Video of ICE agents arresting U.S. citizen in Los Angeles while his toddler sat inside the car, and video of a female teacher being yanked out of a Chicago preschool, have triggered new questions about aggressive federal immigration enforcement.
In Los Angeles, videos recorded by civil-rights advocates on Nov. 4 show the ICE agents wrestling the man into custody, then driving away in his small Chevrolet sedan, the child in the back seat, as bystanders screamed angrily. In the Nov. 5 Chicago incident, burly ICE agents detained a woman in front of stunned parents and children.
“People are seeing exactly what our federal government is doing,” said Chicago Alderman Matt Martin, who represents the neighborhood with the preschool. “When you’re watching these videos (people should be asking) ‘how is this making my community safer?'”
But what’s visible on social media misses key parts of the story, say federal officials charged with enacting President Donald Trump‘s aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration and urban crime.
According to federal officials, the Chicago woman was an immigrant here illegally who fled into the daycare when threatened with arrest, and the L.A. man was wanted on a warrant. He got out of the car, they said, carrying a hammer after throwing rocks at officers, leaving a stolen gun in the backseat. USA TODAY could not independently verify the details because federal officials did not identify the detainees.
In the L.A. incident, Department of Homeland Security officials declined to release the man’s name or a full timeline of the incident, which they said began during a targeted enforcement action. The videos do not capture the beginning of the confrontation, when he allegedly threatened the agents, nor do they show where officials took the car containing the child, who has since been reunited with its mother.
In Chicago, bystander videos showed ICE agents wresting a small woman from inside a daycare where she apparently worked. According to Martin, the Chicago alderman, the woman had a work permit and was trying to show it to agents but was instead pulled out of the Rayito de Sol Spanish Immersion Preschool and detained.
A parent cries outside of the Rayito De Sol Spanish Immersion Daycare and Pre-School, where federal agents conducted an immigration raid that ended in a teacher being detained, in Chicago, Ill. on Nov. 5, 2025.
DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that ICE agents were targeting the woman, who she said is a Colombian immigrant, but the man driving the car refused to yield for a traffic stop.
“They ran into a daycare and attempted to barricade themselves inside the daycare ‒ recklessly endangering the children inside,” McLaughlin said. “The illegal alien female was arrested inside a vestibule, not in the school. Upon arrest, she lied about her identity.”
Migrant-rights advocates immediately cast doubt upon the details provided by DHS. In past instances, DHS officials have said agents were doing “targeted enforcement,” but later said in court that agents were really just driving around looking for suspicious people or vehicles.
“Every single time, they make up stories. They have to because once investigated, it turns out they lie,” said Angelica Salas, the executive director of the L.A.-based Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, adding that Americans should be skeptical of how DHS and ICE officials portray such confrontations. “As a mom, watching that (video), it really upset me. And unfortunately, it’s what’s happening every day. It’s unconscionable.”
Two parents embrace each other outside of the Rayito De Sol Spanish Immersion Daycare and Pre-School, where federal agents conducted an immigration raid that ended in a teacher being detained, in Chicago, Ill. on Nov. 5, 2025.
Salas said CHIR and its allies are investigating the circumstances of the L.A. man’s detention, and the treatment of his toddler. She said federal officials apparently took the child to an off-site location and then got in contact with the child’s mother. That’s a potential violation of a California law that requires authorities to let a detainee call a family member to claim a child on-site during an arrest, she said.
“Every day it just feels like the bar gets lower and lower and lower. It’s so hard to witness,” Salas said. “It’s not like they’re going to stop with the undocumented Americans. It’s going to continue.”
Martin said ICE in Chicago has been ramping up enforcement, escalating from arresting people on the street to entering private property, including a barbershop, to make detentions.
Critics like Martin say the administration often targets longtime residents who pose no significant threat to the community, despite Trump’s claim that agents are focusing on violent criminals, drug dealers and gang members.
A federal judge has ordered DHS officials in Chicago to submit daily reports on agents’ actions, after growing concerned they were inappropriately targeting protesters and journalists, including near children who were trick-or-treating before Halloween. A growing number of ICE agents have been wearing body cameras, some under court order, although the footage is rarely released publicly.
Some public safety experts warn that the aggressive tactics will inevitably lead to fatal confrontations, and some civil-rights groups predict the Trump administration will then use those to deploy even harsher measures.
“I don’t know how anyone could say with a straight face that armed agents going into a daycare while there are children inside and dragging a teacher out is good for my community or anybody else’s community,” Martin said.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Videos bring new attention to ICE tactics nationally
