Chicago police investigating why cops were told to report 'migrant arrests' to the feds

The Chicago Police Department is investigating after officers were directed to alert federal law enforcement officials about "migrant arrests" involving people with tattoos or clothing associated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

The directive was included in a daily briefing in October 2023 at the Near West District, where some new arrivals were living at the time.

It highlighted the arrest of a man who had tattoos that “represent the Venezuelan prison gang known as Tren de Aragua,” according to a slide from the briefing. The man was pictured wearing a Chicago Bulls jersey, another purported sign of membership in the gang.

Officers were directed to inform the U.S. Department of Homeland Security about other immigrants who were arrested and had clothing or tattoos linked to the gang. They were also told to flag the Crime Prevention and Information Center, or CPIC, a federally funded fusion center that coordinates intelligence and law enforcement efforts among local, state and federal agencies.

Personnel from DHS, which includes U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, are among the federal agents assigned to CPIC full time, according to a department policy. Officials from Homeland Security Investigations and Customs and Border Protection also work there “on a rotational basis."

Chicago’s Welcoming City ordinance and Illinois’ TRUST Act prohibit police officials from aiding federal immigration enforcement and investigating or inquiring about someone’s immigration status in most cases. But local officers can still cooperate with federal criminal investigations.

Nicole Hallett, director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School, said the directive doesn't appear to be illegal, but it “definitely violates the spirit” of the sanctuary protections.

A spokesperson for Mayor Brandon Johnson said, “The information on the slide was not a directive from Mayor Johnson and does not reflect the approach to community safety under the Johnson Administration.”

“As Mayor Johnson has stated on numerous occasions, the role of Chicago Police Department is not federal immigration enforcement, that responsibility is reserved for federal agents,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Police Supt. Larry Snelling said an internal investigation was opened after the Sun-Times asked about the briefing materials.

“We’re looking into the wording here about notifying CPIC and Homeland Security,” Snelling said, insisting that other briefings didn’t include a similar appeal to officers. “That’s why we’re going to be looking into this, just to make sure that this type of thing is not in any other slides.”

Snelling framed the investigation as a matter of course and said he believes the directive was likely a “mistake.” He said CPIC officials and Counterterrorism Chief Duane DeVries told him that “no one has reached out to ICE, to HSI or anyone when it comes to this.”

The man highlighted in the briefing had been charged with domestic battery while living at the Near West District, and Snelling said it was important to “identify those who could possibly do harm” to other migrants.

That case was dropped. But the man has repeatedly been charged with retail theft under another name, according to court records, which show he’s wanted on a warrant for violating probation in one of the cases.

“This had nothing to do with immigration,” Snelling said of the presentation. “This had nothing to do with the Welcoming City [ordinance].”

Trump targets Tren de Aragua

President Donald Trump has now spearheaded a sweeping immigration crackdown that has specifically targeted Tren de Aragua.

Trump labeled the gang a terrorist organization last month when he invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law that gives the president broad, wartime powers to detain and deport non-citizens. He has since deported hundreds of alleged Tren de Aragua members to a notorious prison in El Salvador without due process, setting off a legal fight and stoking fears of a constitutional crisis.

Some men swept up by immigration officials have little or no criminal background and were wrongfully identified as members of Tren de Aragua based on tattoos, according to court filings by attorneys and a family member.

Trump’s administration has acknowledged that a Salvadoran man held at the prison was mistakenly deported.

In Chicago, only a few dozen immigrants have been identified in arrest reports as potential members of Tren de Aragua, police records show. Officers have used their tattoos, clothing and even a car decal to link them to the gang, citing law enforcement alerts.

While those 37 men have mostly faced drug and traffic cases, federal officials have connected two other alleged members of the gang to high-profile shootings in Chicago. Other Venezuelan nationals have also been charged with violent crimes in recent years, but arrest reports don’t specifically connect them to Tren de Aragua.

A way to ‘skirt’ the law?

Antonio Gutierrez, strategic coordinator for Chicago-based Organized Communities Against Deportations, said the language used in the problematic police briefing appears to be a way to get around existing sanctuary laws, given how much information other federal agencies share with ICE.

“Even though this is not technically a violation [of the law] based on the language that they are using, we still believe that now since all federal agencies under the Department of Homeland Security have been deputized and can now do immigration law enforcement, that this from our perspective does seem to be targeting and wanting to create loopholes for our protections,” Gutierrez said.

In the Chicago area, Gutierrez said immigration advocates have been able to confirm that the U.S. Marshals Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration assisted ICE in arrests that happened earlier this year.

But they believe it would be difficult to amend the current sanctuary laws to include all federal agencies since local police are allowed to work with them in criminal investigations.

Hallett, from the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, noted that Trump’s administration has sued the city and state in an effort to nullify sanctuary measures, complicating the issue even more.

“It becomes very hard to construct rules that are going to allow the CPD to continue to cooperate on criminal investigations, but sort of separate out civil immigration enforcement,” Hallett said.

She also raised concerns that Chicago cops may choose to “skirt the rules” and provide information to ICE without violating the sanctuary city ordinance.

“In some way,” she said, “the policy is only as effective as the people who are implementing it.”

‘Pink cocaine’ and a ‘green light’ to shoot cops

The presentation directing Chicago cops to contact federal authorities also outlined glaring “intelligence gaps” related to Tren de Aragua’s recruitment efforts and its potential to build alliances or clash with entrenched Chicago gangs.

It was among 43 pages of briefing materials and law enforcement alerts obtained from the police department through a public records request. Other police alerts offer more information about Tren de Aragua’s alleged activities in Chicago.

The gang referred to the migrant shelter at the Standard Club, 320 S. Plymouth Court, as “The House,” internal police records show. The city closed the shelter in October 2024.

Women associated with the gang are “often trafficked” and “should be treated as victims,” officers were told. Members hide guns in vehicles and sell a drug known as “pink cocaine” or “Tusi,” which is often a mixture of ketamine, ecstasy, cocaine and fentanyl.

A Venezuelan man arrested with the drug last September in Garfield Park had a tattoo associated with the gang but “refused to answer questions,” the records show.

He pleaded guilty to possessing a gun with an extended magazine in that case, according to court records. He has been arrested at least four times using three different names, and he currently faces charges of drunken driving, identity theft and failing to register as a sex offender.

Another alert issued by the intelligence unit of the Cook County sheriff’s office said a faction of the Black P Stones operating in Uptown had possibly hired Tren de Aragua members “to commit crimes on their behalf.” Other alerts warned officers that Tren de Aragua members had been given the “green light” to shoot at cops in Denver.

The gang grew out of a Venezuelan prison and expanded throughout Latin America and into the United States amid the diaspora spurred by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s policies. It’s known for human trafficking, drug dealing and brutal violence.

An alert issued by HSI warned that members move into new areas, “exploit migrants and maintain a low profile while conducting illicit activities,” then “enter local criminal economies with low barriers to entry.” In the final phase of expansion, the gang “sets up a financial base” and bolsters its criminal infrastructure, often using money laundering.

CBP issued a bulletin last July estimating there were over 1,000 alleged Tren de Aragua members in the United States, some of whom had encountered border agents in recent years.