Little Village High Walkout Over Operation Midway Blitz

(CHICAGO) Students at Little Village Lawndale High School staged a walkout in the week leading up to October 28, 2025, protesting what they and their supporters described as aggressive federal immigration enforcement tactics under Operation Midway Blitz in the Little Village neighborhood. The action followed reports that federal agents detained high school students and used tear gas during enforcement and crowd-control scenes that spilled onto residential streets and school corridors, drawing swift condemnation from local officials and civil rights groups.

The walkout at Little Village Lawndale High School was organized in direct response to those detentions and to the broader presence of federal officers conducting raids across the neighborhood. According to WGN News, federal agents reportedly detained high school students in Little Village, sparking outrage among families and school communities. Organizers said students, teachers, and community members joined the walkout, demanding an end to what they called “military-style raids” and the use of force against peaceful protestors and bystanders. While the exact number of students detained was not specified in available coverage, the reports prompted a surge of protest activity around the campus and along nearby streets.

ABC News reported that a video submitted in a lawsuit against federal authorities shows Gregory Bovino, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commander of Operations, tossing a tear-gas canister “without justification” toward a crowd of protesters in Little Village. Plaintiffs allege the action violated a court order that restricted such measures during crowd control. In response, Department of Homeland Security officials defended the agents’ conduct and said it complied with internal protocols.

“Agents properly used their training. The use of chemical munitions was conducted in full accordance with CBP policy and was necessary to ensure the safety of both law enforcement and the public,” said Tricia McLaughlin, DHS spokesperson.

The dispute over the tear gas has become a flashpoint for the legal challenges now tracking the federal operation through local and federal courts.

As the walkout gathered momentum, residents of Little Village described tense and chaotic scenes as masked agents moved through blocks where small businesses and families are tightly clustered. Community members said people were detained during raids, including U.S. citizens and children, and that riot control weapons were deployed amid protests that formed quickly outside targeted buildings and along thoroughfares. The pushback has not been confined to the school or to Little Village. It is part of a wider citywide response to Operation Midway Blitz, which has rippled across multiple neighborhoods as federal officers ramped up arrests and presence, and as advocates rallied for immediate oversight.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker condemned the operation and issued an executive order creating the Illinois Accountability Commission to document and investigate federal agents’ conduct during Operation Midway Blitz. The order cites specific incidents, including the use of tear gas and the detention of families and children, as instances of “violence directed at residents of Illinois.” The new commission is tasked with reviewing reports of enforcement encounters and assembling records from scenes where crowds gathered, including outside schools and community centers. State officials said they wanted a clear record of what happened in Little Village and other affected areas, and a point of contact for residents who said they were harmed or wrongly detained.

Federal authorities have defended the operation as a necessary effort to enforce immigration and other laws, including in areas where local cooperation is limited. In an interview with ABC News, Bovino said, “There are no sanctuaries in Chicago or anywhere else in the United States,” and confirmed that since the start of Operation Midway Blitz, more than 2,800 apprehensions had been made in the area. DHS and U.S. Customs and Border Protection have said the operation was undertaken to address criminal activity and that agents faced assaults in the field, while continuing to insist that officers followed internal use-of-force policies during confrontations with crowds.

The clash over tactics has centered on Little Village Lawndale High School because the reported detentions of students sharpened an already heated debate about where, how, and against whom the operation has been carried out. Students who joined the walkout said they were frustrated by the presence of masked agents outside familiar places—corner stores, bus stops, the entrances to apartment buildings—and alarmed by the scenes captured on phones and shared widely: people pushed to the ground during detentions, children crying as loud bangs echoed down blocks, and clouds of gas forcing bystanders to flee. Teachers and community members who joined them argued that the operation’s sweep was too broad and that it blurred lines between targeted enforcement and intimidation of entire neighborhoods.

ABC News reported that the lawsuit challenging federal actions in Little Village centers on the video of Bovino and contends that the tear gas use breached a court order that set boundaries for crowd-control measures. The footage, according to plaintiffs, shows a tear-gas canister thrown “without justification” at a cluster of protesters who were not posing an imminent threat. The federal response has rested on the position that officers on the ground made rapid safety judgments consistent with training and policy, and that the use of chemical agents prevented injuries as tensions rose. DHS emphasized compliance with Customs and Border Protection’s internal guidelines; CBP’s policy framework on use of force is publicly available through CBP policy, though the lawsuit contests whether those standards were met in practice on Chicago streets.

For families in Little Village, the legal and political arguments have unfolded alongside daily questions about safety and routine. Parents dropping children at Little Village Lawndale High School said they had to navigate block-by-block choices about which route felt calmest. Students who walked out described lining up outside the school and then moving between intersections where supporters gathered, mindful of nearby law enforcement vehicles and the possibility of more arrests. Organizers of the walkout said their message was simple: the school should be a refuge, and students—regardless of immigration status—should not be exposed to enforcement actions or chemical agents near campus.

The outcry reached city officials and state lawmakers who pressed for clearer lines between school grounds and enforcement zones. While the scope and timing of the reported detentions at or near the school remained unclear in the immediate aftermath, the fact of any student detentions was enough to push the walkout forward and trigger calls for a pause in Operation Midway Blitz while investigations proceed. Legal aid groups said they were preparing to document accounts from families who reported detentions of U.S. citizens and children, as well as injuries from riot control weapons used during crowded scenes in Little Village.

Governor Pritzker’s creation of the Illinois Accountability Commission signaled a more structured response from the state. The commission’s brief, as described by the governor’s order, is to collect testimony, maintain records of incidents tied to Operation Midway Blitz, and assess whether the federal presence and tactics violated residents’ civil rights. By citing “violence directed at residents of Illinois,” the order framed the state’s position as both protective and investigatory, aiming to preserve evidence that could be used in litigation or to press for policy changes. The commission is expected to share information with local authorities and potentially with oversight bodies at the federal level, though the immediate focus is gathering detailed accounts and identifying patterns.

At the federal level, CBP and DHS have continued to stress that the operation’s results—cited by Bovino as more than 2,800 apprehensions—reflect a targeted campaign aimed at individuals with outstanding warrants and at networks that officials say threaten public safety. They argue that in the face of hostile crowds and attempts to obstruct arrests, officers must sometimes rely on crowd-control tools. McLaughlin’s statement underscored that point and anchored the agencies’ stance in internal rulebooks and training curricula. Those assurances, however, have not quieted the anger in Little Village, where the word “raid” evokes memories of past enforcement drives and where the school walkout became a focal point for residents who said the sweep felt indiscriminate.

The events also stirred debate among educators about the line between advocacy and school safety. Administrators and teachers who witnessed the walkout said they tried to keep students together and away from flashpoints. Some escorted smaller groups back to the school when law enforcement vehicles appeared nearby. The school’s role, they said, was to minimize risk while respecting students’ decision to protest alleged abuses connected to Operation Midway Blitz. The presence of teachers alongside students was a critical visual for organizers, intended to signal that the walkout was peaceful and that the demand—ending “military-style raids” near homes and schools—was about safety rather than politics.

In neighborhoods beyond Little Village, similar scenes played out as word of the Little Village Lawndale High School walkout traveled on social media. While not every school or community mounted a protest, residents who had seen agents in tactical gear moving in and out of courtyards and storefronts said they were reevaluating daily routines—choosing different grocery stores, skipping evening walks, and altering commutes to avoid potential flashpoints. The reach of Operation Midway Blitz, tied to those reported 2,800 apprehensions, meant that few parts of the city felt entirely untouched.

The legal challenge documented by ABC News—centered on the video that plaintiffs say shows Bovino throwing a tear-gas canister “without justification”—may determine whether future enforcement actions are constrained by tighter judicial oversight. If a court finds a violation of a standing order, it could impose limits on chemical munitions or require closer documentation of force deployment, changes that civil rights lawyers say could reduce the risk of harm to bystanders, including students. DHS’s position, reinforced by McLaughlin’s statement that agents acted in accordance with policy and training, sets up a direct test of where federal discretion ends and court-ordered restrictions begin.

For now, the walkout stands as the most visible act of resistance to Operation Midway Blitz in a neighborhood where residents often balance caution with resilience. Students returned to class after the protest, but teachers said the conversations continued—about rights, about how to respond when masks and uniforms appear on the sidewalk, and about what it means to claim space outside a school when policy battles are being waged above their heads. Parents who kept children home for parts of the week said they were weighing risks and waiting to see whether the Illinois Accountability Commission’s work would temper the federal presence.

Bovino’s assertion that “There are no sanctuaries in Chicago or anywhere else in the United States” was interpreted by many in Little Village as a statement of intent that the operation would press on regardless of local opposition. Federal agencies have signaled no pause, and state officials have focused on oversight rather than direct intervention. That left the community looking to the courts, where the lawsuit over the tear gas could yield an early ruling on permissible tactics, and to the commission, which could build a record from the ground up.

What began as a neighborhood response to reported student detentions and a cloud of chemical agents has now become a broader test of how federal enforcement interacts with schools and community spaces. For Little Village Lawndale High School, the walkout etched a line: students and educators asserting that learning should not unfold in the shadow of “military-style raids.” For families across the city, the scenes out of Little Village offer a warning about the human cost when tactical decisions meet crowded streets, and a reminder that policy debates are never far from everyday life. As the legal filings proceed, and as oversight bodies gather testimony, the question is whether those mechanisms can reshape how enforcement looks on the ground—or whether Operation Midway Blitz will continue to play out as it has in the videos and accounts that spurred a school to empty its classrooms in protest.