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Open in TheBrain

Kat Abughazaleh

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OMFG

RWW

10/29/2025

by

Kyle Mantyla

Jerome Corsi has claimed he’s been involved in drafting an executive order “to be implemented for the 2026 elections."

The progressive Democratic congressional candidate’s videos of confrontations with federal agents have fueled right-wing calls for her arrest.

A grand jury in Marion County is taking a closer look into allegations within Lt. Governor Micah Beckwith’s office. A report filed by the Marion County Grand Jury confirms the grand jury heard testimony on Aug. 18 and Sept. 30 “in the original investigation into the distribution of an intimate image(s) and ghost employment in the office of the Indiana lieutenant governor.”

It’s the latest backlash over Tarrant County GOP Chair Bo French’s online behavior.

In a crowded field of would-be successors, Brilyn Hollyhand hopes to capture the minds of young conservatives across America.

The Department of Justice put two federal prosecutors on administrative leave just hours after they filed a sentencing memo in the case of a pardoned Jan. 6 rioter convicted of new crimes that included a short, accurate description of the Capitol riot.

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mma

How Fox News has justified and celebrated ICE’s violent immigration crackdown in Chicago

As ICE targeted immigrant communities, Fox whitewashed its abuses

Written by John Knefel

Research contributions from Ben Van Bloem, Harrison Ray, Payton Armstrong, Jack Wheatley & Sophie Lawton

Published 10/21/25

October 9 marked one month of “Operation Midway Blitz,” the Trump administration’s effort to target and harass immigrant communities in Chicago with military-style raids and violent enforcement to advance its mass deportation plans. Fox News has responded by celebrating and justifying the violence Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have unleashed on Chicago residents regardless of citizenship or immigration status.

Fox inaugurated the operation by embedding a reporter with ICE agents in a move reminiscent of the height of the global war on terror, signaling to its audience that Chicago was a battlefield that required a militarized crackdown. Over the subsequent four weeks, Fox dutifully fulfilled that expectation with coverage that painted civic resistance to ICE as proof that Trump’s authoritarian tactics were needed, while simultaneously whitewashing the agency’s worst abuses.

On September 30, ICE initiated a raid on a Chicago apartment building that began with agents rappelling from a Black Hawk helicopter and ended with residents — citizens and noncitizens alike — reportedly imprisoned in unmarked vans, grouped by perceived race, ethnicity, or immigration status. Parents were separated from their children, some of whom were zip-tied to other kids, according to a witness. In at least one instance, an agent pointed their gun in the face of a grandmother who lives in the building, she said. Agents destroyed family belongings and lobbed flash-bang grenades as they ransacked the building.

In a different context, it would have been the stuff of right-wing paranoid nightmares. But this was a building in Chicago that houses Black and immigrant families, and Fox found it worthy of praise.

In a segment teasing coverage of the siege, Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner said the security forces had zeroed in on “a Chicago apartment complex … targeting members of the brutal Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang,” adding: “Seems like a good thing."

The ICE claim that the raid would yield TdA members, which Faulkner parroted, turned out to be wrong. According to MSNBC’s reporting, only one of the people arrested was “verified” as part of Tren de Aragua, and ICE didn’t provide evidence to back up even that assertion. (ICE has repeatedly claimed people are members of TdA, only to have its accusations fall apart under scrutiny.)

The next evening, host Laura Ingraham repeated the false ICE talking point that the raid turned up gang members.

“TdA gang members in Chicago got a surprise this week, an unexpected drop-in that involved a Black Hawk helicopter and hundreds of federal agents,” Ingraham said.

Video

Citation

From the October 1, 2025, edition of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle

Ingraham also falsely claimed that the building raid was proof that Trump was “fixing the criminal mess” in Chicago.

MSNBC found that of the 37 people arrested, only eight had criminal charges and it isn’t clear how many — if any — had been convicted.

Faulkner returned to the story on October 2, reiterating the false characterization of the building.

“The political left is also pushing against a massive federal raid on an apartment complex taken over by members of the violent Tren de Aragua gang,” she said.

Video

Citation

From the October 2, 2025, edition of Fox News' The Faulkner Focus

The storming of the apartment building wasn’t the only violent incident Fox chose to celebrate. On September 19, a federal agent in a Chicago suburb threw Democratic congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh to the ground during a protest outside an ICE facility.

Ingraham praised the assault.

“A similar situation in Chicago today where absolutely unhinged agitators worked to form a blockade — they don't have actual jobs, but that is their job — in front of an ICE facility, including a Democrat congressional candidate who was thrown to the ground by an ICE agent,” Ingraham said. “Good work.” (Abughazaleh formerly worked at Media Matters.)

Even when Fox personalities didn’t overtly celebrate ICE’s abuses, the network has justified the Trump administration’s brutal tactics. Such coverage frequently clustered around high-profile events with dramatic footage, such as the storming of the apartment building. Other notable incidents included federal agents using tear gas, pepper ball projectiles, and rubber bullets on protesters on September 19 and again on September 26.

Describing the same event, Fox host Jesse Watters said the protesters“went loco” and “slashed tires,” adding, “Mostly peaceful protests are no bueno in the golden age. One day they’ll learn.” Watters introduced footage of ICE’s brutal tactics by mocking the protesters, saying it “didn’t work out for them.” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [9/19/25]

In two notable cases, Fox appeared to justify federal agents shooting two people, killing one of them, by repeating government claims that were soon undercut by local reporting.

On September 12, an ICE officer in a northern suburb of Chicago shot and killed Silverio Villegas González following a traffic stop. A Department of Homeland Security statement claimed the officer had been “seriously injured,” which was later contradicted by police body camera footage in which the officer is heard saying his injuries were “nothing major.” A witness also told the Sun Times that they “didn’t see Villegas González dragging one of the agents behind his car,” and NBC News reported, “No videos show the actual shooting or the ICE agent being dragged and injured, making it difficult to corroborate DHS’s account of what happened.”

Fox framed the fatal shooting by repeating the unsubstantiated government claims.

As the news broke, Fox anchor Martha MacCallum presented DHS’ version of events without qualifications.

“An ICE officer severely injured during a traffic stop in Illinois," MacCallum said. “ICE says that the suspect dragged the officer as he tried to get away.”

Video

Citation

From the September 12, 2025, edition of Fox News' The Story with Martha MacCallum

Weekend anchor Jon Scott said González “tried to flee the scene in a car, dragging the agent by his bumper,” adopting DHS’s initial characterization. “The agent wound up shooting and killing that alien.”

Then on September 28, Fox & Friends Weekend co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy repeated the characterization, saying, “We saw an ICE agent dragged with his vehicle.”

Two Fox hosts had a similar approach to an October 4 incident in which a Border Patrol agent shot Chicago woman Marimar Martinez five times. According to her attorney, footage apparently contradicts initial government allegations that Martinez had rammed her car into the agent’s vehicle — which the government then moved more than 1,000 miles away, despite its likely role as key evidence in the case. Several of the government's claims appear to be undercut by the criminal complaint against Martinez.

Jesse Watters repeated the government’s unverified version of the event.

“So you’re saying she didn’t ram the ICE officer’s vehicle with her car and trap it?” Watters asked co-host Jessica Tarlov. She had referenced press coverage that undercut the government’s version of events, to which Watters replied: “We don’t have that — I’m just not going to take your word for it.”

Video

Citation

From the October 7, 2025, edition of Fox News' The Five

Ingraham claimed officers had been “nearly run over” and called it a “coordinated ambush of federal officers.”

Beyond the Chicago area, the Trump administration has surged — or threatened to surge — federal immigration and police forces, the National Guard, and the military into Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Portland, Memphis, Baltimore, New Orleans, San Francisco, and New York City. Many of those cities have already resisted Trump’s onslaughts. Wherever he sends his forces next, Fox is sure to follow, cheering his administration along the way.

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