Armed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents clandestinely committing warrantless abductions of minorities was top of mind at the community policing meeting for Beat 912 at the McKinley Park field house on November 12, 2025.
“People are afraid to come out of their houses,” said Community Policing Officer Carlos Aldana of the Chicago Police Department’s 9th District. “A lot of businesses are losing money … primarily grocery and liquor stores.”
“Hopefully we can get back to normal soon,” he said.
Midway Blitz
The abductions were purportedly part of ICE’s Midway Blitz campaign led by its chief commandant and border patrol commander, Gregory Bovino, following U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement in early September 2025 that he was ordering his Department of War to invade Chicago.
Since that time, McKinley Park and other Southwest Side neighborhoods have suffered from the extrajudicial acts of anonymous, masked, violent and heavily armed storm troopers — supposedly ICE agents — who have detained individuals without due process and threatened and attacked activists, press, elected officials and community members with lethal weapons and chemical agents, despite direct judicial orders enjoining ICE from these activities.
Rapid Response Team
ICE acts as a secret police and provides no information on its local activities. However, the Southwest Side Rapid Response Team, a volunteer collective that tracks ICE in the community, listed the following incidents in the McKinley Park neighborhood:
- September 13, 2025
Around 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., gunmen abducted two people at West 37th Street and South Ashland Avenue before absconding with them northbound.
- September 17, 2025
Around 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., gunmen abducted at least one person at South Archer and South Western avenues.
- September 18, 2025
Between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m., gunmen abducted at least one person at West 35th Street and South Western Avenue.
- November 6, 2025
ICE conducted enforcement activities around noon at West 35th Street and South Western Avenue.
These incidents of supposed ICE activity in Chicago’s McKinley Park neighborhood have been some of many across the Southwest Side and elsewhere in the metropolitan region.
Drifting Arrest
Another topic at the Beat 912 meeting, part of the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS) program, was drag racing, with the 9th District receiving 34 calls complaining about it between September 10 and November 11, 2025.
Police records note the arrest of 18-year-old Brock Coron for drifting, street sideshow, attempted fleeing and having no registration in the early morning of Sunday, November 9, 2025, in the 2900 block of South Damen Avenue.
Police Helicopter
Also arrested at the same time and place for reckless conduct were Tobey McKessy and Sabastian Norris, both 19 years old.
Aldana said 9th District officers made a total of 38 arrests between September 11 and November 10, 2025. One arrest in the 3200 block of South Leavitt Street was aided by a police helicopter, he said.
Burglaries Alert
Police also noted seven nearby burglaries in the past two months. The 9th District issued a community alert about residential burglaries in early November, including two in the McKinley Park neighborhood: in the 1800 block of West 34th Street at 5:55 p.m. on Thursday, November 6, and another shortly after that in the 3300 block of South Hamilton Avenue.
A fatal shooting on November 1 in the 1900 block of West 34th Place was recorded as a suicide, police said.
Attempted ATM Theft
An unsuccessful attempt to steal the ATM machine from the Walgreen’s store at 1926 W. 35th St., Chicago, were among 23 thefts in the two-month reporting period, Aldana said, which also recorded 10 motor vehicle thefts.
Aldana said police are considering holding community beat meetings 10 times a year in 2026, instead of every other month, as in 2025.
Although the meeting schedule has not been finalized for 2026, the next Community Policing Meeting for Beat 912 will be at 6:15 p.m. on Wednesday, January 14, at the McKinley Park field house, 2210 W. Pershing Road, Chicago.
Our neighborhood news correspondent assisted with reporting for this story.
For more about how we report on ICE's current actions in Chicago, see our News & Feedback Forum post "About Our Reporting on ICE Activity in McKinley Park."
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