A father is speaking out after alleging he, his wife and the couple’s 1-year-old daughter were pepper-sprayed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent outside a Chicago-area Sam’s Club last week. The incident occurred on Saturday in the parking lot of the store in Cicero, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, according to Rafael Veraza, the father, who provided his account at a news conference on Sunday.
According to the family and their supporters, they are American citizens and had decided to skip buying groceries and get out of the area after seeing a helicopter and hearing emergency sirens, which they believed to be from a protest nearby.
What happened?
Veraza, the driver, said he saw an ICE truck pull into the parking lot as he was leaving with his windows down. He revealed that as he passed the ICE truck, a person inside the truck sprayed his car.
Reported video of the incident shows what appears to be pepper spray thrown by an agent into the family’s vehicle. Veraza said the spray hit the side of his head, and he soon realized his 1-year-old daughter Arinna, who was in the backseat, had been affected by the chemicals, along with his wife.
“Basically, I got sprayed all over my face,” Veraza told the press.
“I had water, water down my face and basically water down her face because I didn’t know the effects of the pepper spray towards her,” Veraza said.
He told reporters that his daughter did not require hospitalization, but he did after he took a hit to his ear, and the pepper spray caused him to have a severe asthmatic reaction.
“When I got to the hospital, my heartbeats was at 263 per minute,” he said.
“I didn’t have to go through this,” Veraza told reporters. “My daughter neither had to go through this.”
“Us, as adults, we can handle it, but as kids? Shouldn’t be targeting kids,” Veraza added.
DHS disputes father’s account
The Department of Homeland Security, which is in charge of ICE, has refuted Veraza’s version of events, saying its officers do not pepper-spray children and denied the incident happened in a Sam’s Club parking lot, in a post on social media.
The department instead accused “rioters” of throwing objects at ICE agents and had blocked a road during an operation, before agents deployed “crowd control measures,” but noted that this did not occur in the parking lot of the retailer.
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has more than 20,000 personnel and an annual budget of roughly $8 billion.
Immigration agents shot at on the same day
According to DHS, the same day Veraza said he and his family were pepper-sprayed, immigration agents were shot at by a man driving a black Jeep about 2 miles from the Sam’s Club, in a part of town called Little Village. DHS said a male suspect, who is from Mexico and has a criminal history, including a felony weapon charge, entered the U.S. illegally and has since been arrested.
Following that incident, federal agents said they were followed into a Sam’s Club parking lot and one of the agents’ vehicles was hit. According to CBS News, witnesses said there was violence in the area that day. Gregory Bovino, a U.S. Border Patrol commander heading immigration enforcement efforts in Chicago, was present during the incident.
“They threw flash bang grenades into the street, and I saw right next to my van, Bovino pull the pin on another grenade, threatening to throw it,” Pastor Matt DaMateo, who works with Life Centers Chicagoland, told CBS News Chicago.
Injunction issued against use of pepper spray, tear gas
ICE and Bovino have previously faced accusations of overstepping authority in recent immigration enforcement efforts in Chicago, which the Trump administration has labeled “Operation Midway Blitz.”
The latest incident involving Bovino comes after a federal judge last week issued a preliminary injunction that restricts immigration authorities’ use of tear gas or pepper spray to only people who are believed to pose a threat.
Judge Sara Ellis specifically mentioned Bovino as she delivered her ruling, stating that he “admitted that he lied” about being hit in the head by a rock before using tear gas, per The Washington Post.
CBS News Chicago reports that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed an appeal in the case.
Chicago mayor’s statement
It’s unclear what the latest allegations may mean for Bovino, but Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, D, issued a statement on Sunday about the Little Village operation, saying in part that federal agents’ “reckless behavior and indiscriminate use of chemical agents have caused chaos and fear in our communities.
“While I do not welcome federal agents operating in this capacity, I unequivocally condemn violence directed at them,” Johnson added.
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