As federal agents ramp up Chicago immigration crackdown, more elected officials caught in crosshairs
Source: AP
Updated 5:02 PM EDT, October 23, 2025
CHICAGO (AP) — Hoan Huynh was going door-to-door informing businesses of ramped up immigration enforcement on Chicago’s North Side when the Democratic state lawmaker got an activist notification of federal agents nearby. He followed agents’ vehicles and then honked to warn others when he was pulled over. Masked federal officers pointed a gun at him and a staffer, attempted to break his car window and took photos of their faces, before issuing a warning, he recounted.
“We were non-violent,” Huynh said of Tuesday’s incident, part of which was captured on video. “We identified ourselves as an elected official and my hands were visible.”
As the Trump administration intensifies an immigration crackdown across the nation’s third-largest city and its suburbs, elected officials in the Democratic stronghold have been increasingly caught in tense encounters with federal agents. Members of the Chicago City Council and their staff, state legislators and congressional candidates report being threatened, handcuffed and detained in recent days.
The tense political atmosphere comes as President Donald Trump has vowed to expand military deployments and jail Gov. JB Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson over immigration policies the Republican claims protect criminals. But Illinois Democrats deem the actions as scare tactics and a calculated acceleration. The clashes, amid constant arrests of immigrants and protesters, have emerged as a top campaign issue in Illinois’ March primary where an unusually high number of congressional seats are open.
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