How federal agents are terrorizing American citizens
Last week, hundreds of heavily armed federal agents descended on an apartment complex in Chicago, arriving in Black Hawk helicopters and moving trucks. After they arrived at 7500 S. South Shore Drive, agents from Border Patrol, the FBI, and other agencies busted down nearly every door. Residents were pulled from their apartments in the middle of the night, including children, some of them reportedly naked.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the raid was targeting the Tren de Aragua gang, but “gave no evidence to support the assertion.” There is little to suggest Tren de Aragua has a significant presence in the Chicago area.
The Trump administration described the action as targeting a terrorist organization but declined to say whether it obtained search warrants for the raid. By ignoring legal requirements designed to protect civil liberties, the operation ensnared numerous American citizens who live in the building.
67-year-old Roderick Johnson, a U.S. citizen, “said agents broke through his door and dragged him out in zip ties.” After telling agents he was a citizen, Johnson was told he “had to wait until they looked me up.” His requests to see a search warrant or speak to a lawyer were ignored. Johnson “was left tied up outside the building for nearly three hours before agents finally let him go.”
According to DHS, four children who are U.S. citizens were separated from their parents after DHS alleged that the parents “lacked legal status.” The children were “taken into custody until they could be put in the care of a safe guardian or the state.” The mother of one child who was detained had a pending asylum case, meaning she is legally present in the U.S. until the resolution of her case. She was later reunited with her son. When she returned to her apartment, it was boarded up, and all her possessions were missing.
The Chicago raid was not an anomaly. The massive expansion of immigration enforcement — with tens of billions of new funding, tens of thousands of newly recruited agents, and unrealistic arrest targets — has led to systemic violations of U.S. citizens’ Constitutional rights.
George Retes
On July 10, George Retes, a 25-year-old Army veteran, was detained by federal agents “while on his way to work as a security guard at a Southern California cannabis farm.” He told the agents that he was “an American citizen and that his wallet and identification were in his nearby car.” Retes was violently arrested and then “[h]eld in a jail cell for three days and nights.” While incarcerated, “he was not allowed to make a phone call, see an attorney, appear before a judge, or take a shower to wash off pepper spray and tear gas that the agents had used.”
Leo Garcia Venegas
On May 21, Leo Garcia Venegas, “an American citizen and construction worker in south Alabama,” was laying a foundation at a private construction site when federal agents jumped a fence and tackled him. After presenting “his Alabama-issued REAL ID” the agents rejected it as a fake. Venegas was “kept tightly handcuffed for an hour” and released only after an agent verified his social security number. Then, on June 21, Venegas was working in a home when “cornered him in a back bedroom, and ordered him to leave the house.” He again showed the agents his ID, which they dismissed as fake. Venegas was “marched to the edge of the development and held with other detained Latino construction workers, including at least two who were also legally in the country.” He was finally released after about 20 minutes.
Venegas’ repeated detentions are the result of DHS conducting warrantless searches and then detaining people based on their racial profile.
Andrea Velez
On June 24, Andrea Velez, a U.S. citizen, was “swept up in an immigration raid on her way to work“ in Los Angeles. Velez says she was “knocked to the ground by an ICE officer, and despite declaring her citizenship was detained and led to a car.” Believing she was being kidnapped, she attempted to run to two police officers before the ICE agents caught her. Velez “spent two nights in jail before facing a felony charge for obstructing an officer, a charge the Justice Department dropped two weeks later.”
Javier Ramirez
On June 12, Javier Ramirez, a citizen born in San Bernardino, California, was detained by federal agents at a Southern California tow yard. Ramirez, who exports cars to Mexico, told the agents that he was a citizen and had documentation. Ramirez was held in a federal detention facility for five days before being released.
Cary Lopez Alvarado
On June 8, Cary Lopez Alvarado, a U.S. citizen, was detained when she was nine months pregnant. “I crouched down and held my belly, because I was scared they would hurt me. ... Three agents were grabbing me and trying to handcuff me,” Alvardo told Noticias Telemundo. A DHS spokesperson claimed Alvarado “was arrested because she obstructed federal law enforcement by blocking access to a car that had two Guatemalan illegal aliens in it.” She was never charged.
Rafie Ollah Shouhed
Rafie Ollah Shouhed, a 79-year-old citizen who owns a car wash in the LA area, was detained on September 9 during an ICE raid. A video of the incident shows ICE agents tackling Shouhed. He was then detained for 12 hours and denied medical treatment. According to a lawsuit filed by Shouhed, he suffered “broken ribs, an injured elbow, and post-concussive symptoms of a traumatic brain injury.” Federal officials claim that Shouhed was impeding a raid at his car wash but he was not charged.
A green light from the Supreme Court
On July 11, a U.S. district court judge issued an order prohibiting federal agents from stopping someone as a potential undocumented immigrant based primarily on “apparent race or ethnicity,” speaking Spanish, working in agriculture or construction, or any combination of those factors. On September 8, the Supreme Court enjoined that ruling, allowing federal agents to continue targeting people based on their perceived race, language, or occupation.
“If the officers learn that the individual they stopped is a U. S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, they promptly let the individual go,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote, casually dismissing the violation of Constitutional rights.
“We should not have to live in a country where the Government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, and appears to work a low wage job,” Justice Sonya Sotomayor wrote in a dissenting opinion signed by two other members of the court. “Rather than stand idly by while our constitutional freedoms are lost, I dissent.”
ICE goons think they will never be held to account for this. They are wrong. And frankly states should start charging them for the crimes they are committing. In the case of that Chicago invasion start with false arrest, kidnapping, destruction of private property, child abuse, etc. The dumbasses filmed the whole thing, enter that in evidence against them.
Very brave of federal agents to be tackling people in their 60s and 70s minding their own business to the ground. Also, question to Brett Kavanaugh: What part of detention for several days constitutes "prompt" release? As if that would even make this OK in the first place.