ICE agents accused of pepper-spraying Illinois parents and their one-year-old
A 25-year-old Illinois man says federal ICE agents pepper-sprayed him and his family — including his one-year-old daughter — through the window of their car during a shopping trip at a Sam's Club in Cicero, a Chicago suburb, with video showing the aftermath of the incident including the infant in visible distress. DHS denied that any pepper spray was deployed and described those present as "rioters throwing objects," but Veraza and witnesses say the family were simply shoppers who tried to leave when they noticed an ICE operation underway nearby. The incident is part of a broader pattern of aggressive ICE enforcement in Chicago under Trump's "Operation Midway Blitz," which has included agents dragging a daycare worker out of a facility, targeting rideshare drivers at O'Hare airport, and releasing pepper spray near a Halloween parade — with the majority of those detained having no criminal record. A federal judge has already issued a restraining order limiting ICE's use of force in Chicago and reprimanded the operation's leader, Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino, for lying about a separate incident, and reports emerged that Bovino and some of his officers were set to leave the city.