While some people may want to believe that ICE agents are simply cleaning up America by deporting undocumented immigrants, numerous incidents have proven otherwise. It has become increasingly clear that the Trump administration has been pressuring ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to meet unrealistically high quotas for the number of immigrants they are expected to remove. As a result, ICE agents often bypass the required due process and fail to properly investigate whether the individuals they are arresting are, in fact, undocumented. For one mother and son in Chicago, Illinois, their day was utterly ruined when ICE agents decided to arrest and handcuff the mother without cause.
In a video posted online, user @carlosjauregui15, known as Los J, described how his 50-year-old mother was followed by ICE agents as she left her neighborhood on her way to work. According to his account, she had not broken any laws or caused any disturbance when the agents stopped her vehicle and detained her.
By the time he arrived at the scene, ICE agents had already placed his mother in handcuffs and were preparing to take her away. He recounted that one of the agents even pointed a gun at him when he approached them with her paperwork, which he said proved that she was a U.S. citizen.
In his post, he expressed disbelief and anger over the situation, saying that he was treated as a threat simply for trying to show documentation. He explained that when he asked why his mother was being detained, the agents offered no response, providing neither justification nor explanation for their actions.
The Chicago resident said the encounter reflects what he believes to be a disturbing pattern of racial profiling and intimidation by ICE toward Latino communities. He criticized the agents’ behavior, describing them as acting like law enforcement officers but without the accountability, professionalism, or respectability expected of police.
He went on to reflect on how close his mother came to being taken away, saying that if he had arrived just ten minutes later, she might have been detained and he would have had no idea where she had been taken.
Reddit users who saw the video reacted with outrage and shock at what they viewed as blatant racial profiling. Many agreed that it was obvious the ICE agents had targeted the Chicago mother solely because of her appearance and ethnicity. “This seems to keep happening. Trump’s made racial profiling legal, well, more legal than it was,” one user wrote. Others expressed frustration at how the agents acted as if they were following due procedure while threatening the son, even though he was simply trying to prove his mother’s citizenship. “That other foo said, ‘Don’t do that,’ when the homie said, ‘You think your kids would be proud of you guys?’ ICE is pathetic,” another user commented.
