‘It Wasn’t Real, but It Was Real’

You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.Credit...Video by Jonathan Michael CastilloSkip to contentSkip to site indexIrHome U.S.WorldBusinessArtsLifestyleOpinionVideoAudioGamesCookingWirecutterThe AthleticU.S.InternationalCanadaEspañol中文OpinionGuest Essay‘It Wasn’t Real, but It Was Real’Credit...Video by Jonathan Michael CastilloSupported bySKIP ADVERTISEMENTListen · 19:32 min Share full article90By Megan K. StackMs. Stack is a contributing Opinion writer, reporting from Chicago.April 26, 2026It was the quiet that most troubled Mara Lynne. Her street usually bustles and thrums, but when armed, masked agents grabbed a passing man and stuffed him into the back of an S.U.V., she was the lone witness.“There was nobody around, just me,” she said. “It was silent. That’s the part that freaks me out the most.”Witnessing what she called an “abduction” unnerved Ms. Lynne. It’s one thing to know that such things are happening; it’s another to see it unfold before your eyes, right outside your house. Quietly.The arrest was part of Operation Midway Blitz, the huge federal immigration surge that swept through Chicago this past fall. It was a season of madness. Helicopters chewed the skies. Federal agents sped through the streets and launched tear gas, pepper balls and rubber bullets. At least two people were shot by immigration agents; one of them was killed. Thousands of people were rounded up, even when officials had no warrants, leading to a tangle of court cases. U.S. citizens, legal residents and even City Council staff members were detained. The Trump administration claims to target violent criminals, but as of December, only 3 percent of Chicago’s detainees had wound up having convictions for violent crimes.These past months have seen Mr. Trump’s grandiose plans for mass deportation bogging down in litigation and scandal. The masking of agents, their propensity to prey on people at courthouses, the targeting of student protesters, the use of identifying information plundered from government databases — none of that has sat well with the public or the courts.The intense, often physical animosity between immigration agents and ordinary people in Minneapolis last winter, with agents fatally shooting two American citizens whom officials quickly smeared as domestic terrorists, helped lead to the dismissal of the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, and a freeze in funding for the department.<div class="css-7axq9l" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript"><svg width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" aria-hidden="true" class="css-1b5b8u1" data-tpl="i"><path fill="currentColor" fill-rule="evenodd" d="M2.5 12a9.5 9.5 0 1 1 19 0 9.5 9.5 0 0 1-19 0Zm8.5 1.75v-7.5h2v7.5h-2Zm0 2v2h2v-2h-2Z" clip-rule="evenodd"></path></svg><div data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript-message" class="css-6yo1no"><p class="css-3kpklk" data-tpl="t">We are having trouble retrieving the article content.</p><p class="css-3kpklk" data-tpl="t">Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.</p></div></div>Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.Related ContentAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT

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