On the night of a military-style raid on a Chicago apartment complex, a Nigerian man living in room 215 woke up to a loud bang. Tolulope Akinslie got out of bed and saw heavily armed federal agents burst into his apartment. Then I felt the jaws of a large dog dig into my right ankle, knocking me to the floor. Akinsley screamed as the dog tore at the flesh on his ankles, thighs, hips and wrists.
In the hallway, agents took a Venezuelan mother and her 16-year-old son from their apartment at gunpoint to another unit. There, they witnessed agents hitting a man with what appeared to be the butt of a rifle and kicking another man who was lying on the floor. As he watched, her son began to hyperventilate.
Investigators described the Mexican man who lived in Unit 502 as “the other one,” before tying his hands behind his back and marching him out of the building. The officers told the man he was not welcome in the United States, took his Chicago ID, and tore it up in front of him.
The Sept. 30 raid by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has been well-documented, but new testimony from the 17 men, women, and children detained that night paints a violent and horrifying picture of how federal agents carried out the operation.
Their accounts are the basis of an administrative claim filed on their behalf Tuesday against DHS and several other federal agencies that participated in a midnight raid in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood.
Lawyers say the filing is the first step toward holding Tennant accountable and paying millions of dollars in damages for the actions of federal agents during the raid, a key moment in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Chicago. The agents allegedly did not have a warrant before entering the apartment.
“There was no reason to make me that way,” Akinsley said in an interview with ProPublica. He still has black scars on his body from the dog bite. He said the complaint is intended to send a message that officials are not above the law. “Everyone gets checks and balances,” he said. “People have to learn how to behave properly.”
The complaint alleges that federal agents caused physical injury, psychological trauma, “brutal detention” and economic loss. The plaintiffs, 15 of whom are immigrants and two of whom are U.S. citizens, are each seeking about $5 million, an amount that their lawyers believe is comparable to a similar court award in Chicago.
“No amount of damages can ever compensate for the trauma our clients experienced that night,” said Susana Sandoval Vargas, Midwest regional attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, a national Latino civil rights organization that represents some of the tenants. “It’s about holding the federal government accountable for its wrongdoing.”
“There was no reason to make me like that,” Tolulope Akinsley said. He still has a black scar on his leg from a dog bite on the night of the federal raid on his apartment. Jamie Kelter Davis, ProPublica
A DHS spokesperson said Wednesday that “the work was conducted in full compliance with the law” and that the tenant was not obligated to compensate. “DHS is taking appropriate and constitutional steps to uphold the rule of law and protect our employees and the public from dangerous, criminal, and illegal aliens.”
A spokesperson did not respond to questions about Akinsuri’s injuries. However, federal immigration officials said they gave Akinslee a verbal warning before entering the unit and believed he was trying to hide and evade arrest, according to documents filed in an unrelated lawsuit. Mr Akinsley said he was in a deep sleep and did not hear any warnings or the dog barking.
Within DHS, South Shore Tenants’ claims were also filed with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Border Protection, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They were also referred to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but neither responded to ProPublica’s questions.
An 18th claim was also filed on Tuesday on behalf of a tenant who was detained outside the building and lost property a week before the attack.
The Federal Tort Claims Act provides one of the only recourses for people who believe they have been harmed by the wrongful conduct of federal employees, allowing compensation for emotional distress, property damage, injury, or death. If the agency does not respond or settle the claim within six months, or denies the claim, the individual may file a lawsuit.
DHS did not say how many claims have been filed since last year. But there have already been dozens of cases across the country, with a pregnant woman in California saying she went into premature labor after being restrained and shackled. A Marine Corps veteran says he was tackled by federal agents during a protest in Oregon. A Chicago alderman said staffers who questioned her presence in a hospital emergency room taunted her, shoved her and handcuffed her. A DHS spokesperson said the three were obstructing or obstructing law enforcement operations.
Lawyers for the six men said in interviews that they expect more claims to come in the coming months. “We hope this case and others will serve as a check against the most aggressive and reckless forms of (immigration) enforcement,” said Mark Fleming, an attorney with the National Immigration Justice Center, who worked on the case with MALDEF, the University of Chicago Immigrant Rights Clinic, and the MacArthur Justice Center.
In the South Shore raid, about 300 heavily armed operatives stormed a dilapidated five-story building. Some people came out of Black Hawk helicopters. They threw flashbang grenades, broke down apartment doors and zip-tied the dozens of immigrants and Americans living in the building. The drama was filmed by a television crew accompanying the investigators.
The Trump administration has repeatedly justified its actions by claiming it had information that the Venezuelan gang Torren de Aragua had taken over the building and that there were guns, drugs and explosives inside. ProPublica journalists have interviewed 16 of the 37 migrants detained that night over the past few months, and have previously reported that there is little evidence to support the government’s claims. To date, federal prosecutors have not brought criminal charges against anyone arrested.
The tort claims detail what families, including one with young children, allegedly experienced during the raid. The Venezuelan mother and father were huddled in an apartment with their four children, the youngest a 1-year-old American citizen, who “screamed and cried in fear” as investigators pointed guns at them. Officials marched them outside in their pajamas and separated the father. One of the boys, now 9 years old, was reportedly having panic attacks.
DHS officials had previously maintained that the children were not zip-tied, but a 16-year-old boy who hyperventilated at the sight of agents attacking migrants said he and his mother were zip-tied outside the building. DHS called this a “complete lie” and said no children were handcuffed or restrained.
Records show that while the tenants were in custody, many of their belongings were stolen or lost, including shoes, a PlayStation, a smartphone, jewelry, a mattress, a backpack containing $1,300 in cash, and toys. Several people reported losing their cars.
South Shore apartment complex after attack ProPublica’s Jim Vondruska
This attack changed the lives of the tenants forever. Many of the migrants, mostly Venezuelans, have already been deported. Many Americans living in the building, including those receiving public housing subsidies, were forced to relocate late last year after a judge ordered the building closed due to safety concerns and code violations.
Jose Miguel Jimenez López, a 42-year-old Mexican man who lives on the fifth floor, worked as a welder in Chicago before the attack disrupted his life. Jimenez said he is not a gang member or involved in any criminal activity. So even if the agents pointed a gun at him, tied his hands, and told him to go back to his country, he thought they would let him go. they didn’t.
Over the next four months, he was shuttled between detention facilities in Indiana, Kentucky and Louisiana, before being released at the Mexican border in February. He currently lives in his childhood home in the state of Guanajuato. “My friends and family are still there, but they’re afraid,” he said in an interview. “I don’t want to see them go through what I had to go through.”
His claims detailed harsh conditions at the facility, including a lack of food and water, constant air conditioning during the winter, and little time outdoors. Some were sickened by the water they drank, some lacked proper medical care, and others lived in constant fear of never seeing their loved ones again. A DHS spokesperson said the “safety and well-being of detainees is our top priority” and that detainees have access to medical care and nutritious meals.
“ICE agents treated him and other detainees as if they were subhuman and not entitled to basic dignity and respect,” Jimenez said in his claim. He said he lost $3,000 worth of property, including a television and a drill.
Meanwhile, a Venezuelan woman and her 16-year-old son were transferred to the Dilley Immigration Detention Center in Texas. They spent three weeks there before being released to the United States under electronic monitoring. The woman is currently suffering from sleep problems and her son is seeing a psychiatrist to help him process what happened that night.
Akinsley, 42, said he was grateful to be alive. A devout Christian, he finds peace through reading the Bible and praying. However, while in custody he had so many nightmares that he had to see a psychiatrist. He dreamed that a dog was barking behind him. I’m chasing him. I’m talking to him.
“What really bothered me was when the German shepherd chased me and I was running,” Akinsley said. “My German shepherd was trying to bite me. I was really scared because I didn’t want him to bite me again.”
After he was released in March, the nightmare stopped. The government acknowledged that he and others may have been illegally arrested. Akinsley, who has lived in Chicago since 2007, has no criminal history, according to an arrest report the night he was taken into custody.
He is now back in Chicago, staying with friends and doing odd jobs. It is difficult to stand for long periods of time, and the pain may radiate from the lower back to the right leg. He used to be an avid soccer player, but said he can’t kick the ball or run like he used to. He is worried that his injuries will never heal, but he cannot afford to see a doctor.
