Federal agents showed up in Evanston to make an arrest, but Evanston police said the agents had the wrong person and he ended up getting hurt in the process.
A witness caught the encounter on video, and is sharing the story as immigration enforcement activity continues in the city and suburbs.
Evanston police said the agents are suspected to be from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the man they tried to arrest was a U.S. citizen. Police are investigating the incident, they said in a press release Sunday.
A video, taken by Miguel Angel Olivares, shows yelling and profanities as the federal agents pinned the Evanston man down to the ground just before 10 a.m. Sunday morning near Howard and Dodge. In the video, witnesses can be heard asking the man if he is OK.
“They were using very rough force on him, and it looked like they really did hurt him,” said Olivares, who was working nearby. “I did want to go over there and tell them to leave him alone, but at the same time, me being Hispanic, I was kind scared that they don’t know I’m a U.S. citizen.”
Olivares said he and other witnesses called 911 after they realized the man was hurt. When police arrived at the scene, they requested an ambulance for him. The man reported injuries to his head, neck and teeth, according to police.
“When we saw him, he had his jaw swollen and he had like a little blood on his shirt. Not sure if it was the agent’s or it was his,” Olivares said.
An agent told Evanston police the man refused to provide an ID and was detained for fingerprinting, but he resisted detention. Agents learned he was a U.S. citizen and wasn’t the person they were looking for, so they released him, according to Evanston police.
ICE, Border Patrol and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to NBC 5 Chicago’s request for comment Monday.
Brandon Lee, director of communications for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said the Evanston incident fits a broader trend of brutality.
“It doesn’t matter whether someone is a citizen or not, they are willing to attack someone and they’re willing to be violent,” Lee said.
Across the country, ICE stepped up enforcement this summer. The agency said it broke arrest records three months in a row: June, July and August. In August, the agency arrested nearly 51,000 undocumented people.
Immigration advocates said enforcement tactics have shifted since Operation Midway Blitz last year. The agents create less of a spectacle, but they are focusing more on people going to or leaving court.
“The thing that we have been getting a lot of calls about at this point are immigration court hearings and the megamaster hearings. What does my family member need to know about going into court?” Lee said.
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