ICE Agents Deploy Tear Gas, Smoke Bombs in Chicago Enforcement Operations
Oct 3, 2025·Location: Chicago, IL

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents conducted multiple enforcement operations in Chicago, deploying tear gas and smoke bombs during raids. In one incident at Funston Elementary School, tear gas released in a nearby parking lot during a grocery store raid spread into the school building, exposing students including first-graders to the chemical agent. A separate operation at 51st and Damen on October 3rd resulted in video footage showing federal agents threatening a community member and throwing a smoke bomb onto a vehicle, with one person detained. ICE has conducted multiple enforcement operations in Chicago during this period, including residential raids and the detention of individuals.
Sources
- Teachers Scrambled After ICE Released Tear Gas Outside a Chicago Elementary School
The Intercept·Oct 19, 2025·archived copy
- Official defends use of tear gas in Chicago and says agents on immigration sweeps have cameras
Associated Press·Oct 20, 2025·archived copy
- Federal Agents use Teargas and Pepper Balls to Break up Chicago ICE Protest
- 'This is absurd:' ICE agents seen using tear gas, smashing windows amid operations across Chicago, suburbs
nbcchicago.com·Oct 27, 2025·archived copy
- Feds used tear gas dozens of times in Chicago - Chicago Reader
chicagoreader.com·Nov 19, 2025·archived copy
- Federal immigration agents deploy tear gas on Northwest Side streets as Chicagoans bellow, ‘Get out of our city!’
Chicago Tribune·Oct 25, 2025·archived copy
More incidents in Illinois
- Man mistaken for fugitive beaten and detained by ICE agents in Evanston, hospitalizedOct 4, 2026 · Evanston, IL
- ICE arrests eight men in Woodstock and Waukegan, Illinois enforcement operationsSep 25, 2026 · Waukegan, IL
- DACA recipient held by ICE for 7 months, son didn't recognize herSep 22, 2026 · Broadview, IL
- Federal agents repeatedly use tear gas, pepper spray on protesters at Broadview ICE facilitySep 19, 2026 · Broadview, IL
- Fear of ICE raids cost Chicago-area businesses $1.26 billion, study findsSep 8, 2026 · Chicago, IL
- Two men detained as ICE raids Illinois factory without warrantSep 3, 2026 · McCook, IL