Were there coordinated ICE raids in Chicago that uncovered large quantities of drugs and firearms?

1. What happened: coordinated, high-intensity ICE operations

Multiple outlets report that federal immigration and related tactical teams conducted coordinated raids and enforcement sweeps in Chicago neighborhoods in 2025, including targeted night operations at a large South Shore apartment complex and street-roundup style actions across neighborhoods such as Little Village and Cicero. Coverage describes a broader programmatic campaign in the city instigated by the administration’s immigration policy shift and labeled operations like “Operation Midway Blitz” ^{[1] [2] [4]}.

2. How dramatic were the tactics and community reaction

News accounts describe militarized tactics—agents rappelling from buildings, use of chemical irritants or tear gas, broken doors, smashed windows, zip-tied hands—and dramatic confrontations that drew large community mobilization: residents locking doors, surrounding ICE vehicles, blowing whistles and physically confronting officers to prevent arrests. Protesters and local leaders framed the enforcement as a “brutal escalation,” while city officials warned of and prepared for tactical teams and “mini‑tanks” ^{[5] [3] [6] [4]}.

3. Arrests and who was affected

Reporting documents arrests of dozens in Chicago-area operations and names specific incidents where even U.S. citizens and staff of a city alderman were detained. One account says federal officials reported arrests of 13 people at one event near a detention facility; another recounts mass detentions during the South Shore apartment raid and follow-up prosecutions tied to alleged Tren de Aragua members—though local reporting notes limited evidence linking them to violence in Chicago ^{[7] [1] [2]}.

4. Claims about drugs and firearms: what the sources say

The provided reporting emphasizes immigration enforcement goals—removal and detention—not the large-scale seizure of narcotics or weapons. Coverage mentions authorities saying they were searching for alleged gang members in some raids, and the FBI’s presence supporting targeted immigration operations, but none of the cited pieces foreground large quantities of drugs or firearms as a documented outcome of the Chicago raids. Available sources do not mention widespread seizures of drugs and guns as a central result of these Chicago operations ^{[1] [2] [8]}.

5. Competing narratives and political context

Federal officials framed operations as targeting “the worst of the worst” criminal noncitizens; local leaders and advocates characterized them as indiscriminate, traumatizing and intended to terrorize communities into self‑deportation. Journalists and advocates also report that ICE and DHS have at times declined to comment or defended agents’ actions, producing divergent public accounts and fueling protests and legal pushback ^{[4] [2] [6]}.

6. Data gaps and transparency problems

Multiple sources note that agency reporting and public data about enforcement have been limited—ICE stopped publishing certain arrest data, and journalists, community groups and court documents have had to fill gaps. This lack of official transparency makes it difficult to verify some operational claims, including detailed inventories of contraband seized during raids ^{[9] [1]}.

7. Consequences on residents and local services

Reporting documents tangible harms to residents: displaced tenants ordered to vacate buildings tied to the raids, personal property damage and trauma from nighttime operations that included children, and reduced school attendance as parents feared encounters with enforcement. Community organizations have had to mobilize rapid-response networks and offer alternate transportation for students ^{[10] [11] [1]}.

8. Bottom line for your question

Yes—there were coordinated, high‑intensity ICE and allied federal operations in Chicago that included large apartment raids, neighborhood sweeps and confrontations that produced arrests and significant community disruption ^{[1] [2]}. However, the sources provided do not substantiate the specific claim that those raids revealed or resulted in the seizure of “large quantities of drugs and firearms”; reporting instead centers on immigration detentions, alleged searches for gang members and the political and social fallout from the tactics used ^{[1] [8] [2]}.

Limitations: this analysis relies only on the supplied reporting; the agencies’ internal records or inventory lists of confiscated evidence are not included in the sources provided and thus cannot be confirmed here ^[9].