Chicago, there’s a new horror story on your midnight airwaves. A carefully planned ICE raid on a South Shore apartment building took place early on September 30. Blackhawk helicopters, flashbangs, and scenes of broken doors that sound more like dystopian thrillers than public safety operations have all been reported, along with claims that the personnel dragged people (including children) from beds.
However, amid the shock, footage circulated with a disturbing accusation: that ICE carried out a racial roundup, handcuffing n—- children, lining up immigrants in one van and Black residents in another. A Twitter/X flurry followed. But is there any truth to this viral claim?
Federal officials said the raid was part of a joint operation involving ICE, CBP, the FBI, and the ATF, targeting people allegedly linked to drug, weapons, or immigration offenses, including suspected members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and their associates.
DHS took 37 people into custody. They say that people with ties to Tren de Aragua are known to “frequent” this location (South Shore, close to 75th and South Shore Drive). Yet local journalists and critics point out that there is little to no official proof linking the arrested to the gang. The building’s residents and neighbors tell a different story. They reported broken interior walls and smashed doors. According to many, citizens were arrested, restrained in zip ties, asked for proof of identity, and questioned without explanation.
Some witnesses claimed that children were pulled naked from their beds, separated from their mothers, and packed into vans. One neighbor claims that during the operation, an agent said, “f— them kids.” “They had the Black people in one van, and the immigrants in another van,” said an eyewitness. DHS and ICE have not yet given clear proof that agents separated or undressed children or that those held were actually segregated according to their race when ICE took them away in the vans.
South Shore residents returned to their ransacked apartments after an ICE raid. “It looks like hell.” https://t.co/nlVXeUqnLv pic.twitter.com/z6TIgKSk9E
— Block Club Chicago (@BlockClubCHI) October 2, 2025
Instead of discussing the raid’s approach, the official statements focus on who they targeted and the number of people arrested. But let’s look at the main viral claim: ICE singled out Black people, stripped children, and residents were split based on race into vans. What’s been verified so far: residents and children reported harsh treatment and physical aggression during the operation. A few Americans were held and questioned without apparent explanation. Videos and neighbor accounts indicate physical force, flashbangs, multiple vehicles, and huge crowds.
What is still unknown or in dispute is that DHS has not given any verified proof that children were naked when taken or that being separated from their families was intentional. Officials have not confirmed van segregation by race and immigration status. Although the claim that ICE acted as a “Gestapo” experiment is convincing in tone, it has not yet been backed up with legal or factual evidence.
So, while the story already has the darkness of state power, the most inflammatory allegations aren’t substantiated, at least not publicly. Immigration enforcement is not the only issue. The phrase “Black people in one van, immigrants in another” conjures up images of centuries of racial segregation, systematic targeting, and terror in a nation and city ravaged by racial injustice. These claims have gone viral within that context. Likewise, images of militarized raids in Black neighborhoods feed into broader narratives about racialized policing, especially amid the shutdown and the revived ‘tough on crime’ rhetoric. That makes the claim urgent for scrutiny, but doesn’t make it false.
Verified horrors, eyewitness trauma, and explosive, unverified claims contribute to the viral narrative.
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