Carpe Momentum: From Sparks to Strikes

Grassroots disruption, rolling strikes, and the hard work of defining demands

The streets of Chicago looked more like Fallujah than South Shore this week. At one in the morning, helicopters dropped federal agents onto rooftops, flash-bangs shook sleeping children from their beds, and doors were smashed open as families were zip-tied and marched half-clothed into the night. DHS called it “Operation Midway Blitz.” Governor J.B. Pritzker called it authoritarianism. And the neighbors who watched their community treated like an occupied zone simply called it terrifying. Four of the children dragged into custody that night were U.S. citizens. Their crime? Parents without papers.

The footage wasn’t even hidden. Secretary Kristi Noem blasted it on social media like a campaign ad, dramatic music laid over scenes of militarized agents storming hallways, as if families were props in a reality show. ICE and DHS insist they were targeting traffickers and gang associates, but their numbers tell another story: whole communities treated as collateral. This is pure spectacle. It is intimidation. It is a test balloon for what it looks like when domestic policing is fused with military tactics and wrapped in a flag.