Chicago woman dragged out of her car after colliding with ICE demands accountability

CHICAGO — Dayanne Figueroa was on her way to get coffee before heading to work when she encountered a chaotic scene in the West Town neighborhood of Chicago: 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 Figueroa tried to drive through the 1600 block of West Hubbard Street on 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 Chicago 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.”

Figueroa was released the same day a few hours later without charges.

Figueroa’s arrest highlights growing concerns about the use of force against U.S. citizens and due process. Federal enforcement actions in Chicago have increasingly drawn scrutiny amid reports of aggressive tactics and blurred lines between immigration enforcement and public safety, including incidents involving deploying tear gas in residential areas and arrests of bystanders filming agents or for following the unmarked vehicles.

While DHS says its operations are being impeded and that there will be consequences for interfering with federal agents, many individuals who are detained are released without charges.

On Oct. 9, federal prosecutors dismissed felony charges against an Oak Park man with intellectual disabilities accused of assaulting federal officers during a protest outside the Broadview immigration holding facility. A day earlier, a federal grand jury refused to indict a Chicago couple arrested during a violent protest outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview in September. And a WGN producer violently arrested by ICE in Lincoln Square on Oct. 10 was detained for seven hours by federal immigration authorities before being released without charges, according to her attorney.

Meanwhile, federal agents face questions from judges over possible violations of court orders limiting the use of force against civilians and media in Illinois.

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. Her family started a fundraiser to cover medical and legal expenses.

“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.”

Daniel Hogan, a witness who recorded the collision involving Dayanne Figueroa, called 911 after the agents left. Figueroa’s car was left damaged and blocking other vehicles in the middle of the street, he said. Chicago police later located her car, parked it and traced her license plate to identify Figueroa.

“Of course she resisted,” Hogan said about the moment the agents grabbed her. “She did nothing wrong. They never told her why they were taking her. They came at her with guns. She was scared.”

In an email statement, Chicago police confirmed they had attended to a call and said they were investigating the crash but did not provide further details. The police’s news affairs office also confirmed that CPD took a traffic report from Figueroa in which she said her car was sideswiped by a Jeep she attempted to pass, and that no injuries were reported.

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.

DHS, however, maintains that Figueroa was taken into custody because she “violently resisted” arrest.

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 “struck 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.

A spokesman for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not answer questions about the nature of the injuries McLaughlin said the agents suffered or whether the agency reviewed video footage before McLaughlin issued her statement. The officers who arrested Figueroa do not appear injured in video footage reviewed by the Tribune.

McLaughlin said the confrontation “reflects a growing and dangerous trend of illegal aliens violently resisting arrest and agitators and criminals ramming cars into our law enforcement officers.”

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