In Front of Our Noses: ICE Assaulting Citizens
While there has been some good news this week in terms of enduring democratic institutions in the United States, we cannot forget what is happening right in front of our noses. To wit, via the Chicago Tribune: Chicago woman dragged out of her car after colliding with ICE demands accountability.
Dayanne Figueroa was on her way to get coffee before heading to work when she encountered a chaotic scene in West Town: heavily armed, masked federal agents making arrests on a residential street.
People yelled as vehicles honked their horn — a sign now used to alert neighbors that immigration federal agents are in the area — and witnesses said federal agents had arrested several landscaper workers presumed to be in the country without authorization.
As Figueroa tried to drive through the 1600 block of West Hubbard Street on Friday, Oct. 10, an unmarked vehicle driven by federal agents collided with Figueroa’s as it tried to speed away from a hostile crowd, multiple videos reviewed by the Tribune show.
If you watch the video, the unmarked car that the ICE agents are driving hits Figueroa, not the other way around. They are behaving recklessly, and unlike, say, a clearly marked police car running lights and sirens, there is no reason for drivers to know to get out of their way.
The collision itself is bad enough, but the military assault on her vehicle and person should be unacceptable, even if Figueroa were at fault; this is not the way to deal with the situation. Worse, she was taken into custody for hours, during which her family did not know where she was.
For hours, her family couldn’t locate her. Only after coming across a video online did they realize that Figueroa had been taken by masked federal agents through video circulating the web. They were able to ping her through her iPhone location at the ICE processing center in Broadview.
Her mother said she was shocked and “desperately worried.” Figueroa had kidney surgery in August, and the way agents pulled her out of the vehicle and threw her on the ground “deeply concerned me,” her mother, Teresita Figueroa, told the Tribune.
But what stunned Teresita Figueroa the most was that despite her daughter being a U.S. citizen, the family couldn’t locate her. She said no authorities, including the Chicago police, were able to give them clarity on why her daughter was arrested.
To top it all off, DHS has blatantly lied about the event.
The Department of Homeland Security later released a statement claiming that Figueroa was at fault, saying “she crashed into an unmarked government vehicle and violently resisted arrest, injuring two officers.”
First, they crashed into her. Second, she is clearly panicked and puts up some natural resistance to being dragged out of her care by masked gunmen. Third, where is the violence?
The sad thing is, this is just one example among many.
All of this demonstrates that having ICE tool around urban centers is a bad idea; they are clearly not trained as to how to operate in such an environment. That citizens become collateral damage in their tough-guy games is not making the country safer; indeed, it manifestly is making it more dangerous.
Note that ICE was in the process of rounding up landscape workers suspected of being in the country illegally. I would submit that leaving them to their landscaping would have made Chicagoans safer than having ICE agents, armed for war, wildly driving around in an unmarked car.
Jesus.H.Nixon.Christ, as my late grandmother used to say.
Never thought I’d think fondly of my interactions with law enforcement in the early-mid 70s. Of course, in those days a masked thug running towards me with a gun (after disabling my car) woulda likely been shot.
Here’s hoping the Cook County grand jury promptly indicts these goombas for vehicular assault, assault with intent, false arrest, kidnapping, and perjury. Every one of them. But they’ll more likely be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Pfui!!!
When we retake the White House we should disband ICE entirely and investigate ICE goons for their illegal actions. In fact, we should put them on notice now that their law-breaking will be investigated thoroughly and prosecuted. They’re thinking Trump will pardon them but they should remember that Trump won’t give a fuck about them unless they have net worths expressed in at least nine figures.
They pulled their guns and swarmed her car. For a traffic accident. These people are primed for violence, always.
The phrase “masked federal agents” needs to become a thing of an ugly past right goddamn now.
Dr. Taylor: they are clearly trained to do exactly this. Also, resisting arrest means yelling ouch when they knock you down. The law is clearly a device for exerting unopposible power on the people of the US. Wearing a frog costume will get you a dose of pepper spray. Legitimacy is masked unbadged men beating you up. I don’t expect the people who waived around pocket copies of the Constitution to do anything.
Sadly, these tactics are far too acceptable to far too many fellow citizens.
Check out the videographer at the 1:40 time stamp. They are masked – clearly one of the feds. The videographer is going in for a close-up to be featured in a sizzle reel for Kristi Noem. Somewhere, some time later that day, there were people in the employ of the US hootin’ and hollerin’ over that poor woman’s abuse.
EVERYTHING about what ICE is doing EVERYWHERE in this country makes Americans less safe.
I think we would do well to remind people that every shitty thing happening in America right now is happening entirely because Trump is President.
@Scott F.: Yup. It is why I changed “is” to “should be” when I originally wrote the sentence.
@Kingdaddy: @Slugger: @Mikey:
Agreed.
A couple of points:
(1) I’m not conspiratorially-minded, but I could be persuaded that many of these ICE Agents are deputized Proud Boys.
(2) Not that it matters now, but, perhaps some cynics and skeptics can now admit that the 2024 Democratic Party message that the (incoming) Trump 2 Administration would be somewhat fascist in tone and style – was kind of dead on?
Scanning the comments on the YT video, some people insist on seeing what they want to see. Ya know, Ms. Figueroa rammed the unmarked car.
I wonder how many of the people talking about how the woman was resisting arrest also uttered the words “we will not comply” a few years ago. Maybe even bought a shirt or hat with the phrase.
How do you get someone to see what’s in front of their noses if they willingly place scales on their eyes?
@al Ameda:
Of course they were dead on. I know some of the pushback related to the fascism claims were questioning whether it was an effective message.
To be fair to that POV, it is intuitive. For anyone who remembered the first Trump administration, especially after 1/6, and still was considering voting for Trump, fascism vs. democracy doesn’t seem to be salient.
Part of the problem is that a significant portion of the country has authoritarian attitudes on certain issues. Dehumanizing rhetoric is effective. Pointing the finger in judgment is easier and quicker than understanding. Frightening.
Here’s Botox Betty claiming, falsely, that no American citizens have been kidnapped by ICE.
The entire clip is a litany of lies but stay for the end.
https://youtu.be/0KiGZZD11bw
And yes, when masked people pick up other people and provide no identification and have no probable cause and hold them for days without charges and don’t allow communication with anyone…it’s tantamount to kidnapping.
@al Ameda:
Um, no. It will NOT be admitted that stating unequivocally what Trumpists are is dead on.
It is a political given that people who behave deplorably must not be called Deplorables going back more than a decade.
@Michael Reynolds:
Pardons are only for federal crimes. These crimes occur in a state, and are likely also state crimes. There’s are defenses that federal officers a make in state court to try to push the case into federal court — at least force them to make these arguments. Increase the costs to do fascist shit — time, money, hassle. Every day a Nazi is in court asserting federal primacy is a day that Nazi isn’t on the streets doing Nazi shit.
There’s no reason to be telling ICE that their actions will be prosecuted later when they can just be prosecuted now.
Also, our various 2028 Presidential hopefuls should know that prosecuting the gestapo is the way to a lot of voter’s votes. Im willing to overlook a lot of terrible policies for that.
Whenever ICE says anything about one of these incidents, assume it’s a filthy pack of lies. Because it always is.
The “100-Mile Border Zone” jurisdiction as interpreted is asinine. It goes along all the bays and inlets, not just the land borders, so all The Great Lakes are considered a border. Chicago is on the border with Canada by this legal jurisdiction, ditto Seattle and Sacramento. Washington DC is on the border, Philly too. It is absurd, and quite legal. Congress needs to fix this loophole for Federal jurisdiction (what about good Republicans supporting the rights of the states?) https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/border-zone (see the crazy map https://www.southernborder.org/100_mile_border_enforcement_zone).