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Nov. 5, 2025, 2:14 PM ESTBy Natasha KoreckiCHICAGO — The first thing that hit Sarah Parise was an unfamiliar, pungent smell. She looked down at her ginger-haired 2-year-old, Leia, who was taking a turn pushing her own stroller near a grassy field where they had stopped to play on a Saturday morning walk. Then, it kicked in. “All of a sudden, my eyes were just burning and I couldn’t breathe,” Parise said. Leia began to scream: “Mommy! Mommy! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!” Parise quickly put Leia in her stroller. She ran as fast as she could down the wide streets of her Old Irving Park neighborhood, past the towering trees with their leaves full of fall color. As she struggled with her own breathing, Leia wailed in pain and terror. As Parise raced home, she heard whistles and cars honking, she said. She saw a blur of armed men dressed in fatigues. Multiple reports from that day, Oct. 25, detailed how Border Patrol agents conducting immigration enforcement in the neighborhood confronted residents, leading a federal judge to question an official in court over the use of tear gas there “without any warning.”Sarah Parise with her husband, Joey Kahl, and 2-year-old daughter, Leia. Courtesy of Sarah PariseNearly a week later, with a lingering sting in her throat, Parise recounted to NBC News the fear she and her daughter experienced as a result.Parise and more than a half-dozen neighbors underscored in interviews that federal agents have been the catalyst for chaos and clashes. They said that despite President Donald Trump’s depiction of Chicago as a “war zone,” the biggest disturbance or encounter with violence that they have witnessed in their neighborhood was not from criminals — but when immigration agents swept through. “I didn’t know what happens when a 2-year-old — they’re so little and their little lungs and everything — get tear gas in them? And it’s on you?” Parise said. “I didn’t see a ton of what was going on, because my only thing in my mind was like, ‘I have to get home, and we have to get this rinsed off.’” That day, Parise said, she blew through her front door as her husband stared on, startled. She shouted “We just got hit with tear gas!” and headed to the bathroom, where she rinsed her daughter repeatedly, then herself, with water. When that didn’t work, she said, she doused them with milk. Parise showed a selfie she snapped of herself that day, wrapped in a towel, eyes red with tears, face scrunched in pain. Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said that the actions in Old Irving Park resulted in the arrest of one “criminal illegal alien from Mexico, who has previously been arrested for assault.” She added, in part, “To safely clear the area after multiple warnings and the crowd continuing to advance on them, Border Patrol had to deploy crowd control measures.”U.S. federal agents detain a person in the Old Irving Park on Oct. 25 as neighbors shouted in protest and filmed the encounter.James Hotchkiss / REUTERSAs Parise worries over her 2-year-old suffering from the effects of a chemical agent deployed by immigration officers, several Chicagoans expressed fears that tumultuous deportation efforts could upend their lives and potentially put children in danger. The immigration crackdown known as “Operation Midway Blitz has fanned out across Chicago and its suburbs since September. Asked in a “60 Minutes” interview Sunday whether violent encounters involving immigration agents had gone too far, Trump said: “They haven’t gone far enough.”McLaughlin added in her statement: “Our officers are facing a 1000% increase in assaults against them as they put their lives on the line to arrest murderers, rapists, abusers, and gang members. Secretary Noem’s message to the rioters is clear: you will not stop us or slow us down.”Parise and her daughter are among a growing number of people who say they have inadvertently been exposed to chemical agents or witnessed troubling scenes by immigration agents. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection officers have increasingly gone into neighborhoods — including in Rogers Park, Little Village, Lakeview, Albany Park and Belmont Cragin — targeting people for arrest while they were selling tamales, attending church, or doing landscape or construction work. Area residents, education leaders, activists, local elected officials and federal judges have decried agents’ actions in residential areas as overly aggressive and, at times, dangerous. This led to a federal judge issuing a temporary restraining order Oct. 9 to curb officers from using aggressive tactics, including tear gas, when they are not under imminent threat.In Broadview, outside an immigration detention facility, residents have complained of their children feeling the impacts of chemical agents while in their backyards, or even inside their homes. Chicago Public Schools have had to move elementary school recess indoors after tear gas was deployed and teachers have complained of helicopters hovering over their schools, scaring students. Protesters are regular presences in a “First Amendment” zone in front of an ICE processing facility in Broadview, outside of Chicago.Jamie Kelter Davis / Getty ImagesMost recently, schools in north suburban Evanston were impacted. On Friday, Border Patrol agents deployed chemical agents in the city. Citing nearby immigration activities, all schools in the district were placed on lockdown, according to the mayor. “Let me be extremely clear for all Chicago media: We are NOT targeting schools,” a Department of Homeland Security statement read.A DHS spokesperson said agents were in the area to arrest five undocumented individuals “whose criminal histories included criminal trespass and multiple illegal entries into the country.” “A hostile crowd surrounded agents and their vehicle, and began verbally abusing them and spitting on them. As Border patrol arrested one individual, who actively resisted arrest, pepper spray was deployed … to deter the agitator and disperse the crowd,” the spokesperson said. Federal immigration agents use tear gas to disperse protesters in Chicago02:18Allie Harned, a social worker with Chute Middle School in Evanston, said at a news conference Friday that agents’ actions were unacceptable. “I witnessed some horror today, a block away from Chute Middle School, and this was awful. There were ICE agents and CPB agents pointing guns at community members, spraying pepper spray in the faces of community members … within eyesight of our Chute Middle School students,” Harned said. “This was terrifying. It was terrifying to our community members. It was terrifying to a student who happened to be in a car and witnessed it. It is not okay.”Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss said, in a new strategy, the city’s police department is appearing on the scene of immigration arrests, identifying agents by badge number and documenting the impact of their activities on residents. “There’s only one entity causing serious violence in Evanston right now, and that is the federal government,” Biss told NBC News. Federal agents have regularly deployed tear gas in immigration enforcement operations in Chicago.Joshua Lott / The Washington Post via Getty ImagesAfter the Old Irving Park clash drew widespread headlines — and outrage — including over a confrontation between a 67-year-old runner and agents on his street, DHS pushed back on narratives that were circulating. The resident exited the vehicle and uttered an expletive. His hands go up as the brief footage provided by DHS then cuts off. A statement from the man’s running group excoriated DHS for breaking the man’s ribs, accusing them of excessive force. Border Patrol commander appears to throw tear gas at protestors00:30“HERE’S THE REAL STORY,” the DHS post on X started in all caps. “Border Patrol agents were surrounded and boxed in by a group of agitators.” It then went on to play a brief video clip.When shown the words in the post, George, a father who lives in the neighborhood and witnessed the incident, laughed. “Agitators? Brian ran out in his bare feet and Blackhawks pajamas,” he said of his neighbor. “I was wearing a duck costume.” George, who asked not to use his last name, said he had just returned from the YMCA and he and his two young daughters rushed to change into their Halloween costumes to make it to the nearby parade. When he heard commotion outside, he ran out in his all-yellow costume, repurposed from The Man with the Yellow Hat outfit of Curious George fame. He described a confusing scene where he could neither tell if someone had been detained nor distinguish immigration agents’ vehicles from that of residents. Looking on and standing beside a vehicle, he was suddenly thrown to the ground by an agent, according to a video reviewed by NBC News. He said he thought he was under arrest, but then, suddenly it all stopped and he got up and moved farther to the side of the street. His head hurt for days and he was treated at urgent care for a mild traumatic brain injury, he said. George said he wondered why agents didn’t leave sooner to de-escalate the situation. He believes, based on what he saw, they had plenty of space to drive away, despite agents’ claims of being boxed in. When he returned home, his 5-year-old, who watched the episode from the front door, made a striking comment: “‘Dad, I just don’t understand who the bad guys are.’”When asked what the most violent episode was that he’s witnessed in his neighborhood, George didn’t hesitate: “1000% this was,” he said of the Oct. 25 event. Neighborhood resident Brian Kolp, a former Cook County prosecutor and now a private attorney, said he felt immigration agents haven’t been carrying out deportation operations in the highest crime areas of the city. “Whereas, in Old Irving Park, the worst we could probably do is try to blow them away with our leaf blowers,” Kolp said. “No one around here is in a gang. No one around here is rolling around with any guns. Obviously, in other parts of the city, that’s not necessarily going to be the case.” Parise questioned the government’s financial justification for its operation in Old Irving Park, which yielded one arrest of an undocumented immigrant but had far-reaching effects on children and other residents. “What was the return on that? What did you spend to have all those people out there for the day with all of their fake tactical gear and their tear gas and their whatever?” Parise asked. “Also then, what did it take from all the people around here, who are now scared and completely spooked?” Natasha KoreckiNatasha Korecki is a senior national political reporter for NBC News.

- Latest News - November 5, 2025

Residents of Chicago suburbs underscored in interviews that immigration enforcement agents have been the catalyst for chaos and clashes in their neighborhoods.

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Nov. 5, 2025, 9:46 AM EST / Updated Nov. 5, 2025, 10:04 AM ESTBy Alexander SmithRussia’s Vladimir Putin ordered top officials on Wednesday to submit plans for the possible resumption of nuclear testing, a direct response to President Donald Trump’s surprise instruction for the United States to begin testing for the first time in more than 30 years.In a televised meeting with his Security Council in Moscow, Putin said that he had warned the U.S. and others that if they “conduct such tests, Russia would also be required to take appropriate retaliatory measures.”He told the foreign and defense ministries “to do everything possible to gather additional information on this matter, analyze it in the Security Council, and submit coordinated proposals on the possible commencement of preparations for nuclear weapons testing.”Putin plans for nuclear testing in response to Trump00:51Several of Putin’s top officials backed the need for resumed tests.“We must respond appropriately to Washington’s actions,” Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said, urging his government “to begin preparations for full-scale nuclear testing immediately.”Gen. Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s chief of the general staff, added, “If we do not take appropriate measures now, we will miss the opportunity to respond promptly to the United States’ actions, since preparation for nuclear tests, depending on their type, takes several months to several years.”Russian Ambassador in Washington Alexander Darchiev had sent a telegram to U.S. officials “to clarify these controversial statements by U.S. President Donald Trump,” Sergey Naryshkin, chief of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, told the council.But “representatives from both the White House and the U.S. State Department declined to comment,” he added, “stating that they would report the information to their superiors and contact the Russian side if it will be deemed necessary to provide clarification.”The Security Council meeting was supposed to focus on transport security. However, Speaker of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin asked members to first comment on Washington’s announcement of renewed nuclear tests.NBC News has contacted the Pentagon and State Department for comment.The move comes after Trump announced last week that he had instructed the Defense Department to “immediately” start testing nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” with other nations.The U.S. has not conducted a nuclear test since 1992, China and France last did so in 1996 and the Soviet Union in 1990.Trump’s order was widely criticized by nuclear scientists and nonproliferation experts, who said that Washington had little to gain from live drills, which would likely only embolden Moscow and Beijing.The U.S. has only one viable testing location, the former Nevada Nuclear Test Site near Las Vegas, which would take at least two years to get up and running, experts said.There has been little clarity from Trump and his team. Asked whether he planned to resume actual explosive nuclear tests underground, the president told reporters Friday, “You’ll find out very soon, but we’re going to do some testing, yeah.”He added: “Other countries do it. If they’re going to do it, we’re going to do it.”On Sunday, his energy secretary, Chris Wright, told Fox News that “these will be nonnuclear explosions” that would develop “sophisticated systems so that our replacement nuclear weapons are even better than the ones they were before.”Given the seemingly conflicting public statements from officials in Washington, Russia was “not entirely clear about the United States’ future actions and steps regarding the conduct or nonconduct of nuclear weapons tests,” Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu told the meeting.A Yars intercontinental ballistic missile launches at Plesetsk testing field in northern Russia in footage released on Oct. 22.Russian Defense Ministry via AFP – Getty ImagesFor his part, Putin has often rattled the nuclear saber since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He has warned Western nations not to intervene in the conflict, suggesting he would not be afraid to use Moscow’s arsenals were they to do so.Last month, he said that Russia had conducted the first hourslong test of a nuclear-powered, nuclear-capable cruise missile capable of evading U.S. missile defenses. In response, Trump said he had a nuclear submarine “right off their shores.”According to the Norwegian government, the missile, the the Burevestnik, was launched from Novaya Zemlya, an archipelago off the northern coast of Russia. Belousov referred to this site again on Wednesday.”The readiness of the forces and assets at the central test site on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago allows for” nuclear tests to be implemented “within a short timeframe,” he said.Alexander SmithAlexander Smith is a senior reporter for NBC News Digital based in London.Abigail Williams contributed.

- Latest News - November 5, 2025

Vladimir Putin ordered his top officials on Wednesday to prepare for resumed nuclear testing, a direct response to President Donald Trump’s likewise action.

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Savewith a NBCUniversal ProfileCreate your free profile or log in to save this articleNov. 5, 2025, 12:34 PM ESTBy Bracey HarrisGeorge Barnett’s work as a small-town pastor means folks probably won’t challenge him when he tells of the day he picked up a hunting rifle and took aim at an escaped rhesus monkey in rural Mississippi.What started as a routine visit to his mom’s house in Vossburg on Monday is now the latest chapter in the not-so-tall tale that captivated much of the state, after a transport of research primates overturned in Jasper County just before Halloween. Barnett’s wife spotted the runaway monkey as a blur of fur crossing near a highway exit ramp late Monday afternoon. Once in the woods, it scampered into a tree and flashed its teeth. Barnett, 45, grabbed his rifle and fired twice, he said, sending the animal crashing to the ground. “As soon as I saw it, the only thing I thought about was, ‘What if this thing attacks one of those people that I grew up with, or my children,’” Barnett said.George and Kerri Barnett.Courtesy George BarnettThe monkey was one of three escapees from last week’s accident, when a truck crashed while carrying 21 primates from the Tulane National Biomedical Research Center near New Orleans. Barnett was the second Mississippi resident to take the monkey business into their own hands. On Sunday, Jessica Bond Ferguson opened fire after her 16-year-old son saw a monkey outside their home near Heidelberg, killing the animal. “I did what any other mother would do to protect her children,” she told The Associated Press.That leaves one runaway still missing, according to the state Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, which warned that it may be aggressive. Residents’ fears were partly driven by incorrect information that circulated just after the crash, when the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office warned that the monkeys carried diseases, including Covid, hepatitis C and herpes. Authorities killed five of the monkeys near the crash scene based on those concerns, which turned out to be false, Jasper County Sheriff Randy Johnson said.He confirmed the latest monkey shooting on Monday. Tulane clarified after the crash that the monkeys “had not been exposed to any infectious agents” and sent a team to assist. Thirteen of the monkeys reached their planned destination last week, according to the university. Animals rights organizations, like PETA, said the accident highlighted the plight of animals used in research and called for more transparency, including the release of the monkeys’ veterinary records.On Monday, PreLabs, a biomedical research company, said the monkeys were theirs.“We are cooperating with authorities and reviewing all safety procedures to ensure the continued wellbeing of both the animals and the community,” the statement said.The company did not respond to questions from NBC News.On Oct. 28, a truck carrying rhesus monkeys from Tulane University crashed in Mississippi.Jasper County Sheriff’s DepartmentKristen Moore, director of wildlife for the Hattiesburg Zoo, said she understands the worries, but she hopes the public will heed officials’ advice to stay clear of the last monkey. The primates, native to Asia, generally prefer running away over attacking.And for those wondering, they’re typically herbivores. So, pets should be OK.“If you have a cat, they’re not going to chase that,” she said.Barnett initially thought his wife, Kerri, was joking when she pointed out the furry creature running across the road shortly after 4 p.m. Monday. They had just taken the exit to his mother’s house, with their two young sons in the car.“Babe, there’s one of those monkeys,” he recalled Kerri saying.She was right. “This monkey was just walking across the street,” Barnett said. “Almost like he owned the neighborhood.”One day earlier, Barnett was getting ready for church when he heard about Ferguson’s story.Now, he was dialing 911 to report his own sighting in Vossburg, about 100 miles east of the state’s capital.“We just saw one of the monkeys right off Exit 118,” he told the dispatcher, according to a recording obtained by NBC News. “It’s sitting on the side of the road right off the exit.”Barnett’s 7- and 8-year-old boys in the backseat became hysterical. Normally they love playing outside at their grandmother’s, but they’d been staying indoors the past few days while the primates were on the loose.Barnett dropped his children off at his mom’s, grabbed a rifle and headed back.He walked into the woods, where the monkey had taken refuge in a tree.An experienced squirrel and deer hunter, he estimates the animal was 35 to 40 pounds. (Generally, the monkeys are 17 to 20 pounds, Moore said.) After he took two shots, the monkey dropped to the ground and took off, he said. Barnett didn’t chase after it.George Barnett, shown with his wife, Kerri, said he usually hunts squirrel and deer. Courtesy of George BarnettTwo men in a white truck who Barnett believes were with a transport company soon arrived. They tried to track the monkey based on a trail of blood, then got an assist from a drone that could detect the animal’s body heat, Kerri said. It was dark by the time a worker emerged with the deceased primate.Kerri documented the night on Facebook Live. The videos drew some pushback interspersed with praise, but Barnett believes he made the right choice. Most critics weren’t locals.“They’re not close around here, so they don’t have that fear,” he said.Meanwhile, he said he’s heard from congregants at his church in Buckatunna, about 40 miles away, who were excited about his adventure. He’s anticipating some questions at Wednesday night’s Bible study. Back in Heidelberg, a short distance from the accident site, Mayor Robert Barnett (no relation to George) said online jokes about the apocalypse have been circulating among the town’s roughly 600 residents. Crews in protective equipment have been spotted on the area’s highways. The mayor noted lightly there’s no quarantine in effect — he doesn’t want locals to be afraid or visitors to stay away.“I hated it happened in this type of way,” he said, “but at least people know about Heidelberg right now.” Bracey HarrisBracey Harris is a national reporter for NBC News, based in Jackson, Mississippi.

- Latest News - November 5, 2025

George Barnett, a pastor and avid hunter, shot the rhesus monkey out of a tree in Vossburg, Mississippi, on his way to visit his mother on Monday.

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