The brutality of ICE operations in Chicago came under scrutiny on Wednesday after multiple armed agents arrested a daycare worker in front of children. At the same time witnesses described the use of excessive force by federal officers during a court hearing in the city.
ICE agents forcibly detained a worker at the Rayito de Sol daycare center in the city’s North Side neighborhood after pursuing her into the facility on Wednesday morning. Videos taken by bystanders show ICE agents dragging the woman out of the daycare – at one point appearing to slam her face against the glass doors – before pinning her against a parked car as they attempted to handcuff her.
Speaking to CBS Chicago, a parent, Matt Champion, who witnessed the arrest said that he had arrived at the daycare at around 6.55am to drop off his child. Champion said he saw a black car followed by a SUV arriving at the daycare’s parking lot around 10 minutes later.
He said he saw the daycare worker step out of the black car, run into the facility before ICE agents chased her, grabbed her arm and dragged her outside to the parking lot where she was arrested and put inside the SUV.
According to additional bystander videos reviewed by the Chicago Tribune, the worker could be heard saying “I have papers” in Spanish before she was forced against the car.
Speaking to the outlet, educator Marisel Mari said: “We were concerned about the safety of the children.” According to the daycare’s staff, no warrant was presented before an agent entered the facility, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Parent Tara Goodarzi, who was on her way to drop off her son, told the outlet that everyone was “crying, terrified, huddled together” following what she described as “the abduction”.
“To do it in a place where children are, with complete disregard for what children see, there’s no low these people won’t stoop to,” she added.
The Guardian has reached out to Rayito del Sol for comment.
City alderman Matt Martin who represents the 47th ward where the daycare is located told CBS Chicago that videos of the arrest were “some of the most chilling video footage I have ever seen”.
City and state lawmakers swiftly held a press conference to condemn the incident, with Democratic representative Mike Quigley saying: “This woman is a trusted, loved member of her community with a work permit who has dedicated her life to caring for children.”
“No child should ever be terrorized in their school,” he continued. “No parent should ever have to explain to their child why their teacher was dragged away by armed officers, and no teacher should fear that showing up to work to care for and educate kids could result in their arrest.”
The homeland security department spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, issued a statement denying that the daycare itself had been targeted. “ICE law enforcement did not target a daycare. Officers attempted to conduct a targeted traffic stop of this female illegal alien from Colombia,” she said.
“Officers attempted to pull over this vehicle, which was registered to a female illegal alien, with sirens and emergency lights, but the male driver refused to pull the vehicle over. Law enforcement pursued the vehicle before the assailant sped into a shopping plaza where he and the female passenger fled the vehicle. They ran into a daycare and attempted to barricade themselves inside the daycare – recklessly endangering the children inside,” she continued.
The incident at the daycare center and the swift backlash that followed coincided with testimony on Wednesday in a Chicago courtroom, where witnesses described allegations of excessive force by ICE agents during immigration raids across the city.
The hearing is part of a lawsuit filed by several media organizations and protesters who accuse the agency of a “pattern of extreme brutality” and a “concerted, ongoing effort to silence the press and civilians”.
Testifying at court, youth organizer Leslie Cortez said she was recording and explaining rights to day laborers in Spanish who were arrested by federal agents when one of them aimed his gun at her.
“I could see inside the barrel … My heart accelerated. I was nervous they were going to shoot,” she said, according to the Associated Press.
Meanwhile, Emily Steelhammer, executive director of the Chicago Newspaper Guild, testified that union members described being targeted with rubber bullets and pepper balls, as well as being exposed to chemical agents such as tear gas.
The plaintiffs’ lawyer Craig Futterman cited several recent instances in which ICE agents used teargas on residents in the Chicago area, including at a children’s Halloween parade. At one point, the court viewed video footage, reported by the Associated Press, showing Gregory Bovino, a senior border patrol official overseeing ICE’s “operation midway blitz” in the city, throwing a teargas canister.
Last month, a federal judge ordered Bovino to appear in federal court every weekday to report on ICE’s Chicago operations.
Defending ICE agents, justice department lawyer Sarmad Khojasteh alleged that protesters were issuing threats against the agents as well as attacking them with rocks.
“Such conduct must be rejected,” he said, according to the Associated Press.
