Employees at a barbershop in Brighton Park are still in shock after one of their co-workers was dragged out by federal agents.
Despite displaying “No ICE or face coverings” signs on their front door, five plainclothes officers walked into the business Thursday afternoon and asked people for identification. When witnesses saw a barber come out of the bathroom, agents threw him to the ground and carried him out of the shop and into a pickup truck.
Employees at Rockstar Fadez, 4307 S. Archer Ave., identified the man as Brian to protect his privacy. They said he’s a 26-year-old migrant from Venezuela with years of hair-cutting experience.
“I have no complaints about Brian,” owner Edgar Romero told the Sun-Times. “He’s very talented and family-oriented. He never gave me the impression of a bad person or anything.” He said Brian’s wife had picked up his belongings and would keep him updated.
The arrest took place while Romero was on lunch break, after he had unknowingly interacted with one of the agents that morning, he said. The agent showed up wearing construction clothes and had a hard hat, he said.
“It was around 11 in the morning when a walk-in [customer] came in and asked if we were busy, if we do cuts and shaves. And I said, ‘Yeah,’” Romero said. “He asked, ‘Are you guys busy right now?’ I said, ‘No,’ and then he asked if he could come back around one o’clock. I said that was fine.”
The customer had no badges or identifiers that would suggest he was law enforcement, so Romero didn’t think much of it until he got a call about the arrest. He later reviewed surveillance footage. Other barbers also recorded the incident.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The agents “threatened to detain anyone who attempted to intervene. At no point did the agents present a warrant prior to the arrest,” said Alderwoman Julia Ramirez (12th) in a statement.
“This incident is deeply troubling and represents a blatant abuse of power. This is an unjust and horrifying act that violates the trust, dignity, and safety of our community members by tricking them into letting agents inside private property.”
Romero kept the business door locked that evening — an increasingly common practice for business owners during the Trump administration’s ramp-up of immigration arrests across the country.
The row of barber chairs was empty, except for a longtime customer who said he would continue to support the business.
“I have papers. But I know that I could be taken at any time,” said Giovanni, 31, who did not want to share his last name. “But ICE isn’t going to stop me from living my life.”
A next-door neighbor, painter Gerardo Cazares, said he would greet Brian almost every morning. He said he was in disbelief about the detainment.
Cazares opened his studio, Holiday Studios, to a group of organizers from the Southwest Side Rapid Response team, who were painting banners for Saturday’s “ICE out of Chicago” march in Kelly Park.