ProPublica has sued the U.S. Department of Education
W/ @jsmithrichards.bsky.social
www.propublica.org/article/educ...
02.03.2026 16:55
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ProPublica has sued the U.S. Department of Education
W/ @jsmithrichards.bsky.social
www.propublica.org/article/educ...
So proud of my long-time reporting partner and friend @stacystclair.bsky.social
This is great for the Tribune and great for Chicago!
www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/06/t...
Last night, @repbonamici.bsky.social and 70 other House members sent a letter to Linda McMahon and Kimberly Richey, the head of the Office for Civil Rights, urging them to address the backlog of discrimination complaints.
"We are deeply troubled by these reports, and so is the public," it said.
New documents show a raid on a South Shore apartment complex was prompted by claims that immigrants were squatting in units — not that it had been taken over by Tren de Aragua — and was blessed by the complex's owner, @melissa-sanchez.bsky.social & @jodiscohen.bsky.social report for @propublica.org
BREAKING: The Trump administration repeatedly said the aggressive apartment raid in Chicago last fall was prompted by intel on a gang takeover.
New docs show the real motivation was to get alleged squatters. And the landlord and manager helped them.
www.propublica.org/article/chic...
Note from the editors: ProPublica is publishing the names of the two federal immigration agents involved in the fatal shooting of Minnesota protester Alex Pretti. We believe there are few investigations that deserve more sunlight and public scrutiny than this one, in which two masked agents fired 10 shots at Pretti as he lay on the ground after being pepper-sprayed. The Department of Justice said it is investigating the incident, but the names of the two agents have been withheld from Congress and from state and local law enforcement. The policy of shielding officers’ identities, particularly after a public shooting, is a stark departure from standard law enforcement protocols, according to lawmakers, state attorneys general and former federal officials. Such secrecy, in our view, deprives the public of the most fundamental tool for accountability.
A note from our editors:
BREAKING: The two federal immigration agents who fired on Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti are identified in government records as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez.
I’ve been in Minneapolis the last few days reporting on the ICE raids happening across the city. This morning federal agents shot and killed a man, identified by the AP as Alex Pretti. This marks the third shooting by federal agents since Operation Metro Surge started in Minnesota last month.
ADDITIONAL STORY TODAY: What the Trump administration’s videos from the midnight Chicago raid *didn’t* show:
www.propublica.org/article/chic...
16/ I hope you will read the full story. It was a team effort by @melissa-sanchez.bsky.social, @tchristianmiller.bsky.social @mariamelba.bsky.social, Sebastian Rotella, me and many more, part of a collaboration between @propublica.org/ @frontlinepbs.bsky.social
www.propublica.org/article/chic...
15/ A Chicago judge decided the building was too unsafe. She appointed a new property manager and said the tenants should be relocated. All the people who lived at 7500 S. South Shore Drive when the raid began — immigrants and U.S. citizens — may soon be gone.
14/ She was among the tenants who attended a recent online court hearing about the future of the building. Tenants and city inspectors described ongoing horrible conditions: mice and gnats, exposed wires, leaking pipes, squatters.
13/ We met a woman living in a 3rd floor apartment whose legs are amputated. She relies on a wheelchair. The building elevators were broken — again — last week, and she said she is unable to leave the building. “I am trying to move out,” she said.
12/ As for the U.S. citizens living in the building? Greg Bovino, the Border Patrol commander of the Chicago operation, said it would make their lives safer. But tenants told us that building conditions have only gotten worse.
11/ The Department of Homeland Security did not answer our questions about the raid. In a statement, it said the operation was “performed in full compliance of the law.”
10/ A woman and her three young daughters are in a shelter in Chicago while her husband is detained in Kentucky. She has been given a few months to get U.S. passports for two of her kids, who are citizens, before they leave the country.
9/ Some are now back in Venezuela. Others remain detained. Several have described being hungry, lonely and sick. At least one man has been diagnosed with tuberculosis since being locked up, his attorney told me this week.
8/ We have observed immigration court hearings for 8 of the men. Not once has a government attorney mentioned any pending criminal charges or membership in a gang. Judges have granted some voluntary departure — reserved for people not considered a safety threat.
7/ During a video call with Jean Carlos Antonio Colmenares Pérez, from a jail in Kentucky, he showed us the room where he was being held with other men. There were 10 sets of bunk beds and 2 toilets. One of the toilets didn’t work. Video from @frontlinepbs.bsky.social:
6/ She spoke with Ludwing Jeanpier Parra Pérez, whom the government identified as a gang member. He denied it. Our review showed arrests for drug possession and driving w/o a license, charges that were dropped. “I’m very worried. I don’t know why they are saying that,” he said.
5/ We sent letters to the men detained in Indiana and in Kentucky, where some were transferred. They began calling. Over the past few weeks, @propublica.org reporter @melissa-sanchez.bsky.social has communicated in Spanish with a dozen Venezuelans taken that night.
4/ We learned that at least 17 men were bused to a county jail in Indiana — 3 ½ hours away. Records show they were booked by noon the day of the raid. The women and children were taken to an immigration processing center in suburban Chicago.
3/ So far, we have identified 21 of them. That allowed us to examine their backgrounds and search for any criminal history. There are limitations to this kind of search because there is no universal database of charges or convictions, but this is what we found:
2/ Their names were not made public, yet @dhsgov said it had detained terrorist gang members and called the operation a success. We @propublica.org set out to determine whether that was true. To do that, we needed to figure out who they were.
1/ I’d like to share what’s happened since Sept. 30, the night of the most dramatic raid of the Trump administration’s Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago. Under the cover of darkness, 37 immigrants were taken from an apartment complex …🧵
Remember the immigration raid on the apartment complex in Chicago almost two months ago? The one with the Black Hawk helicopter and federal agents rappelling on ropes? @ProPublica decided to take a deeper look. We found little evidence to support the government’s claims. 🧵
We at @propublica.org looked into the immigration raid that happened in Chicago's South Shore in late September. We found many of the Venezuelans detained in that raid, looked into them, and spoke to several of them.
You probably saw videos of a nighttime raid in Chicago. Agents rappelling from a helicopter, bursting down doors, questioning brown-skinned immigrants.
We investigated -- and found little evidence to support the government’s claims about Tren de Aragua.
www.propublica.org/article/chic...
"Federal prosecutors have not filed criminal charges against anyone who was arrested. Nor have they revealed any evidence showing that two immigrants arrested in the building belonged to the Tren de Aragua gang, or even provided their names."
In Sept, @homelandgov.bsky.social raided a Chicago complex and took dozens of immigrants — under the cover of darkness.
Officials called it a victory against terrorism.
A team @propublica.org set out to check the claims, and find and talk with the Venezuelans:
www.propublica.org/article/chic...
