Frozen with fear: ICE raids and their abusive tactics
Hannah Chen | Conant Crier Conant students at ICE walkout on February 12, 2026
CBS News reported on a viral video from October 2025, where apparent federal agents stop a sedan on a residential street in Hoffman Estates, pulling 18-year-old Evelyn from the passenger side of the vehicle. As the scene plays out, a Hoffman Estates patrol vehicle appears briefly before pulling away. CBS News reports that while the direct role of Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents in the incident could not be verified, the Hoffman Estates police confirmed they were in the general area during that time. The incident occurred amidst a larger federal immigration enforcement campaign the Department of Homeland Security initiated in Illinois.
While ICE’s goal to enforce U.S. immigration law is not necessarily wrong, the way they have approached the task is utterly inhumane.
On September 6, 2025, the DHS announced on their website, “DHS launched Operation Midway Blitz in honor of [Katie] Abraham, an innocent American girl murdered in a drunk driving hit-and-run car wreck caused by criminal illegal alien Julio Cucul-Bol, in sanctuary Illinois.” According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 34 Americans are killed from drunk driving every day. Using an unfortunately common tragedy as a motive for widescale raids seems like propaganda to portray immigrants as criminals taking advantage of sanctuary policies and obstructing the lives of Americans. Additionally, the use of words like “aliens” to describe immigrants further dehumanizes them by suggesting they are invaders rather than members of our community.
This view of immigrants is disheartening, especially because many apply this sentiment to all immigrants, not just those who have committed crimes. According to a September 28 Chicago Sun Times article, “At least three U.S. citizens have been detained and 27 people have been arrested without warrants or probable cause and in violation of an existing consent decree,” a 2022 federal settlement that limits when ICE agents can make warrantless arrests in the Chicago area. The same article also describes one person getting ready for work in Elgin when they saw “…‘red lasers all over the kitchen and the front door’ before an explosion suddenly rang out, signaling the start of a raid.” This kind of treatment toward civilians is alarming and erodes the sense of safety people feel in their own homes and communities.
After reading various stories of how residents of Hoffman Estates and surrounding communities like Elk Grove and Elgin have been harassed by federal ICE agents, we believe ICE’s authority should be limited.
Protesters too have been targeted, and several lawsuits exist alleging that the government’s treatment of them has violated their constitutional rights. Protestors have been charged or physically abused without clear reason. One example of this is the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a man who protested at Columbia University and was arrested by federal agents. Although a judge ruled that details of Khalil’s detainment were unconstitutional, an immigration judge in Louisiana signed an order to send him to Algeria.
ICE states that its officers have the right to use “non-deadly force” when the immigration officer “reasonably believes that such force is warranted.” Though ICE does have published guidelines for enforcement actions, the vagueness of these terms has enabled officers to capture whoever they suspect, including children, and separate them from their families for an indefinite amount of time. Without clearer guidelines or language, some ICE officers can become vigilantes. The tragic deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota at the hands of immigration enforcement officers are proof that vague guidelines are a danger not only to undocumented immigrants but also to American citizens.
Another concern is how the government is using personal data. Our personal information, from our home addresses to immigration status, is used by ICE to target enforcement actions. DHS claims that it finds targets of investigation from a network of local, state, and federal databases. However, according to the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), other sources ICE agents use to find immigrants have questionable origins: gang databases, jail records, even biometrics. The NILC states, “[The GangNET database] contains notoriously inaccurate information about gangs and alleged gangs, including photos of individuals alleged to be gang members or associates.” These information-gathering tactics often raise concerns about an individual’s right to personal privacy, which is protected by the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
As our Constitution Preamble says, domestic tranquility and public safety are indispensable aspects of a nation. Nevertheless, ICE has ended up fearmongering and dismantling our sense of unity across the nation. But the more we speak out, the faster we can bring back what made America great. After all, nearly every family in this country can trace its story back to someone who arrived here from someplace else. The United States is a nation for the immigrants, by the immigrants, and of the immigrants, and we hold these values firmly.
