What we know after officials say ICE detained a US citizen and left him injured in Chicago suburb

By Julianna Bragg, CNN

(CNN) — Days after local police said Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained a US citizen in Evanston, Illinois, and left him injured on the ground, questions are swirling about what happened during the targeted enforcement operation gone awry — and the circumstances under which federal immigration officers can detain people.

The Evanston Police Department said the man, whom police have identified only as an Evanston resident, resembled someone federal agents were seeking. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement the man “was given lawful commands but was not cooperative and refused to identify himself.”

The man was later released, local police said, after agents determined he was not the person they were looking for and learned he was a US citizen.

At the time of Sunday’s incident, five federal agents were operating in separate vehicles as they searched the area for their target, one agent told an Evanston officer.

The incident is the latest instance of a US citizen caught up in the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration crackdown, which has featured highly visible enforcement operations and aggressive tactics that have prompted nationwide protests, legal battles and political backlash.

Here’s what we know so far about the incident.

How officials described the incident

Around 9:49 a.m. on September 20, Evanston officers were called to the area after receiving reports of two men arguing, police said in a statement. When officers arrived, they found the man on the ground with several bystanders helping him, police said.

Officials called an ambulance after the man reported injuries to his head, neck and teeth. Witnesses told officers they believed ICE agents were attempting to detain him, according to police.

While responding to the scene in Evanston, a suburb of Chicago, one officer encountered two SUVs near an intersection and spoke with an individual in one of the vehicles, who identified himself as a federal agent conducting a “fugitive investigation,” police said. The person was dressed in plain clothes and wearing a vest marked “POLICE” with federal law enforcement markings, according to police.

A DHS spokesperson told CNN, “ICE encountered an individual who resembled the target. ICE approached the individual and immediately identified themselves as law enforcement,” but said the man did not identify himself.

The ICE agents “later left the scene without further incident once the individual finally identified himself,” the statement continued.

Evanston police said they are continuing to investigate the incident, and officers are preserving available body camera footage and interviewing witnesses.

Evanston’s police chief met with the man at a local hospital, and an evidence technician photographed and documented his injuries. Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss said in a statement on X that the wrongfully detained man was treated for minor injuries at Saint Francis Hospital.

DHS said the man refused assistance from ICE agents — but did not address the man’s injuries in its statement.

Evanston police said its officer reported seeing blood on hands of the agent in the SUV, which the federal official said resulted from an injury he received while trying to detain the man. The agent declined medical treatment.

No further information is known about the man who officials say was mistakenly detained or the agents involved.

Witnesses and recordings give a fuller picture

Surveillance video obtained by CNN provides another perspective of the encounter, which appears to show two agents and the man in an upright struggle before federal officials take him to the ground.

As the confrontation draws the attention of several people nearby, at least three drivers pull into the nearby parking lot and exit their vehicles, joining other bystanders, some recording.

Cellphone video recorded by a witness, which begins as the confrontation is already underway, shows the man being held on the ground.

Two agents are seen standing behind a black SUV, with one appearing to hold the man down, in the video obtained by CNN.

A man’s voice is heard saying, “I’m a f**king US citizen.” The officers, one of whom was masked and wore a hood, then appear to release him and step away from the man.

The man can be heard telling the officers not to touch him as they move away from him.

Moments after releasing the man, the two agents return to their vehicles and leave the scene, while the man continues to lie face down on the ground in the street. A man wearing a cap kneels beside the man, gently placing a hand on his back and appearing to call for help. Several other people can also be heard trying to assist him.

One witness, Miguel Olivares, told CNN affiliate WLS he was taking a break while helping out at a nearby Mexican restaurant when he noticed vehicles parked outside and a confrontation unfolding.

“It looked like police vehicles until I started hearing, ‘I’m a US citizen. I’m a US citizen,’” Olivares said, at which point he began filming.

“They were being rough with him; they had him pinned against the floor, and it looked like one of the agents hit him in the face,” Olivares said. He and others tried to comfort the man after agents released him.

What authority does ICE have to detain people?

In response to a CNN request for comment, a DHS spokesperson said, “ICE has authority for lawful arrests where authorized under 8 USC 1357. Law enforcement officers use ‘reasonable suspicion’ to investigate immigration status and probable cause to make arrests consistent with the statute and the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”

Kate Huddleston, a senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants’ Rights Project, told CNN that under the statute, ICE has limited authority to make civil immigration arrests — with two qualifications.

Agents must first have probable cause to both believe a person is undocumented and the person is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained, she said.

Huddleston explained that, for agents to have probable cause to believe a person is likely to escape, they must have reason to believe the individual could not be found in the future, which could include having few ties to the community, no family members in the area or no permanent place of employment where the person could be located.

“For a person who’s merely walking down the street or driving in a car, whom ICE happens to see, there’s not necessarily anything about an individual whom they encounter in the community that would give rise to reasonable suspicion, absent someone affirmatively stating something like ‘I’m undocumented,’ or ICE having some sort of evidence that that individual is undocumented,” she said.

Huddleston added that a person who is detained in violation of the Constitution can seek relief, including under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which allows individuals who have been injured by the “wrongful or negligent act” of a federal employee to file a claim for reimbursement.

DHS said its “enforcement operations are highly targeted, and officers do their due diligence.”

“We know who we are targeting ahead of time,” the agency said. “If and when we do encounter individuals subject to arrest, our law enforcement is trained to ask a series of well-determined questions to determine status and removability.”

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