We’d all better hope we aren’t in the wrong place at the wrong time
There are so many of these stories every single day now and I’m afraid we’re just becoming numb to it. So I’m going to share some of them just to remind myself that this is happening. We have to bear witness. This is from the Chicago Tribune:
Dayanne Figueroa was on her way to get coffee before heading to work when she encountered a chaotic scene in West Town: heavily armed, masked federal agents making arrests on a residential street.
People yelled as vehicles honked their horn — a sign now used to alert neighbors that immigration federal agents are in the area — and witnesses said federal agents had arrested several landscaper workers presumed to be in the country without authorization.
As Figuero tried to drive through the 1600 block of West Hubbard Street on Friday, Oct. 10, an unmarked vehicle driven by federal agents collided with Figueroa’s as it tried to speed away from a hostile crowd, multiple videos reviewed by the Tribune show.
Seconds after the crash, agents abruptly stopped their vehicle and exited with weapons in hand pointing at Figueroa, a U.S citizen. Agents then forcibly opened her door and pulled her out of the vehicle by her legs without identifying themselves, presenting a warrant or informing her that she was under arrest. As bystanders yelled, “You hit her! We have it on video!” agents ignored the crowd and forced Figueroa into a red minivan and drove away. Her car was left behind in the middle of the road, her coffee still in the cup holder, and her keys in plain view.
The Department of Homeland Security later released a statement claiming that Figueroa was at fault, saying “she crashed into an unmarked government vehicle and violently resisted arrest, injuring two officers.”
Right. Here’s what they did to her:
According to Figueroa, after getting arrested, she was transported to multiple undisclosed locations, and repeatedly denied contact with family or legal counsel. “I was in shock and terrified. The video evidence is clear: Agents crashed into me. I was not involved in any protest or related activity, and I intend to seek justice for how I was treated,” Figueroa told the Tribune.
For hours, her family couldn’t locate her. Only after coming across a video online did they realize that Figueroa had been taken by masked federal agents through video circulating the web. They were able to ping her through her iPhone location at the ICE processing center in Broadview. Her mother said she was shocked and “desperately worried.” Figueroa had kidney surgery in August, and the way agents pulled her out of the vehicle and threw her on the ground “deeply concerned me,” her mother, Teresita Figueroa, told the Tribune.
But what stunned Teresita Figueroa the most was that despite her daughter being a U.S. citizen, the family couldn’t locate her. She said no authorities, including the Chicago police, were able to give them clarity on why her daughter was arrested.
Teresita Figueroa said her daughter is a loving mother of a 5-year-old boy and an aspiring lawyer working as a paralegal. Her record shows nothing more than a few minor traffic violations, the Tribune found. “I was extremely worried because I know ICE agents are heartless and reckless. They had just killed a man in Franklin Park. I worried that they could hurt my daughter,” Teresita Figueroa said. “Those hours (looking for her) were agonizing.”
[…]
Dayanne Figueroa was released from ICE custody that same day, at around 4 p.m., and returned home shaken. Teresita Figueroa said she picked up her daughter from an ambulance in a parking lot in Lombard, a suburb west of Chicago. Her daughter was “very injured, in shock, and bleeding from her surgery,” she said. They had to rush Dayanne Figueroa to a nearby hospital to get checked.
[…]
In a statement to the Tribune, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin alleged that Figueroa “used her vehicle to block in agents, honking her horn,” and that she “stuck an unmarked government vehicle” as agents were departing. “In fear of public safety and of law enforcement, officers attempted to remove her from the vehicle. She violently resisted, kicking two agents and causing injuries. This agitator was arrested for assault on a federal agent,” McLaughlin said.
The Tribune saw the video. The “officers” were clearly not injured.
This is America in 2025.