Chicago homeowner sues over warrantless raid

A Lakeview homeowner is suing the U.S. government after Customs and Border Protection agents entered his property without a warrant, assaulted workers installing windows and took one away last October, his lawsuit alleges.

Why it matters: This marks one of the few formal legal actions a Chicagoan has taken following Operation Midway Blitz, during which, state officials say, federal agents routinely broke the law.

Thousands across the country are also trying to find paths to accountability.

Zoom in: Represented by the Institute for Justice, Leo Feler filed the suit for unspecified damages in the Northern District of Illinois on Tuesday based on the Federal Tort Claims Act, which covers damage by federal employees in the course of their duties.

Feler is also suing the individual CBP agents who entered his property.

Federal agents grab a worker at Feler's Lakeview home in October after entering the property without a warrant or permission from the owner. Video: Ring camera footage courtesy of Leo Feler

Catch up quick: The incident occurred on Oct. 24, 2025, when Department of Homeland Security agents were also apprehending lawn care workers and roofers in the Chicago area.

Feler was out of town, but he watched the events through multiple Ring cameras, which he also used to tell the agents to leave, video shows.

Agents apprehended one of the four workers, who had no criminal record and was released by a judge three weeks later, Feler says.

As the agents left, they threw tear gas at gathered neighbors, with one agent urging another to throw the gas "for fun," according to court filings based on bodycam footage.

After returning to Chicago, Feler says, he found damage and blood on his property and filed a police report.

In December, Institute for Justice lawyers filed official complaints with DHS. After receiving no response for six months, they filed the suit this week.

What they're saying: "I'm bringing this case out of respect, admiration, and duty to my country, to our Constitution, and to my neighbors who were tear-gassed as they were trying to defend my home," Feler said Tuesday in front of his century-old house.

The other side: DHS did not respond to Axios requests for comment on the suit.

State of play: Earlier this month, the Chicago Police Department and Mayor Brandon Johnson urged Chicagoans to come forward and file police reports about violations by federal agents during Midway Blitz. Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke stresses that she can't act until individuals file police reports.

But that's exactly what Feler did on Oct. 27, 2025 — and nothing happened.

After meeting initial resistance, Feler found a CPD officer who agreed to file his report, but he then got a call from a sergeant saying the case couldn't continue "because higher-ups told him not to pursue it," he said.

The latest: On Tuesday, CPD officials told Axios that Feler's report had been "suspended"

"That can happen for a variety of reasons, including detectives exhausting all leads currently available. It is not a permanent status, and it can be changed if and when more information becomes available," CPD wrote.

Between the lines: Feler's Institute for Justice attorney Patrick Jaicomo tells Axios he's pursuing multiple legal avenues because no one has yet identified an effective path to prosecuting agents in the face of immunity statutes.

But demonstrating that no path exists, he says, could breed dangerous hopelessness.

"We want there to be the tools for accountability in the system, because if there aren't, there's a likelihood that that will push some people to take actions in their own hands that will be harmful to them and harmful to government workers," he says. "We don't want any of that."

What's next: Institute for Justice attorneys tell Axios that whatever the district court decides, either side will likely appeal to the 7th Circuit, and the case could even reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

They asked Feler to prepare for at least a five-year journey.