Suit Seeks Entirety of the Raw Footage Produced During Immigration Raids and Used to Create Social Media Video and Operational Guidance 

Washington, D.C. – Democracy Forward is taking the Trump-Vance administration to court to uncover raw footage connected to social media videos produced during raids perpetrated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in Chicago last month and information pertaining to training and operational guidance. 

In a lawsuit filed against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE, Democracy Forward is asking a federal court to help shed light on the administration’s unconstitutional and unconscionable pursuit of its immigration agenda. The suit asks a federal court to order DHS and ICE to disclose the public documents, as required by law.

On September 30, 2025, at around 1 am local time, federal agents conducted a military-style raid on a Chicago apartment building—a deeply concerning operation in the Trump-Vance administration’s approach to immigration enforcement. As agents worked their way through the building, media outlets reported that they kicked down doors, detonated flash bang grenades, and zip tied sobbing children. Reportedly, nearly all residents in the building were detained as part of this immigration raid, including U.S. citizens. Members of Congress have expressed outrage over the conduct of this operation and have pressed DHS for information about the manner in which the raid was conducted. Subsequent reporting has revealed that many detained in the raid had no criminal records.

A few days after the raid, DHS published a video on its social media accounts valorizing the dangerous and unjustified action. The video uses numerous camera angles of the raid, indicating that it was a compilation of a substantial quantity of footage edited for public relations purposes. 

“The administration cannot ignore the Constitution in their pursuit of social media clicks. The public deserves to see the full extent of the horror inflicted on American neighborhoods by the Trump-Vance administration’s unconstitutional and unlawful PR stunt,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward. “The government cannot legally hide the footage captured at the raid, nor can they cover up the public documents used in the raid’s preparation and execution. We are eager to argue this case in court.”

In the wake of the raid, Democracy Forward filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), asking for all documents relating to the planning and execution of the raid, as well as all of the raw footage – not just the selectively edited social media video – that was captured during the raid. The requests were not addressed within the legally required time for the government to respond, forcing Democracy Forward to move forward with this lawsuit to compel the disclosure of all documents and video footage. 

The case is Democracy Forward Foundation v. DHS et al, and the legal team in this case includes Daniel McGrath, Amy Vickery, and Robin Thurston.

Read the complaint here.

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Democracy Forward Foundation is a national legal organization that advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy, public education, and regulatory engagement. For more information, please visit www.democracyforward.org.