ICE Agents Wrongly Detain U.S. Citizen in Chicago, Man Injured After Being Taken to Ground

U.S.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained a U.S. citizen in the Chicago suburb of Evanston on Sunday after misidentifying him, leaving the man on the ground with multiple injuries.

Local police have opened an investigation, while the Department of Homeland Security says the man refused to cooperate.

The incident has renewed public scrutiny of federal agents' enforcement tactics, especially amid the Trump administration's large-scale immigration sweeps, which have sparked protests and lawsuits across the country.

Location: Evanston, Illinois, a Chicago suburb.

Injuries: The U.S. citizen reported injuries to his head, neck and teeth and was taken to hospital by ambulance.

Key evidence: Bystander cellphone video captured the man shouting "I'm a fucking U.S. citizen" as agents pinned him to the ground.

Official response: ICE says the man resembled an investigation target and was uncooperative; local police are investigating the incident and have preserved body camera footage.

Agents and citizen clash According to a statement from the Evanston Police Department, police received a call at about 9:49 a.m.

Sunday reporting a dispute between two men.

When officers arrived, they found a man lying on the ground with several bystanders helping him.

Witnesses said ICE agents had tried to detain the man.

Police spoke with federal agents who said they were conducting a "fugitive investigation" and that they had tried to verify the identity of a man who resembled their target, but that the man refused to show identification and "resisted detention." The agents later confirmed the man was not the person they were looking for and was a U.S. citizen, and then released him.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told CNN that ICE agents "immediately identified themselves as law enforcement" during the encounter, but that the man was uncooperative and refused to identify himself.

The DHS statement did not mention the man's injuries, but Evanston police noticed blood on one agent's hand; the agent said he was injured while trying to detain the man.

Video shows the enforcement encounter Surveillance video obtained by CNN shows two agents struggling with the man while he was standing, then pulling him to the ground.

In cellphone video shot by a bystander, two agents are seen standing behind a black SUV, with one appearing to pin the man down.

After the agents released him, the man remained face-down on the street as bystanders came to help and called for emergency assistance.

Witness Miguel Olivares said he heard the man repeatedly shout "I am a U.S. citizen," and said the agents "were rough with him, held him on the ground, and it looked like one of the agents hit him." Olivares said the man was "terrified and could barely speak" afterward.

According to local police, federal agents left the scene because they feared an attack as protesters began to gather.

Source: CNN Cover image source: Associated Press The post ICE Agents Wrongly Detain U.S.

Citizen in Chicago, Man Injured After Being Taken to Ground appeared first on Sing Tao Daily.