Laura Ingraham's show with a chyron that reads, "Chicago raid targets Tren de Aragua members"

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Right-wing media said Chicago ICE raid yielded numerous gang members' arrests. New reporting shows hardly any arrests related to Tren de Aragua.

Written by Gideon Taaffe & Sage Hodil

Published

Right-wing media have cheered Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s September 30 raid on a Chicago apartment, saying they arrested a dozen or dozens of “suspected Tren de Aragua gang members” in an apartment complex “seized by TdA gang members.” 

However, the Department of Homeland Security told CNN that just two of the 37 arrested are believed to be gang members. And later DHS told MSNBC it has “verified” one Tren de Aragua member from the raid. 

The Trump administration claims that its arrests in Chicago have targeted criminals, but there is little evidence many of the 1,000 people detained by ICE in the city have any criminal convictions. Right-wing media have previously carried water for the Trump administration’s mass deportations that allegedly focus on the “worst of the worst” even though the majority of ICE detainees have no criminal convictions. 

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  • ICE's raid on a Chicago apartment building led to dozens of arrests and four children taken into custody. New reporting shows that few if any arrested in that raid or others in Chicago have criminal or gang ties.

    • CNN reported shortly after the raid that DHS said only two people arrested were believed to be a Tren de Aragua member, and MSNBC reported later that DHS said it had “verified” just one. The September 30 raid at a South Side apartment building that ICE said was “frequented by Tren de Aragua members” saw 37 people arrested but CNN reported that just two of them “are believed to be members of the Venezuelan criminal gang, according to DHS.” According to MSNBC, DHS said one person is a “verified” member of Tren de Aragua but did not say “how it had verified that gang affiliation.” [CNN, 10/3/25; MSNBC, 10/13/25]
    • Of the 1,000 migrants arrested in Chicago and its suburbs, the Department of Homeland Security has released details showing a criminal background for only “about 1%” of those detainees, according to MSNBC. DHS claims ICE is arresting “the worst of the worst pedophiles, child abusers, kidnappers, gang members, and armed robbers,” but MSNBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff said the people they are targeting “are not the worst of the worst. And I cannot say that more unequivocally and clearly enough.” Soboroff also said ICE agents are “indiscriminately rounding people up, grabbing people off the street. And I'm saying this as a reporter who has seen this with my own eyes, not the worst of the worst on the street.” [MSNBC, 10/13/25; MSNBC, The Briefing with Jen Psaki, 10/7/25; MSNBC, Katy Tur Reports, 10/8/25]
    • Detentions at the Chicago apartment raid included “four children who are US citizens with undocumented parents,” according to CNN. One tenant of the building described the raid, saying, “The kids was crying. People was screaming. They looked very distraught. I was out there crying when I seen the little girl come around the corner, because they was bringing the kids down, too, had them zip tied to each other.” One resident who was initially detained told CNN, “Anyone with an outstanding warrant, even if it was unrelated to immigration, would not be released.” [CNN, 10/3/25]
    • Previous attempts to arrest people associated with Tren de Aragua based on their tattoos have led to deportations of people with no criminal records. The administration sent numerous alleged gang members to El Salvador but then acknowledged that “many” of them had no criminal records, according to CBS News. Lee Gelernt, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney, told CBS, “Expert after expert tells us tattoos are not a reliable indicator of whether you're part of this particular gang.” [CBS, 4/8/25]

  • Right-wing media bolstered suggestions that the Chicago apartment raided by ICE was full of Tren de Aragua members

    • Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner claimed the building was “taken over by members of the violent Tren de Aragua gang.” [Fox News, The Faulkner Focus, 10/2/25]
    • Fox News host Jesse Watters asserted that “dozens of Tren de Aragua members are getting Kilmared,” referencing deported Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia, before cutting to reporting on the September 30 raid. [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 9/30/25] 
    • Fox News anchor Trace Gallagher said the operation led to “the arrest of more than a dozen suspected Tren de Aragua gang members.” [Fox News, Fox News @ Night, 10/1/25] 
    • Fox News host Laura Ingraham claimed “Trump is fixing the criminal mess” in Chicago, saying that “TdA gang members in Chicago got a surprise this week” when ICE conducted an “unexpected drop-in that involved a Black Hawk helicopter and hundreds of federal agents.” Fox News reporter Mike Tobin reported, “More than a dozen were detained. At least one has a tattoo commonly associated with the Tren de Aragua gang.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 10/1/25] 
    • In an interview with acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, Newsmax host Emma Rechenberg claimed the apartment had been “seized by TdA gang members.” Lyons also pushed the claim, stating the building was “taken over by Tren de Aragua gang members.” [Newsmax, The National Report, 10/8/25] 
    • While displaying a chyron that read “Tren de Arrested,” Fox News anchor Dana Perino said ICE agents were “targeting suspected Tren de Aragua members” in the raid and “netted 37 illegal aliens, including those associated with the bloodthirsty Venezuelan gang.” [Fox News, The Five, 10/1/25]
    • The Daily Wire’s Jennie Taer wrote that the building was “teeming with suspected Tren de Aragua gang members.” [The Daily Wire, 10/1/25]
    • Fox & Friends co-host Lawrence Jones complained that people are “more concerned about the children being temporarily detained, not the fact that they were around, and the same apartment complex, of Tren de Aragua, a known terrorist organization.” Jones’ comment came after Lyons claimed Tren de Aragua “took over” the building and that pictures of zip-tied children were “AI fake photos.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 10/6/25]

  • Trump and right-wing media have claimed that ICE is targeting “the worst of the worst,” but data shows otherwise

    • Earlier this year Trump claimed ICE was targeting the “worst of the worst,” yet ICE data revealed 84% of those detained at ICE facilities “were not given a threat level.” Only 5% of detainees were given the highest threat level by ICE. According to TRAC Reports, an oversight group that provides data on government operations, as of September 21, 71.5% of ICE detainees had no criminal conviction. TRAC additionally noted, “Many of those convicted committed only minor offenses, including traffic violations.” [The Associated Press, 7/12/25; TRAC Reports, accessed 10/15/25]
    • Right-wing media have heralded the Trump administration’s campaign promise to focus deportations on the “worst” criminals while denying the reality of the mass deportations. Fox personalities have claimed ICE is not targeting “abuelitas” or “housekeepers” but “the worst of the worst” and “hardened criminals and gang members.” [Media Matters, 4/9/25]