Authorities in a suburb of Chicago are gathering video footage and other evidence to forward to the Illinois attorney general’s office following a car accident involving a U.S. Border Patrol vehicle. The incident escalated into a violent arrest, captured on video, where an agent is seen repeatedly punching a man in the head while he is pinned to the ground.
The confrontation occurred after a sedan rear-ended the Border Patrol vehicle around noon on Friday in Evanston, Illinois. The situation quickly intensified as a crowd gathered to witness the unfolding events.
Footage shared on social media depicts some bystanders seemingly attempting to disrupt the arrests. In response, federal agents are observed using pepper spray, striking a man who approached them, and pointing a firearm toward a woman who opened the door of the agents’ vehicle, where a detainee was being held.
Recently, federal agents have been increasingly present in Evanston as part of immigration enforcement operations initiated by former President Donald Trump in the Chicago area. This has prompted some community members to form “rapid response” teams to alert residents of federal agents’ presence and attempt to slow their movements throughout the city.
In one particularly intense moment of the altercation, an agent restraining a man on the ground was seen punching him in the head. The Department of Homeland Security later stated that the officer acted in self-defense after the man allegedly “grabbed the agent’s genitals and squeezed.”
Some onlookers, posting online, claimed that the accident was caused by the agents suddenly braking in front of the sedan. However, federal officials have contested this version of events. In the aftermath, city leaders have voiced strong disapproval of the agents’ conduct.
In a news conference shortly after the episode, Mayor Daniel Biss said immigration agents had “beaten people up” and “abducted them.”
“It is an outrage,” Biss said. “Our message for ICE is simple: Get the hell out of Evanston.”
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that the agents were being “aggressively tailgated” and the sedan hit them as they tried to make a U-turn.
“A hostile crowd then surrounded agents and their vehicle, verbally abusing and spitting on them,” the agency said. “One physically assaulted a Border Patrol agent and kicked an agent. As he was being arrested, he grabbed the agent’s genitals and squeezed them. The agent delivered several defensive strikes to free himself.”
The mayor has urged more people to join the rapid response team, and city officials have passed ordinances declaring city property to be “No ICE Zones.” This week the Evanston Police Department began sending a supervisor to any reported immigration enforcement scene to document what happens and collect evidence for the Illinois attorney general’s Civil Rights Division, Police Cmdr. Ryan Glew said.
Glew said officers received calls from both federal agents and bystanders. A supervisor arrived after the arrests were made, and several people were treated by paramedics for exposure to pepper spray.
“When we responded those efforts were focused on stabilizing the situation and preventing further conflict between ICE agents and community members,” he said.
Allie Harned, a social worker at Chute Middle School, was part of the crowd that formed after the collision.
“This was awful. There were ICE agents and CBP agents pointing guns at community members, spraying pepper spray in the face of community members,” she said at the news conference.
“This was terrifying to community members,” Harned said. “It was horrifying to a student who happened to be in a car and witnessed it. It is not OK.”
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This story has been updated to correct the spelling of the Evanston mayor’s name to Biss, not Bis.
