Chicago Lawmaker Tear Gassed by ICE Agents During Kids' Halloween Festivities

Officials in Chicago are condemning tear gassing by federal U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents that occurred in the midst of a children’s Halloween parade last weekend.

Chicago, following in the footsteps of cities like Los Angeles and Portland, has been in the crosshairs of the Trump administration. President Donald Trump and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker have exchanged a war of words in recent months due to heightened ICE activity and threats of deployment of the federal National Guard.

Four consecutive days of reported tear gassing by ICE agents culminated in Saturday’s chaos in a residential neighborhood on Chicago’s Northwest Side, in Avondale and Old Irving Park. Officials including a state senator and alderman said things unraveled as part of broader tensions that have escalated between lawmakers, residents and federal agents in recent months.

Illinois State Sen. Graciela Guzman, who represents the 20th district that includes Avondale, said that Saturday’s Halloween-themed events included candy pickups and costume contests.

“Over the course of 20-25 minutes, there were multiple detentions by ICE,” Guzman told Military.com. “In a 25-minute span, there were three independent uses of tear gas in my district and my community.”

She said that she and her team had been responding to reports that a U.S. citizen was being detained in the parking lot of a community grocery store when they heard “whistles or screams.” They traversed across the street, where they claim they witnessed “ICE agents in their minivan with multiple canisters of tear gas.”

“They opened one up right as we got there, so myself and my team did get tear gassed—alongside probably 15-20 other community members that were trying to ICE why they were there, why they were masked up, why they were not identifying themselves.”

ICE agents then left the scene, according to Guzman, who had previously been tear gassed by federal agents outside a church in another part of her community. She said she’s been provided no direct explanation by authorities for why tear gassing occurred and chaos erupted.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Military.com that U.S. Border Patrol conducted an operation on Oct. 25 that resulted in the arrest of a “criminal illegal alien” from Mexico who had previously been arrested for assault.

During the operation Border Patrol agents were surrounded and boxed in by a group of agitators, McLaughlin said, with federal law enforcement’s “multiple lawful commands and verbal warnings ignored.”

“During the operation, two U.S. citizens were arrested for assaulting and impeding a federal officer,” McLaughlin said. “To safely clear the area after multiple warnings and the crowd continuing to advance on them, Border Patrol had to deploy crowd control measures.

“Our officers are facing a 1,000% increase in assaults against them as they put their lives on the line to arrest murderers, rapists, abusers and gang members. [DHS] Secretary [Kristi] Noem’s message to the rioters is clear: you will not stop us or slow us down. ICE and our federal law enforcement partners will continue to enforce the law. And if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

One of the detainees is a 35-year-old father and construction worker named Luis Villegas, whose family told local ABC 7 that he was working on a project when agents arrested him.

'It Is Frightening'

The ongoing ICE presence in and on the periphery of Chicago is ramping up in recent weeks, according to Alderman Andre Vasquez, who represents Chicago’s 40th ward.

Vasquez told Military.com that he and other officials have “definitely” seen an increase of ICE showing up on residential streets, in some instances claimed to be picking up day laborers—such as those doing landscaping work or fixing houses.

Rapid-response networks are responding whenever they see ICE vehicles in the vicinity, including when tear gas is thrown.

“It is frightening,” said Vasquez, also chair of the Committee on Immigrant Refugee Rights. “It’s very Gestapo tactics, very secret police [type behavior] going on. You’ve got unidentified folks doing it, and so the activity has increased.

“It’s led to a lot of people, frankly, being drained and exhausted in trying to stay on top of everything. We have a bunch of neighbors; all they’re doing is school patrols, rapid response and other things to make sure we do everything to keep our neighbors safe.”

He and other community leaders have been organizing what they call community defense workshops that have drawn hundreds of residents over several outings across town. But while communities step up, he said the fear for some of being in harm’s way has caused a feeling of wariness.

“It’s a political attack on multiple fronts that we’re watching happen in real time,” he said.

Both Guzman and Vasquez said it’s almost impossible to track how many of the residents in their districts and communities have been detained.

Guzman estimated more than 3,000 individuals across the state of Illinois. She mentioned one story of how two vehicles on a residential street sat unmoved and not driven for two weeks. After working with local neighbors, she came to realize that the individuals who own those vehicles were detained without a trace.

“I’ve heard hundreds, I’ve heard thousands, so I don’t know that we’ve got anything quantifiable,” Vasquez said. “That’s part of what’s scary, that there are folks who are effectively gone missing and there’s no way to track [them].

“It is concerning. It should be concerning for the whole country.”