proud of Chicago, the city of my birth, as people took to the streets recently to protest the brutal, unlawful, and shameful tactics used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to round up immigrants, interfere with a free press, and attack protesters and reporters with teargas, rubber rounds, and flash bangs.
They used camera phones, whistles, signs, songs, apps, and widespread demonstrations to call the nation’s attention to the Trump administration’s reckless, provocative and cruel crackdown on undocumented immigrants. Most of the immigrants arrested and detained were not violent criminals or the worst of the worst, as Trump promised. They were gardeners, housekeepers, and day workers contributing to the economy. Many were harshly detained and removed, leaving families behind.
Residents of Chicago, Evanston, Broadview, and other suburbs in the area have shown the nation how to stand up to an authoritarian regime, champion free speech, resist dishonest government conduct, and demonstrate the power of protest and civil disobedience when they witness an unAmerican campaign like this that in many instances violated the Constitution. [source: WGN News]
The media in Chicago has been impressive and dogged in their pursuit of the truth to tell the full story of abuses of power that the Department of Homeland Security unleashed in the Windy City and environs. President Donald Trump’s so-called “Operation Midway Blitz” crackdown on immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally was often conducted in haphazard and improper ways, and Chicagoans who overwhelmingly demonstrated nonviolent resistance, have sent most of them packing.
The Chicago Headline Club this week announced they had agreed with fellow plaintiffs to drop the lawsuit against the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), given that “we reined in the unlawful interference and attacks on reporters doing their jobs” as ICE agents cracked down on protesters, religious figures and other demonstrators.
"We took the issue to a federal judge, and she outlined in great detail how federal agents violated the basic rights of reporters, religious figures, and protesters," said the board of the Chicago Headline Club (CHC)) in a news release on Tuesday, December 2. "We won a great victory for press freedom in the U.S. District Court.”
The preliminary injunction Judge Sara Ellis issued exposed the truth about the wrongful tactics of federal agents — tactics chronicled extensively through the terrific efforts of Chicago-area reporters. Shortly after her injunction, Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino and his team left town.
"To no one's surprise, the federal government appealed, and the lower court's preliminary injunction was stayed in the meantime," the CHC board said. “Given that the Border Patrol and other federal agencies have reduced their presence for now, we don't see a need to keep the court fight going. We'll take the win. We are fully prepared to go to court again if federal agents return in force or if any activities of federal agents escalate into violations of our constitutional rights."
Republicans and Democrats alike generally agree that the country must get its borders and immigration system under control. But this administration’s approach was beyond the pale, and Chicagoans for now have helped usher many ICE agents out and outlasted others as raids and arrests diminish. Yes, up to 4,000 immigrants were arrested since the operation began in September, federal officials have said, but they have only identified publicly about 120 with criminal records that range from murder to crossing the border illegally. [source: The Washington Post]
Meanwhile, federal judges like Ellis have called out and ruled sternly and strongly against the brutal, wrongful and dishonest behavior of many federal agents and ICE officials.
On November 21, federal appeals court temporarily halted the preliminary injunction issued by Judge Ellis last month restricting the use by federal agents of physical force and chemical agents like pepper balls and tear gas unless it was needed by agents to prevent “an immediate threat.” The appeals court called the injunction “overbroad" and “too prescriptive,” and DHS officials called the appellate ruling “a win for the rule of law and for the safety of every law enforcement officer.” [source: AP News]
What follows is an op-ed I wrote that ran on October 20, 2025 in the Chicago Tribune addressing many of these complaints. It bears repeating, along with a shout out to the brave reporters across ChicagoLand who continue to tell the truth and report about the unlawful and unnecessary tactics displayed in many of the raids and arrests.
Originally published Oct. 20, 2025, Chicago Tribune
Judge’s order a win for Illinois journalists and free speech.
Amid the lawless and militarized assaults on Chicago-area immigrants, reporters, protesters, elected officials, mothers, children, old men and clergy, there were notable victories in recent days for journalists and free speech.
U.S. District Court Judge Sara L. Ellis issued a temporary restraining order Oct. 9 forbidding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agents from using tear gas, pepper spray and weapons against journalists and peaceful protesters who pose no threat to them. Responding to a lawsuit filed by Chicago-area media and individual protesters, Ellis also enjoined federal agents from “dispersing, arresting, threatening to arrest, threatening or using physical force against” journalists, unless they are committing crimes.
People run as federal officers use tear gas and smoke while neighbors protest near the 3900 block of South Kedzie Avenue on Oct. 4, 2025, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
It may seem self-absorbed to focus on the plight of journalists as President Donald Trump unleashes chaos and disorder on Chicago and other American cities, but First Amendment rights are also in the crosshairs. Polls show Americans are increasingly concerned these rights are being restricted and pessimistic that free speech will be protected.
Reporters face threats from critics, accusations of “fake news” and vitriol from a president who repeatedly has called them “the enemy of the people” whenever he dislikes the message. It is worth reminding the public that media are armed only with pens and press passes, recorders and cameras, and all too often risk their personal safety to bring home the news.
The ruling by Ellis may be temporary, lasting until further review, but it’s a major win for the press and the public’s right to know exactly what actions and mayhem are being committed by masked, armed and camo-clad federal forces who descended on the Chicago area recently with impunity.
Journalists trying to do their jobs covering protests near ICE facilities in Broadview and around Chicago report being repeatedly tear-gassed by federal agents — in violation of their constitutional rights to free speech.
At a hearing Thursday, Ellis said she was “profoundly concerned” ICE already may have violated her court order setting restrictions on the use of tear gas and crowd control weapons. Ellis said she would order agents to wear body cameras and demanded that Chicago ICE Field Office Director Russell Hott appear before her Monday to explain these alleged temporary restraining order violations.
The order confirms Chicago media were well justified in filing suit Oct. 6 against the president and his top officials, led by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The Trump administration is waging an apparent war on undocumented immigrants and brutalizing innocent Americans and journalists with dangerous riot-control methods.
It’s clear those methods are doing more to start riots than stop them from happening. Gov. JB Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson should be commended for using the full extent of the law to protect Chicagoans and free speech.
The Chicago Headline Club Foundation launched an “Essential Equipment Fund” to help independent and freelance journalists “report safely and effectively on issues of public interest” by providing safety gear such as vests, respirators, goggles and helmets, as well as clear press identification and reflective markings, field accessories and more.
The legal complaint was filed on Oct. 6 by the Chicago Headline Club, Block Club Chicago, Chicago Newspaper Guild Local 34071, broadcasters in the NABET/CWA Local 54041 and individual protesters. The lawsuit aims to defend the right of peaceful protesters to demonstrate and of journalists “to observe, record, and report on the federal agents’ activities and the public’s demonstrations against them.”
Intimidating journalists is a tactic right out of the authoritarian playbook intended to threaten them, silence them, and chill free speech and news coverage that the president doesn’t like. Chicago-area journalists are having none of it.
One of the main peaceful and lawful responses that Pritzker has encouraged against unwelcome federal intrusion is for citizens and others with cameras on their phones to record the abuses of power and excessive force that federal immigration agents have unleashed.
DHS officials argue that their federal agents have been impeded and faced hostility, but the arguments on the DHS website appear hollow compared with the facts on the ground. “Under Secretary Noem’s leadership,” one post reads, “the hardworking men and women of DHS are fulfilling President Trump’s promise to Make America Safe Again by removing violent criminal illegal aliens.”
Not so much. Illinois feels less safe since the masked agents started grabbing people off the streets.
Republicans and Democrats largely agree that undocumented immigrants who are violent criminals should be deported, but DHS hurts its credibility by going after undocumented immigrants who have not committed crimes. Then there is the now-infamous night when agents rappelled from a Black Hawk helicopter to join others in a violent, militarized raid on a Chicago apartment building in the South Shore neighborhood. DHS officials said the raid was aimed at arresting Venezuelan gang members, but witnesses said agents rounded up everyone in the building. The spectacle, posted in ominous DHS videos with dramatic music, seemed more like Trump’s version of an extremist reality show than an honest attempt at arresting “the worst of the worst.”
Polls show most Americans now disapprove of the aggressive methods DHS is using to round up and deport immigrants while a slim majority disapprove of Trump’s handling of immigration. Only about 40% of those arrested in the first five months of his ICE-led crackdown were reported to be convicted criminals.
Journalists and citizens need to keep documenting these controversial events.
U.S. District Judge April Perry recently issued another restraining order temporarily blocking the deployment by the Trump administration of National Guard troops in Illinois after local and state officials objected to the federal militarized crackdown on immigration.
It is a welcome roadblock to attempts by an authoritarian president to take control in Democrat-led cities and states, misuse the military to turn these cities into “training grounds,” terrorize citizens, scare voters and punish his enemies.
Trump may have declared an illegal war on Chicago and, in effect, the American people, but he won’t succeed in suppressing dissent, as long as citizens have the courage to protest, voters to vote their conscience and journalists to report the facts.
– Storer Rowley
Storer H. Rowley is a former national editor and foreign correspondent for the Tribune and a member of the board of the Chicago Headline Club Foundation. The views expressed here are his own.