Illinois is investigating claims that the landlord of a South Shore building at the center of a widely publicized immigration raid last year tipped off federal agents in an attempt to intimidate the residents out of the building.
The Illinois Department of Human Rights announced late Wednesday that it filed a formal housing discrimination charge and opened an investigation into the owners and managers of the building: 7500 Shore A LLC, Trinity Flood, and Strength in Management LLC.
In a statement, the agency said it is looking into claims the landlords let federal agents know of Venezuelan immigrants living in the building as part of an attempt to “intimidate and coerce the building’s Black and Hispanic tenants into leaving the building."
Gov. JB Pritzker, in a statement, said the allegations "raise serious concerns for people struggling to maintain housing — and the communities that have been profiled and relentlessly targeted by the federal government during its violent immigration enforcement operations. State law prohibits discrimination, and that includes aiding or abetting conduct intended to interfere with housing and civil rights. Illinois will not tolerate conduct that puts anyone in Illinois at risk of discrimination or harm."
Last month, the remaining residents of the South Shore apartment complex were forced out after the 130-unit complex at 7500 S. South Shore Drive was foreclosed on, along with two other South Side buildings owned by Trinity Flood, a Wisconsin real estate investor.
Strength in Management LLC and Flood did not immediately respond requests for comment.
Tenants who spoke to the Sun-Times after the raid painted a grim picture of life in the building before immigrants moved in over the past year and it became a flashpoint in President Donald Trump’s deportation blitz. In 2024, building management filed 25 evictions against tenants and squatters — more than the 20 filed in the previous four years combined — with most owing $900 to $1,050 in monthly rent, the Sun-Times previously reported.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security reported 37 people were arrested during the Sept. 30 raid. Witnesses said they saw kids separated from their mothers. Some U.S. citizens were detained for hours. One resident reportedly hid his neighbor and her 7-year-old daughter in his room.
“The conduct alleged in this matter reflects more than isolated harm,” Illinois Department of Human Rights Director Jim Bennett said in a statement. “It describes a pattern of intimidation that reverberates through our communities. Illinois law is clear. … When actions by any entity undermine those protections, the State has a responsibility to examine them in the interest of public welfare, accountability, and equal justice.”
