ICE and CBP Excessive Use of Crowd Control Measures

Francisco Chan Reyes was racially profiled by ICE agents who swarmed his vehicle, immediately smashed his window without any warning, pepper sprayed him and handcuffed him face down in the pavement suffering a head injury and burns. One agent laughed as he withered in pain. He was detained for hours as his valid paperwork and work permit were falsely called into question.

A family was trying to escape with their children to a safer location after ICE agents tear gassed their neighborhood, but then agents fired flash-bang grenades and tear gas at their vehicle with six children inside. Their 6-month-old baby had to be hospitalized with breathing problems.

Peaceful observers were shot by rubber bullets for filming ICE agents abusing a woman detained for similarly filming them at a safe distance from her car.

Multiple innocent people were accosted by immigration agents while they blocked traffic during which:

Trained observers had their car vents pepper sprayed and windows smashed by an ICE agent for documenting their actions and said of recently murdered Renee Good, "that’s why that lesbian b—— is dead." One agent ripped the whistle off Brandon Sigüenza's neck taunting that he's "gonna be needing this later." Other agents taunted and mocked Patty O’Keefe including calling her ugly. They were detained for 8 hours and released without charges.

Journalists Jon Farina & JT Cestkowski were hit with crowd control projectiles despite being across the street where immigration agents directed them to stand and also despite wearing large press credentials and carrying a logoed mic and professional camera. Throughout the day they also endured tear gassing from agents "blanket firing into the whole crowd."

Minneapolis high school students were tear gassed by ICE\CBP agents who were "shouting at students, threatening students" and multiple witnesses reported people being shoved noting agents were "physical and aggressive." They detained a special ed teacher for dubious reasons and so he was later released.

A man had his truck boxed in recklessly by two ICE vehicles and then his window smashed after which he was dragged out of the truck, grabbed by the neck, thrown against a porch railing and repeatedly punched. Then he was pepper sprayed, tackled and pinned to the ground despite pleas that he could not breathe, and ICE agents refused to allow a bystander to give the man water to wash out his eyes.

ICE agents indiscriminately shot pepper spray into a crowd that was determined to not be breaking any laws by local law enforcement.

Peaceful protesters were excessively pepper sprayed from ICE vehicles as they were driving away. One officer got out of the car and pepper sprayed multiple people in the eyes and the ground including spraying a very unassuming person with their back turned inches from their face. One victim, Khalid Mohamed, attested, "I lost my voice. I was blind for about 30 minutes." Leading up to all this, agents randomly asked people on the street if they had IDs and proof of citizenship.

ICE agents used excessive force on peaceful protestors and journalist outside the Taco Giro including pepper spraying people at close range, firing pepper balls into crowds and using tear gas. U.S. Adelita Grijalva reported members of her staff, press and herself were directly sprayed in the face.

Maryioth Pascanales immediately went to open the front door pounded on by ICE agents, but before she could answer they broke through her door and needlessly tear gassed her and her two 10-month-old twins and made a "mess of the home". She was handcuffed and driven to an ICE facility with her babies where they were detained for 5 hours until released.

A woman in a cane passively and peacefully protesting an ICE operation was pepper sprayed in the face at point blank range for an excessively long time after which she was pushed away until she fell to the ground overcome. This violated a federal court order governing its use according to a former officer and use-of-force expert.

U.S. Citizen activist protestors Ruben Morales and Jessi Olazaba were attacked by ICE agents despite turning around and backing up when told. They pepper sprayed Ruben Morales in the back and tackled him to the ground with such force it ripped his pants, bloodied his knees and scratched his throat and arm. Jessi Olazaba filmed the arrest and an agent knocked off her glasses, pepper sprayed her and shoved her to the ground where she hit the back of her head. Ruben Morales was released without charges and Jessi Olazaba was cited for impeding an arrest despite merely filming their actions from an appropriate distance.

ICE deployed tear gas on a residential street in Chicago’s Old Irving Park neighborhood without warning or provocation as families with young children were gathering to watch a popular yearly Halloween parade.

Reverend Jorge Bautista was shot in the face by a pepper ball at close range despite simply standing peacefully holding a protest sign and also dressed nicely in a suit. It was severe enough for him to be taken to an emergency room where he texted that he was "in a lot of pain."

Federal immigration agents jumped a fence to detain a man on private property without a warrant in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood and then fired tear gas across a residential street without warning when neighbors demanded answers in violation of a federal court order requiring ICE to issue a verbal warning before deploying tear gas.

Four U.S. citizens were wrongfully detained for hours until released without charges by ICE officers who broke down a cemetery gate and entered private property without a warrant and unnecessarily deployed pepper balls against them.

US Marine veteran John Cerrone was violently tackled to the ground despite trying to deescalate by slowly pulling a protestor and also despite being on property adjacent to but not owned by ICE. He was detained for nine hours in a cell covered with blood, hair and mucus during which an agent boasted about shooting him in the head with rubber bullets yelling, "Where is that pussy!"

Reverend David Black, dressed in all black and peacefully protesting with his hands open in a non-threatening, way was shot in the head and body multiple times with pepper balls without any warning.

A man dressed in an inflatable frog costume during a peaceful protest against ICE -- who obviously could not pose the slightest threat because of the sheer awkwardness of his satirical outfit -- was pepper sprayed directly in the air intake for the costume posing a severe medical risk.

Multiple bystanders near the Rico Fresh Mexican market of the Logan Square neighborhood in Chicago were subjected to a needlessly thrown smoke grenade. Multiple drivers had to stop and a couple with a 2-year-old had to rush to safety. The behavior was severe enough for the Chicago PD to open an investigation.

Four reporters\photojournalists for the Chicago news outlet Block Club "were hit with pepper balls by federal officers at the Broadview ICE facility and were at risk of enduring other forms of force, despite standing on public ways and apart from the crowd, wearing visible press credentials, and displaying other visible indications they were there as members of the press.”

CBS News Chicago reporter Asal Rezaei was assaulted with pepper balls in her open truck window on a public street by a masked ICE agent from around 50 feet away inside their facility's fenceline. The area was quiet and desolate, and she had turned to leave when the pepper ball struck her. White powder covered her face which was "on fire" for 10 minutes or so according to the victim who also vomited because of it. The town's police chief later announced a "criminal investigation into an allegedly unprovoked attack on a CBS Chicago TV news reporter's vehicle by a chemical munition."

Chicago suburban police officers and reporters were exposed to mace and tear gas used by ICE in an excessive use of force that escalated tensions with protesters outside a local facility and violated an agreement to give the local police department advance notice whenever chemical agents were going to be used.

CBS News Chicago photojournalist George Umbenhauer was hit with a pepper spray ball by ICE agents outside a suburban facility.

U.S. citizen and Iraq War veteran George Retes was driving to his job as a security guard where he was stopped at an ICE roadblock -- and despite not resisting or posing a threat, even backing up when told to -- ICE thugs broke his window, teargassed and pepper sprayed him and forced him to the ground where two of their degenerates put knees to his neck and back. Despite him having a valid ID, he was detained by ICE fascists for three days in an isolation cell and not allowed to shower despite the exposure to toxic chemicals. Additionally, he was denied access to a lawyer or a hearing with a judge and prevented from making phone calls. His family had no contact with him and no idea where he was and he missed his daughter's third birthday.

A man peacefully protesting was thrown to the ground by three CBP agents and while pinned down defenseless with his hands held behind his back, another agent pepper sprayed him directly in the face.

Rafael Veraza was pepper sprayed directly in the face by an immigration agent while trying to drive safely away federal agents which also affected his 1-year-old daughter of which he described that she "was trying to open her eyes" and "struggling to breathe."