Chicago leaders call for investigation after South Loop ICE operation, calling it an 'entrapment'
Chicago Mayor Johnson condemns ICE operation, accuses feds of 'kidnapping'
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago leaders are demanding an investigation after agents detained several people outside a South Loop immigration center Wednesday.
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Alderman Anthony Quezada, of the 35th Ward, was outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Intensive Supervision Appearance Program Office in the South Loop on Wednesday.
"We decided to engage in nonviolence, civil disobedience and practice our first amendment right," Quezada said. "We were standing on the sidewalk, and we were preventing the ICE vans from entering into the facility."
At one point, video shows as protesters and leaders clashed with federal agents in the 2200-block of South Michigan Avenue.
An immigration attorney told ABC7 the people arrested there got a text message to come in to review their cases. However, when they arrived, they were quickly placed in ICE custody.
At least a dozen people were taken from the building and led into ICE-marked vans.
The faces of the men and women being put into a total of two vans have been blurred because ABC7 Chicago does not know whether they face any charges.
"This is not fair," Quezada said. "These are individuals who were operating in good faith. So, this text message was a form of entrapment."
Local leaders say they are worried about the kind of ripple effects immigration operations like this will have in the community.
Mayor Brandon Johnson is condemning the detainments, accusing the federal government of "kidnapping" people, and sowing fear in the immigrant community.
Johnson said this is a call to action.
The mayor said the community needs to rise up against this kind of action by the federal government, but he also said he and his team will meet with the Chicago police superintendent for a full review of what went down in the South Loop Wednesday.
The chaotic scene left Johnson frustrated and angry.
He minced no words when addressing a luncheon gathering celebrating National Immigrant Heritage Month on Thursday.
"We saw armed masked men walk down our streets in broad daylight, and they kidnapped mothers and fathers. We saw them brutalize protesters and shove crying grandmothers into the back of unmarked vans," Johnson said.
The mayor said he had a lot of concerns about the ICE operation.
"It was deceptive. You have the president of the United States of America setting human traps. It is sickening and unconscionable," Johnson said.
Many fear this will lead to further distrust in the immigration system and cause some migrants to miss court dates or appearances.
"It is concerning that there were masked, armed individuals making arrests, detaining people, sometimes pushing and shoving people, and that is not the way we want that type of law enforcement to happen here in Chicago," said Beatriz Ponce de Leon, deputy mayor for immigrant, migrant and refugee rights.
Gov. JB Pritzker also voiced concerns about what he called inappropriate ICE tactics.
"And even, there were bystanders who were protesting, not interfering, but simply protesting and expressing their personal, expressing their First Amendment rights and freedoms, and yet, those ICE officers were pushing people out of the way in a fashion that I don't think any of us think is right," Pritzker said.
The review of the incident will also look at what Chicago police did after responding to a pair of calls for assistance for law enforcement.
"And to some, it felt like they were providing a level of protection to ICE, as they were getting people out. So again, we think it is fair to have investigations call for a hearing and identify what the protocol is," said Ald. Andre Vasquez, chairman for the Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
CPD said it had no involvement in the detainments.
The mayor issued a call to action and resistance.
"We need people to rise up and say in a unified voice that enough is enough, and we will defend the honor of our democracy. And we will never surrender our humanity under tyranny," Johnson said.
SEE ALSO: Video shows ICE 'operation' in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood, officials confirm 2 arrested
It's not known exactly where the people were taken and what happens next.
ICE has not yet responded to the slew of criticism Thursday.
More than 2,000 arrested by ICE nationwide on Wednesday
ICE made 2,368 nationwide arrests on Wednesday, according to an official briefed on the figures.
In mid-May, Stephen Miller, the deputy chief of staff at the White House, was at ICE headquarters alongside Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and urged senior leaders at ICE and Homeland Security Investigations to step up their deportation efforts, according to sources familiar with the meeting.
The meeting was attended by senior ICE leaders and the special agents in charge of Homeland Security Investigations.
Miller told senior ICE leaders that the Trump administration wants to triple the daily number of arrests agents were making up to 3,000 per day, according to sources.
ABC News contributed to this report.
