CHICAGO — Federal immigration agents violated the rights of 22 people, including a U.S. citizen, in immigration enforcement arrests during the first weeks of President Donald Trump’s second term, Chicago activists and attorneys alleged Monday.
The arrests allegedly violate a 2022 agreement between Chicago groups and the federal government detailing how U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement officers can make “ collateral arrests,” where agents detain others besides those being targeted. The agreement, following a lawsuit over 2018 immigration sweeps, covers Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky and Wisconsin, which are under the ICE office in Chicago.
“Every time you hear from this administration about how they’re rounding up gang members, terrorists, the worst of the worst, you need to take a dose of reality,” said Mark Fleming, an attorney with the National Immigrant Justice Center, said at a news conference. “You need to dig deeper to understand who exactly they are arresting.”
The NIJC detailed alleged violations in a federal complaint filed last week on behalf of advocacy groups in Chicago. Among other things, the agreement says ICE agents can make a warrantless arrest only when they have evidence that an individual is likely to escape.
The groups are seeking the release of two people who remain detained, sanctions against arresting officers and more transparency in how the agency conducts its operations, among other things.
ICE declined comment Monday, citing pending litigation.
Aggressive immigration enforcement has been central to the Trump administration’s agenda, particularly in places such as Chicago that are often called sanctuary cities because they limit cooperation between federal immigration agents and local police. To send a message, the Trump administration gathered top immigration officials in Chicago in January to kick off an enforcement operation with cameras rolling live.
But there have been limited details on how the arrests are taking place and what practices are being used.
While the 2022 settlement applied only to six states, the new federal complaint could have nationwide implications. For instance, advocates in other states could join the effort .
Of those arrested, one was deported, 19 were released on bond and one was a U.S. citizen who was released after being handcuffed for hours. Most in the complaint do not have criminal records aside from one person with a driving under the influence charge, according to attorneys.
Those detained include Abel Orozco Ortega, a 47-year-old man who was arrested Jan. 26 while returning to his suburban Chicago home after getting tamales for his family. According to the complaint, ICE was actually looking for one of his sons in his 20s who has the same name. Ortega, who is in the U.S. illegally, remains detained in Indiana.
Family members said Monday that Ortega has no criminal record. His wife has breast cancer, they said, and, they have struggled to make mortgage payments without him.
“We’re all human, we deserve to be treated as such,” his son Eduardo Ortega, a U.S. citizen, said at a news conference.
Twelve of the arrests came from a Feb. 7 immigration sweep at a Mexican restaurant in Liberty, Missouri, where armed agents questioned employees for hours before the lunch rush. The complaint alleges agents did not have probable cause that the individuals were likely to flee before a warrant could be issued.
The federal government has until early April to respond in court. The current agreement expires in May.
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This story has been corrected to reflect that one person was deported instead of two.