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Tag: Hoffman Estates

  • Yes, this video shows ICE activity in Hoffman Estates

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    A viral video shows a law enforcement officer dragging a young woman out of a car, pinning her to the ground and arresting her. 

    Social media users described it as an Oct. 10 Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, a Chicago suburb.

    A top Department of Homeland Security official said otherwise. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, an agency spokesperson, said the video doesn’t show ICE and is more than a year old. 

    “Imagine being so desperate to demonize law enforcement you post a video from a burglary arrest Chicago Police made over a year ago,” McLaughlin wrote Oct. 12 on X. “This isn’t even ICE.”

    Other X users and Grok, X’s artificial intelligence chatbot, echoed McLaughlin’s comment, wrongly connecting  the video footage to a series of 2024 Chicago public transit attacks involving a teenage girl.

    Ample evidence from videos shared by people on social media, including the young woman’s aunt, shows this incident happened recently in Hoffman Estates and involved ICE. Hoffman Estates is a suburb of Chicago, about 33 miles from downtown.

    The videos show officers wearing immigration enforcement vests. The background shows multiple houses on what appears to be a suburban street; and the visible street names place the footage in Hoffman Estates. 

    Although a Hoffman Estates police vehicle was on scene at the time of the incident, the agency said it was not involved in making an arrest. An agency spokesperson said it was stationed there for a non-related call. Chicago Police also said it was not involved in the matter. 

    The aunt said on Facebook that the young woman is a U.S. citizen who was protesting against ICE in their neighborhood. As ICE approached her and others, they left in their car, and ICE chased them, the woman said.

    That night, the aunt went live on Facebook, speaking in English and Spanish, and said no charges were filed against the teenager or others, and that she was at home.

    People have shared numerous videos about law enforcement operations and ICE raids since the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Chicago. This one stands out for a fact-check because of the law enforcement tactics used on the young woman (CBS News reported she is 18) and the Department of Homeland Security’s false dismissal about what happened.

    PolitiFact reached out to DHS but did not receive an immediate response.

    What do local police say?

    One of the video’s giveaways that this incident didn’t happen in Chicago is the presence of a marked Hoffman Estates police car. Hoffman Estates Police Chief Kasia Cawley told PolitiFact she was aware of an “arrest that ICE made on Friday,” which was Oct. 10, but her officers were in the same area for a different reason.

    The police department posted a similar statement Oct. 10 on Facebook, after the ICE arrest video went viral on social media.

    Another clue that ICE was involved: uniforms. The officer who grabbed the teenager out of the vehicle wore vests that said “Police ERO,” which stands for Enforcement and Removal Operations. This ICE division is in charge of detaining and removing people illegally in the U.S., according to ICE’s website. 

    The same officers with “ERO” vests appear in another Oct. 10 video taken outside of the Hoffman Estates Police Department. The video, also shared by the aunt, shows the young woman sitting in a parked vehicle, surrounded by officers with “ERO” vests, before she is released and enters an ambulance. 

    Social media videos show clues about address, congressman confirms location

    Two street signs at the intersection depicted in the video say Morton Street and Glendale Lane. Google Maps shows the same intersection located in Hoffman Estates. 

    Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., confirmed the ICE incident happened in his district and called for accountability and transparency. 

    The young woman’s parents spoke with CBS News, saying their daughter and two friends sat in cars at the police department for hours. Cawley told PolitiFact that DHS has not filed a report about what happened.

    Our ruling

    McLaughlin said a video shared on X showed a “burglary arrest Chicago Police made over a year ago.” 

    Numerous videos from the incident and police statements show the video depicts an ICE arrest in Hoffman Estates. 

    We rate the DHS spokesperson’s account False. 

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  • Parents of teen tossed to ground, detained by apparent federal agent demand answers

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    A teen in Hoffman Estates was thrown to the ground by what appeared to be a federal agent this past weekend, and the teen and two of her friends were detained for hours before they were released.

    Her parents spoke out Monday after they say their daughter, 18-year-old Evelyn, is still shaken from the experience.

    Evelyn’s parents said her boyfriend got a call that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were in his neighborhood. They went to warn people who live there and recorded the officers. This led to a violent arrest, in which the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it did not take part.

    Video from the Friday incident shows sirens and undercover law enforcement cars flooding the Hoffman Estates neighborhood where the arrest happened.

    The video shows Evelyn getting pulled out of the passenger seat. She is then thrown to the ground, all while saying she is not resisting arrest, as the officer handcuffed her and appeared to put a knee on her back.

    “I couldn’t protect my child,” Gerado said.

    Evelyn’s parents, Gerardo and Jazmin, said the images from the incident are something they cannot get out of their minds.

    “They were telling them they were U.S. citizens, and they didn’t care. It was very scary to see that video,” Jazmin said.

    Jazim and Gerado said their daughter and her two friends were taken in cars to the Hoffman Estates Police Department parking lot, where they sat for hours.

    “While we were there, we were asking when they were going to be released, and what were going to be the charges, trying to figure out some kind of information because they weren’t giving us any information,” Gerado said.

    At that point, Gerado and Jazmin said they didn’t know if they would see their daughter again. She and her friends were all released after hours of waiting, but there was confusion about the department to which the officers belonged.

    In a post on X, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin commented on Evelyn’s arrest video, saying, “Imagine being so desperate to demonize law enforcement you post a video from a burglary arrest Chicago police made over a year ago. This isn’t even ICE.”

    Hoffman Estates police, however, said ICE was in the area on Friday. 

    A statement sent to CBS News Chicago reads in part, “The only interaction we had with ICE was when they came to the police department to file a police report reference an incident that occurred during their enforcement. They ultimately decided to complete the report this week with us and have not completed that yet.”

    Evelyn’s parents said they want someone to hold accountability.

    “Isn’t the government supposed to protect and serve?” Gerado said. “Isn’t the law officers are supposed to protect and serve? Why would we lie about this?”

    Evelyn’s parents said they are taking legal action.

    CBS News Chicago reached out to the Department of Homeland Security to confirm whether agents were in Hoffman Estates on Friday, but did not hear back.

    On Monday, U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Illinois) came to the ICE facility in west suburban Broadview along with former U.S. Rep. Luis Gutiérrez. Krishnamoorthi spoke there about the teenager’s detainment.

    He said the post from the DHS official on the incident “spread misinformation,” and he called for transparency in that incident and others.

    “This has got to end. ICE is acting out of control at this point, and they need to be held accountable,” Krishnamoorthi said. “They need to be held accountable to their citizenry, who don’t appreciate what’s going on at all.”

    Krishnamoorthi also criticized DHS for not allowing him inside the Broadview ICE facility Monday. He said if people are being detained inside, he should be allowed to enter without notice under the Appropriations Law.

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