Share and Follow
CHICAGO (WLS) — In Chicago’s West Town neighborhood, federal agents apprehended a man, captured in a video amid reports of Immigration and Customs Enforcement activities throughout the city’s North Side on Friday.
ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch
The video shows a federal officer breaking the driver’s side window of a vehicle before taking the man inside into custody near the intersection of West Superior Street and North Paulina Street.
ABC7 chose to obscure the man’s face in the footage, as it remains unclear if any charges have been filed against him.
On social media, Laugh Factory revealed that their night manager was taken into custody by “masked federal agents” outside the Lakeview comedy venue on Friday.
The comedy club shared a video of the event on its Facebook page.
SEE ALSO | Chicago federal intervention: Tracking surge in immigration enforcement operations | Live updates
Chicago police said officers responded to a report of a battery at Belmont Avenue and Broadway just before 9:20 a.m.
Responding officers saw federal agents and two other individuals in a physical altercation, and a crowd had gathered in the area, police said.
Police said officers worked to deescalate and conduct crowd control. CPD did not make any arrests and left the scene once the area was cleared.
This all comes as multiple alderpersons have issued alerts about reported ICE activity on Friday.
Ald. Daniel La Spata, who represents the 1st Ward, said on Friday morning, there have been “numerous confirmed sightings of ICE” throughout the West Town community area, including neighborhoods surrounding Ukrainian Village, Wicker Park, and the Humboldt Park border.
Ald. Timmy Knusden, who represents the 43rd Ward, said community members on Friday have “reported ICE sightings and suspected enforcement activity at the following locations:
- Cleveland/Belden
- 2600 N Racine
- 440 W Belden
- Reports of 2 unmarked SUVs driving north on Halsted with masked drivers
- Lincoln/Racine/Diversey
- Racine/Drummond
- Lill/Seminary
- Wrightwood/Racine”
Wicker Park’s A.N. Pritzker School said it is on soft lockdown Friday, and all after-school programs, with the exception of Wicker Park Kids and Apollo, are canceled. School officials did not immediately say whether soft lockdown status was triggered due to ICE activity in the area.
SEE ALSO | Some Chicago Board of Education members call for CPS remote learning amid immigration operations
Earlier, protesters gathered outside the ICE processing facility in Broadview once again, as they have done every Friday now for several weeks.
Friday’s demonstration has remained fairly contained to one corner as protesters keep within the safety zone, speaking out against the Trump’s administration’s operation “Midway Blitz” and the recent immigration crackdown in the Chicagoland area.
“I believe that we are creating huge wounds, not only for the people who are being detained, but for the ICE officers who are doing these horrible things. I feel terrible for everybody,” said Mary Kelly, who lives in Oak Park.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to ABC7’s request for comment on Friday’s federal agent activity in the Chicago area.
DHS says gang member tried to ram agents with car, defends apparent tear gas use on protesters
Meanwhile, ABC7 is getting more information from the DHS about recent violent run-ins with federal agents over the past few days.
DHS says Wednesday was one of their most violent days on the job. At 26th and Ogden in Cicero, DHS claims a Latin Kings gang member tried to ram agents with his vehicle.
Six people were arrested that day for impeding operations, and three undocumented immigrants were placed into custody.
And there were more tense moments Thursday at the Little Village Discount Mall during an anti-ICE rally.
Attorneys accused federal agents of violating a court order, which does not allow them to use riot control weapons unless facing an imminent threat and requires them to issue warnings first before deploying tear gas.
A federal complaint is now taking aim at the man who led the charge. An image of Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino appears to show him throw tear gas “without justification,” according to the complaint.
“Federal agents started acting aggressive, pushing protesters away… Again, it was all peaceful protesters,” said protester Kristian Armendariz.
However, DHS says the group of about 75-100 people began firing commercial artillery shell fireworks at agents and throwing rocks, adding that Bovino was hit in the head.
According to DHS, agents repeated multiple warnings to the crowd to back up, informing them that chemical agents would be deployed. The department stood by their agents’ actions, saying, “Agents properly used their training. The use of chemical munitions was conducted in full accordance with CBP policy and was necessary to ensure the safety of both law enforcement and the public.”
Bovino was set to appear in court on Nov. 5 to give a two-hour testimony, but now a federal judge has ordered more than double the time, five hours, to question Bovino after the incidents.
Later Friday, Judge Sara Ellis also ordered Bovino to testify in-person on Tuesday during a status hearing.
