Video shows ICE agents handcuffing Chicago alderwoman inside Humboldt Park hospital

CHICAGO (WGN) — Chicago Ald. Jesse Fuentes (26th Ward) says she was handcuffed and threatened by federal agents inside a Humboldt Park Hospital for asking agents if they had a warrant for a patient inside.

Fuentes was joined by dozens of people, including other elected leaders, outside the hospital, demanding that the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) let an immigration attorney speak with the undocumented man inside.

The alderperson said federal agents detained her after asking for a warrant.  

Video from the Citizen App shows Fuentes asking for the warrant, saying the man had constitutional rights. She says agents then put her in handcuffs and later released her when she challenged the ICE agents, asking what law she was breaking for her detainment.

WGN-TV reached out to ICE for comment on this incident and has yet to receive a response.

Fuentes says the undocumented man inside the hospital is roughly 37 years of age. It’s not known precisely how the man broke his leg, but it allegedly occurred when ICE was attempting to arrest him.

Witnesses say ICE brought the injured man to the hospital, where an immigration attorney has been unable to speak with him. 

In a Friday afternoon press conference, Fuentes addressed the chain of events that led to the incident.

“People deserve to get medical attention and not fear that they’re going to get detained or deported,” she said. “And so, I arrived at the emergency room, in which the ICE agents were sitting in the room with the individual outside of that room. I asked the ICE agents if they had a judicial warrant for the individual that they were detaining. They refused to answer.”

Little is known about the injured undocumented man, Fuentes said.

“We do not have any other background [other than] he was chased by ICE prior to arriving at the hospital, in which he fell (and) broke his leg,” the alder said. “And it’s why ICE agents brought him here. The trauma to his leg is so severe that he’s going to need surgery. The hospital is making current decisions.”

Community groups are also speaking out against ICE tactics, which, they say, were witnessed by several people on Friday morning across multiple North Side neighborhoods. 

“One of the first calls I responded to was ICE throwing tear gas right outside Rico Fresh on Armitage and Central Park, pepper-spraying customers coming out of the grocery store, rapid responders, people driving by who had to pull over because they could no longer see,” Fuentes said. “This is violence we are seeing in our community.”

Community leaders also noted that locals spotted federal agents in Logan Square and Belmont Cragin.