Federal agents detain Little Village high school student, deploy tear gas in faceoff with protesters

Federal immigration agents targeted Little Village for a second consecutive day Thursday morning, detaining at least five people — including a local high school student — and tossing tear gas at dozens of protesters who gathered at the scene. Chicago police officers also arrested a woman amid the chaos.

Led by U.S. Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino, the feds rolled into the Southwest Side neighborhood that’s the heart of Chicago’s Mexican community in a caravan of SUVs, prompting residents to post photos and videos on social media and blow whistles outside to warn neighbors of the presence.

President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation campaign has already affected the usually lively neighborhood’s vibrancy since his inauguration in January — and particularly in the past month and a half during “Operation Midway Blitz.” But the flood of federal agents into Little Village and suburban Cicero this week has renewed fears and heightened tensions — and drawn additional scrutiny from a federal judge. Immigration agents made multiple arrests in the neighborhood and in Cicero Wednesday morning, culminating in a crash that drew outraged protesters to the scene.

On Thursday, protesters quickly gathered near a discount mall at 27th and Whipple streets, shouting for the feds to leave their neighborhood.

Baltazar Enriquez, president of the Little Village Community Council, said federal immigration agents seemed to have arrived in the neighborhood with “no plan,” trying to enter the discount mall before turning around when they realized it was closed. That’s when they were confronted by residents who quickly mobilized, he said.

The agents, donning military-style camouflage gear and gas masks, tear-gassed and pepper-sprayed protesters during the confrontation.

Enriquez said Bovino was the first person to launch a tear gas canister. A video posted to social media shows Bovino standing at the front of a line of agents when he underhand tosses a tear gas canister into the crowd.

“I told him not to throw it because all he was going to do was rile people up, but he just smirked at me and threw it anyway,” Enriquez said.

In an apparent response to the events in Little Village, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis on Thursday more than doubled the amount of time Bovino could be questioned under oath in an upcoming deposition. She had earlier limited Bovino’s deposition to two hours but on Thursday said it could last five. The judge entered her order shortly before plaintiffs in the case alleged that Bovino and other agents appear to be “simply ignoring” an order from the judge.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Bovino’s Border Patrol, didn’t respond to questions about Bovino’s role Thursday.

Enriquez accused Bovino of escalating an “orchestrated” attack.

“He feels that he’s above the law and that he can do anything without consequences,” said Enriquez. “But all he’s shown is that he has no idea what he’s doing.”

Benito Juarez high school student detained: ‘He’s a kid‘

As the scene devolved Thursday, agents detained at least two teenage boys, two women and a man before putting them into vans and driving off. A woman told a Chicago Sun-Times reporter that she was a U.S. citizen before she was put into a van.

At least one of the teens detained is a student at Benito Juarez Community Academy, according to Principal Juan Carlos Ocon. A Juarez teacher said the boy is 16 years old, a junior in school and a U.S. citizen.

“We have received reports of federal law enforcement activity in a nearby neighborhood, and I am very sorry to share that a member of our school community was impacted,” Ocon wrote in an email to families. “This federal law enforcement activity did not take place on school grounds. … I know this situation has created many fears and concerns in our community, and I want to emphasize that we are taking this situation extremely seriously.”

A video posted to social media showed federal agents grabbing a teenage boy from a sidewalk and taking him to the ground, with one agent kneeling on the boy while handcuffing him. It was unclear if that boy was the Juarez student.

“He’s a kid!” one bystander repeatedly screamed at the feds. “You all are making a mistake!”

Juarez teacher Liz Winfield said at a press conference outside the school later in the afternoon that her students “should be worrying about college acceptance, or if their friends save them a seat at Dunkin Donuts, or if they’re going to get a date for that school dance.

“It is outrageous and unacceptable that they should worry about being taken by ICE agents,” she said, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Chicago Public Schools board member Emma Lozano, a longtime immigration advocate, said the scenes Thursday represented a “moment of crisis.”

“This has absolutely nothing to do with citizenship or patriotism,” Lozano said. “This has everything to do with white supremacy. We have a president that wants to make America white again, and it’s never going to be like that.”

Homeland Security didn’t answer questions about agents arresting minors.

Another U.S. citizen detained

Ilzet Dominguez was at work when she got a call from a stranger telling her that her 24-year-old sister had been detained by federal law enforcement.

The woman, a U.S. citizen, had been protesting when she was handcuffed and put into a van. Dominguez told the Sun-Times her sister had given her phone number and belongings to a good Samaritan who had alerted her family.

“When I got that call, my world just stopped,” said Dominguez, who left work to try and find her sister.

As of Thursday afternoon, Dominguez still hadn’t heard from her sister.

“We just want her home,” she said. “We want to make sure she’s safe.”

Chicago police make an arrest

A group of Chicago police officers eventually arrived and tried to step between the crowd and the federal agents. Chicago cops appeared to detain one woman and put her in a police squad car.

The Chicago Police Department said it “responded to multiple 911 calls, including a call from federal agents in need of assistance.”

“Upon arrival, CPD supervisors and officers observed a large crowd and worked to de-escalate,” the department said in a statement. “CPD officers were only on scene to maintain public safety through crowd control and traffic control. Officers secured the area and left the scene once the area was safely cleared.”

Chicago police confirmed they arrested someone and charges were pending for allegedly “battering a Chicago Police Department officer.”

‘ICE will be back’

Ald. Michael Rodriguez (22nd), who had two of his staff members detained Wednesday, said he believed federal agents’ presence in Little Village would continue.

“I’m sorry to say that, but we do think that ICE will be back,” Rodriguez said. “But let me tell you something, we will be ready. We will stand united. We will stand ready to push back.”

In response to this week’s raids, Rodriguez said he is setting up an immigrant support center at his office, 4035 W. 26th St., to assist families of those detained. He added that representatives of Sen. Dick Durbin, Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García, Mayor Brandon Johnson and Gov. JB Pritzker’s offices will be there throughout the week to provide resources to affected families

Rodriguez did not say how many people were detained Thursday, but he confirmed that all the U.S. citizens detained Wednesday — including his staffers — had been released from federal custody.

State Rep. Edgar González was at home Thursday morning when he was alerted about federal immigration agents returning to the neighborhood, only a couple of blocks away. He rushed out the door and walked toward the discount mall parking lot where several federal agents were in a standoff with residents.

“People were trying to push back on ICE agents, and then they threw tear gas,” González said.

The gas forced him to walk away into a nearby park. When he went back toward the agents, González said he saw a woman and two boys being handcuffed.

“I don’t know why they were being detained, but they were U.S. citizens,” he said.

The standoff between agents and protesters grew tense when González said officers began to shove people. Some protesters were seen throwing plastic water bottles and gravel at agents and their vehicles.

One vehicle used by federal agents — an unmarked Dodge SUV with California license plates — was written on with marker and had a tire slashed. Others had their windows broken.

“It’s a normal reaction to want to resist and to be angry,” González said. “I’m angry, too. But we need to remember not to take the bait.

“It pisses me off to see them coming into our neighborhood and terrorizing our people,” said González, who grew up in Little Village. “But it’s good to see so much mobilization from the community.”

Contributing: Sophie Sherry, Jon Seidel