“Lord, When Did We See You?”

“It was violent. There’s blood all over the house. It’s insane,” the homeowner, who is a U.S. citizen, told me. “It’s complete lawlessness. How does the government have impunity to jump into my home without a warrant?”https://t.co/FOUU7msHc6

— Catherine Rampell (@crampell) December 19, 2025

WHEN LEO FELER GOT HOME, there was blood everywhere. On his front door, the window sills, the foyer. This wasn’t some tragic accident or a murder scene; rather, while he was out of town to run a marathon, immigration agents had decided to attack the workers replacing windows on his house.

Footage from Ring surveillance cameras around the house, as well as cell-phone videos from protesters outside, tells the story: Masked agents sent to Chicago as part of “Operation Midway Blitz” saw workers taking items to a dumpster in front of Feler’s home. The agents then hopped his locked gate. They trampled his property, aggressively manhandled at least one worker, and entered Feler’s garage. They even tried to pull a bleeding worker out of a second-story window.

They did it all without ever presenting badges, identification, or a warrant.

“It was violent. There’s blood all over the house. It’s insane,” Feler, who is a U.S. citizen, told me the day after this happened in October. “It’s complete lawlessness. How does the government have impunity to jump into my home without a warrant?”

As far as Feler has been able to discern, his house and the crew working on it were targeted at random. The Department of Homeland Security did not reply to detailed questions about agents’ actions or why they were there, but did send me a statement complaining about “agitators” (i.e., protesters) in the street who “obstructed federal law enforcement and ignored multiple warnings to disperse.”

This wasn’t an isolated incident. Rather, it was just one of a rash of warrantless raids on private, residential construction sites recently—raids that are sweeping up basically anyone who looks Latino, including U.S. citizens, and subjecting them to dangerous and sometimes life-threatening conditions.

In a Minneapolis suburb this week, masked men wearing ICE vests—who refused to present a warrant or identify themselves—roped off a construction site, trapping two workers on a partially built roof for hours in subzero temperatures. It was so dangerously cold that “at least 30” masked federal agents present took shifts rotating in and out of their cars to stay warm, a state representative on the scene told local media.

Protesters gathered; some said they were prevented from bringing the trapped, shivering workers warm blankets and extra coats. In one dramatic video, a bystander climbed the spindly rafters herself to hand a worker a cup of hot coffee.

Eventually the masked men left, and one worker on the roof was taken away by ambulance.

A week earlier, in a New Orleans suburb, agents pointed guns at workers balanced on a roof before hauling at least one away.

And in Alabama, a U.S.-born construction worker has been detained not once but twice, at different job sites twenty miles apart from one another. The first time, agents kept him handcuffed for over an hour even after seeing his REAL ID (which Alabama issues to lawful residents only). The second time, agents barged inside the house where he was working, detained him, and again refused to accept his REAL ID as identification. All without a warrant.

“The administration isn’t doing any front-end investigation, targeting specific people,” Jared McClain, an attorney with the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit representing the Alabama worker, told me. “They’re just showing up on construction sites and arresting Latinos.”

There is no question that this wave of deportation operations has hurt workers who are just trying to do their jobs. But it’s also terrible for the contractors and construction companies that employ them. So why hasn’t the construction industry, ya know, done anything?

The Fifth Amendment;

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Matthew 25:31-46 (SV)

"When the Son of Adam comes in his glory, accompanied by all his messengers, then he will occupy his glorious throne. Then all peoples will be assembled before him, and he will separate them into groups, much as a shepherd segregates sheep from goats. He'll place the sheep to his right and the goats to his left. Then the king will say to those at his right, 'Come, you who have the blessing of my Father, inherit the domain prepared for you from the foundations of the world. You may remember, I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a foreigner and you showed me hospitality; I was naked and you clothed me; I was ill and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to see me.' Then the virtuous will say to him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and fed you or thirsty and gave you drink? When did we notice that you were a foreigner and extend hospitality to you? Or naked and clothe you? When did we find you ill or in prison and come to visit you?

And the king will respond to them, 'I swear to you, whatever you did for the most inconspicuous members of my family, you did for me as well.'

Next, he will say to those on his left, 'You, condemned to the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his messengers, get away from me! You too may remember, I was hungry and you didn't give me amything to eat; I was thirsty and you refused me a drink; I was a foreigner and you failed to extend hospitality to me; naked and you didn't clothe me; ill and in prison and you didn't visit me.'

Then they will give him a similar reply: 'Lord, when did we notice that you were hungry or thirsty or a foreigner or naked or weak or in prison, and did not attempt to help you?'

He will then respond: 'I swear to you, whever you didn't do for the most inconspicuous members of my family, you didn't do for me.'

The second group will then head for everlasting punishment, but the virtuous for everlasting life.

Leviticus 19:33-34, NRSV

33 “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. 34 The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the native-born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.