It does sound like the property management company that owned the building might have been trying to get existing tenants to leave so they could renovate the building. And that's probably ultimately a good thing. Obviously it's disruptive for the existing legal tenants; but it sounds like it was a building in disrepair - that's why it was cheap enough for large numbers of illegal immigrants to be living there - and in general I think that tenant protection laws in major American cities are an impediment to building more and better-quality housing units.
There are news reports about how the owner and property manager gave formal permission to ICE to search the building: https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2026/02/04/chicago-... ; as well as additional reports in the months after the raid claiming that the building had been poorly-maintained and plagued by squatters for a long time previous to the raid: https://therealdeal.com/chicago/2025/11/07/judge-orders-tena... and https://blockclubchicago.org/2025/10/17/city-wants-residents... . Finally, in December, all remaining residents were legally required to leave: https://chicago.suntimes.com/real-estate/2025/12/12/last-rem...
It does sound like the property management company that owned the building might have been trying to get existing tenants to leave so they could renovate the building. And that's probably ultimately a good thing. Obviously it's disruptive for the existing legal tenants; but it sounds like it was a building in disrepair - that's why it was cheap enough for large numbers of illegal immigrants to be living there - and in general I think that tenant protection laws in major American cities are an impediment to building more and better-quality housing units.