Federal immigration agents carried out multiple arrests in Little Village and suburban Cicero Wednesday, resulting in a crash that drew outraged protesters to the scene. Two staffers for a city alderperson, both U.S. citizens, were among those arrested.
The agents were joined by Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino, just days after a federal judge ordered him to sit for a deposition regarding the government’s handling of protesters during “Operation Midway Blitz,” President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation campaign in the Chicago area.
Agents were seen at multiple locations along the border between Little Village and Cicero, including along West 26th Street, where at least one person was detained. Video footage taken on 26th Street between South Sawyer Avenue and South Spaulding Avenue shows Bovino with agents as they make the arrest.
The operation concluded when a driver allegedly tried to strike a vehicle driven by agents near 26th Street and Ogden Avenue in Cicero. The driver was taken into custody. Video footage showed the driver being put into handcuffs.
“Investigators determined that the driver of a blue GMC pickup was allegedly attempting to strike ICE agents in a Chevy Silverado while those agents were in the area,” the Cicero Police Department said in a statement. “When both vehicles reached a red light at that intersection, the driver of the GMC pickup accelerated away, disregarded the red light and collided with a gray Toyota Corolla driving through that intersection. Fortunately, there were no injuries from the crash.”
Gloria Ramirez, of Cicero, told the Chicago Sun-Times she was driving the Toyota Corolla around 11 a.m. when she was hit by the GMC pickup truck that ran through the red light. Moments later, federal immigration agents opened her door, told her to step out of the vehicle and led her onto the side of the road, where they told her to wait for Cicero police officers to arrive.
Dozens of protesters quickly gathered after learning of U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s connection to the crash. Protesters were heard yelling at agents, including Bovino, to leave the town and let detainees go.
One federal officer sitting inside a vehicle was seen pepper-spraying protesters through the rear window.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and CBP did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“They’re here to create mayhem in our community,” said 22nd Ward Ald. Michael Rodriguez who rushed to the scene of the crash after learning federal officers were making arrests in Little Village. “It’s terrible, and they shouldn’t be here. We want them gone.”
Agents detained two members of Rodriguez’s staff, Jacqueline Lopez and Elianne Bahena, who are both U.S. citizens, Rodriguez said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon. Bahena is also an elected official as 10th police district councilor.
“I come here and demand that my staff be returned to me, that my staff and my neighbors be returned to my community,” he said. “This isn’t justice. This isn’t public safety. This is fear mongering.”
At a Wednesday night press conference at the 22nd Ward office, Alexander Perez, 2nd police district councilor, said: “When a District Council member, and two elected staffers can be taken by ICE, and families are living in fear in their own neighborhoods, we’ve crossed a line.”
Rodriguez also said he saw agents with Customs and Border Protection get out of their car and threaten to arrest journalists and residents who were following them, some honking their horns and blowing whistles.
“For honking your horn? For whistling? For alerting our brothers and sisters that they could be detained for being here, for trying to get a better life for their family members?” he said. “I think that’s unacceptable.”
U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García said Bovino’s operation came within a block of his home in Little Village. He blasted the federal agents for “assaulting our city and our neighborhoods.”
“Their reckless operatives once again endangered innocent lives with chemical agents, violent aggressions, and high-speed chases through our neighborhoods that ended in yet another car wreck in our streets,” García said in a statement.
Immigrant rights activists urged people to know their rights when interacting with or observing federal agents. Anna Marin, speaking on behalf of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, La Villita Se Defiende, and Cicero Berwyn Rapid Response, reminded people of their right to record law enforcement in public places, to remain silent, to ask for an attorney and to refuse to sign any documents.
Contributing: Jon Seidel