Podcast Summary: It Could Happen Here

Episode: ICE’s Ethnic Cleansing in Chicago
Date: October 6, 2025
Host: Mia Wong (Cool Zone Media)
Guest: Raven, Journalist with Unraveled

Main Theme

This episode presents a harrowing, on-the-ground report of a federal crackdown in Chicago involving ICE, Border Patrol, and other federal agencies. The discussion centers on increased ICE raids, police violence against protesters and residents, and the chilling consequences of unchecked federal authority—what the hosts and guest describe as ethnic cleansing, civil conflict, and the breakdown of community safety. The episode vividly explores the reality of life in a militarized city, the failure of media coverage, and the vital importance of resistance and solidarity.

Key Discussion Points

1. First-Hand Accounts of Police and Federal Violence

• Raven’s Experience: Raven starts by recounting being shot in the face with riot munitions while covering an anti-ICE protest. She describes ongoing violence, including the use of pepper ball rounds and tear gas, directed at press and protesters.
  • Quote – Raven (02:42): “It's been several weeks now of the feds just pummeling people with these stupid little pepper ball rounds...We've seen horrific injuries these last few weeks among protesters...concussions from...tear gas canisters exploding right by their heads and other things. Broken bones.”
• Targeting of Journalists: Raven shares how reporters, specifically those with visible press markings, have been singled out and shot at close range by federal agents.

2. Escalation of ICE Activity and a Fatal Shooting

• ICE Killing at Traffic Stop: Raven details an incident where two ICE agents, acting independently, killed a man during a traffic stop in a Latino suburb. The lack of transparency and the false initial official narrative—contradicted by video evidence—are discussed.
  • Quote – Co-Host (06:27): “If we're shooting people for traffic violations, this country's gonna have like 10 people in it by the end of it.”
  • Quote – Raven (07:05): “When they say he drove away from them...the video...shows him slowly reversing backwards away from them. It's not like he just drove over the agents.”
• No Accountability: The group expresses frustration at the opacity of federal investigations.

3. Impact on Communities and Protesters

• Broken Community Trust and Fear: Residents live in terror, often hiding in their homes, afraid to go out even for necessities.
  • Quote – Raven (11:41): “People are literally in hiding because they are worried that if they go to Sam's Club, they will be kidnapped by secret police.”
• Protest Conditions at Broadview ICE Facility: Protests have intensified as conditions worsen:
  • Overcrowded, unsanitary detention at non-residential ICE facilities.
  • Protesters facing routine and disproportionate violence by federal forces.

4. Arrival of Border Patrol and “Bovino”

• Federal Agents Imported from Other States: “Bovino” and Border Patrol units from Arizona/California now operate in Chicago, staging propaganda events but also launching terrifying raids.
  • Quote – Raven (08:30): “They’ve been doing...just strictly corny ass propaganda ops...combined with actual terrors. Like...hundreds of feds raiding an entire apartment building of people in the middle of the night.”

5. The South Shore Mass Raid

• Details and Aftermath: A massive, militarized federal raid on a South Shore apartment building housing mostly Black residents and newly arrived migrants:
  • Men, women, and children—some undressed—were dragged from their homes by armed agents in the dead of night and separated.
  • Media lagged days behind reporting the event.
  • Quote – Co-Host, quoting Sun Times (28:28): “Armed federal agents and military fatigues busted down their doors overnight, pulling men, women and children from their apartments. Some naked residents...witnesses said.”
  • Quote – Raven (29:00): “The last three weeks, four weeks has just been a gradual progression of, like, the most evil shit you've ever seen in your life...It's ethnic cleansing. It's genocide.”

6. Analysis: The Cycle of Violence and Founding Sins

• The hosts discuss how this violence is a modern echo of America’s founding atrocities—slavery and genocide of indigenous people.
• The current policies are seen as a systemic continuation of white nationalist violence and ethnic cleansing.
• Quote – Interviewer (35:18): “You're just watching sort of, in miniature, that violence being replicated over and over again where, like, you're tearing fucking mothers from their children in the dead of night.”

7. Challenges of Organizing and Resistance

• Protest Strategy: Chicago’s protest culture, organizational divides, and adaptation to the new level of violence are discussed.
  • Quote – Raven (44:01): “It's important to remember, like, this is a city where, like, the FBI murdered Fred Hampton...There’s a lot of tension between different organizing factions...because people are terrified.”
• Adaptation is Required: Organizers and communities must adjust their methods as federal forces change their tactics, including more chemical weapon use.
• Media Blackout: The mainstream/local/national press lags in reporting, enabling abuses to continue with minimal outside scrutiny.

8. Hope, Morality, and Historical Perspective

• Community Hatred for Federal Forces: Despite the terror, the spirit of resistance persists, and the unpopularity and hatred toward federal actors is widespread.
• Historical Examples: References to victory by oppressed peoples facing militarized occupation, such as Turin during WWII, and the idea that mass resistance can succeed.
  • Quote – Raven (51:35): “As bleak as this episode sounded, we do have to keep the fighting spirit alive and not just resign ourselves to total doomerism. We have the moral high ground here...We can win this.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “It kind of feels like screaming underwater and no one can hear you.” – Raven, describing the feeling of covering and witnessing ongoing ICE violence (09:29)

• “These guys are fucking monsters...All policing is violence. All cops are violent. But there is something different happening here as a result of the fact that there is literally zero accountability.” – Raven (12:31)

• “The last three weeks, four weeks has just been a gradual progression of the most evil shit you've ever seen in your life.” – Raven (29:00)

• “It's ethnic cleansing. It's genocide.” – Raven (29:20)

• “You're just watching...the founding violence of this country just being played out over and over and over again every night.” – Interviewer (35:18)

• “It feels like their operation is brittle. Like, it wouldn't take a lot to impede it. But because they are so violent and so out of hand...it's still really challenging to figure out.” – Raven (49:15)

• “We have the moral high ground here. We are doing the right thing and they are not. And we can win this.” – Raven (51:35)

Important Timestamps & Segments

• 01:10–02:50: Introduction, Raven’s injury covering protest
• 04:04–06:33: Ice facility at Broadview; escalation of protests and violence
• 06:33–07:13: Traffic stop killing by ICE
• 08:11–09:05: Border Patrol deployment to Chicago
• 10:30–12:09: Experiences of people hiding and detained by ICE
• 12:31–16:36: Distinct brutality/lack of accountability by federal officers
• 21:40–29:20: South Shore apartment raid, detentions, media blackout, and community trauma
• 35:18–39:00: Historical parallels and ongoing cycles of violence
• 41:12–43:23: Are we already in a civil war? Perspectives from ground zero
• 44:01–47:47: Organizing challenges in Chicago’s activist landscape
• 49:15–51:35: Operation's brittleness, public hatred for ICE, hope for resistance
• 52:11–53:06: Story of the liberation of Turin, historical hope for liberation

Closing Thoughts

The episode documents in vivid, raw terms the horror of the current ICE crackdown in Chicago—its human toll, governmental impunity, and social ramifications. Yet, it also lays out a path for resistance, grounded in the knowledge that community solidarity, moral conviction, and historical precedent are powerful antidotes to despair and authoritarian violence.

Find Raven and Unraveled’s work: unraveledpress.com and on social platforms at @Unraveled

This episode serves as a crucial chronicle of life during collapse—and a call not just to witness but to act.