![\"Ald.](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Ald.-Jessie-Fuentes-speaks-at-an-Oct.-3-2025-press-conference-about-ICE-activity-in-the-Humboldt-Par.jpeg\")
Ald. Jessie Fuentes speaks at an Oct. 3, 2025, press conference about ICE activity in the Humboldt Park area. Photo by Jake Wittich<\/p>\nFederal agents handcuffed Ald. Jessie Fuentes (26th Ward) and threatened to arrest her Oct. 3 at Humboldt Park Health.<\/p>\n
The agents, who Fuentes said appeared to be with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), were at the hospital because a man they were chasing fell and was injured at some point during the encounter.<\/p>\n
Fuentes said she went to Humboldt Park Health,\u00a01044 N. Francisco Ave., after learning what happened. Agents were not allowing the man they\u2019d arrested to speak with attorneys, she said.<\/p>\n
When Fuentes confronted the agents, they handcuffed her, forced her out of the hospital and threatened her with arrest, she said.<\/p>\n
Ald. Jessie Fuentes speaks at an Oct. 3, 2025, press conference about ICE activity in the Humboldt Park area. Photo by Jake Wittich<\/p>\n
The incident happened hours after ICE agents\u00a0reportedly used chemical irritants on passersby<\/a>\u00a0outside the Home Depot at\u00a01919 N. Cicero Ave. and the Rico Fresh grocery store at\u00a03552 W. Armitage Ave., Fuentes said.<\/p>\n Fuentes, who is Puerto Rican and one of nine openly LGBTQ+ alderpeople in City Council, called the incidents a \u201cserious escalation of ICE activity\u201d during a press conference outside the hospital.<\/p>\n A video shared by Fuentes\u2019 office shows the alderperson in the emergency room asking agents if they have a signed warrant and telling them the man has constitutional rights.<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d responded one of the two agents in the video.<\/p>\n Fuentes continues to press, at which point the other agent, who was wearing a mask, tells the alderperson \u201cyou are going to be placed under arrest.\u201d<\/p>\n At that point, the unmasked agent suddenly grabs Fuentes, turns her around and places her in handcuffs. Fuentes never touched the agents.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is an alderperson who is being under arrest,\u201d says one person off-screen in the video.<\/p>\n In the video, Fuentes reiterates that the man has constitutional rights and asks for a signed judicial warrant as the agents walk her out of the hospital.<\/p>\n \u201cWe told you to leave,\u201d says the unmasked agent. \u201cNow you are under arrest for impeding.\u201d<\/p>\n At the press conference after the incident, Fuentes said there were several vehicles that pulled up to the hospital, including a white Expedition with border patrol agents inside. After asking what law she had broken, Fuentes was released by the agents, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey had to take those handcuffs off, because we have constitutional rights,\u201d Fuentes said. \u201cAnd in the city of Chicago, every single elected official is going to protect those constitutional rights.\u201d<\/p>\n Ald. Anthony Quezada (35th Ward), who is also among the nine LGBTQ+ alderpeople in Chicago, was also at the hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a reflection of a fascist and authoritarian system that is seeking to divide our nation based off of our heritage, based off of where we come from, based off of who we love and based off of our basic humanity,\u201d Quezada said.<\/p>\n He urged Chicagoans to call their alderperson and pressure them to stand up to ICE, especially if they aren\u2019t already doing so.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat are you doing to hold this authoritarian government accountable?\u201d Quezada said people should ask their representatives. \u201cAnd there will be consequences if they\u2019re doing nothing about it.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout the press conference, white SUVs containing ICE agents were circling around the hospital. At one point, a community organizer driving her own vehicle also passed by the press conference, blowing a whistle as a warning that federal agents were nearby.<\/p>\n For immigrant communities looking for more information on what their rights are,\u00a0Borderless Magazine has compiled a guide<\/a>, as well as several other\u00a0relevant resources<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Federal agents handcuffed Ald. Jessie Fuentes (26th Ward) and threatened to arrest her Oct. 3 at Humboldt Park…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":276032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[1444,142765,142766,960,5386,1818,61572],"class_list":{"0":"post-276031","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-1444","9":"tag-ald-anthony-quezada-speaks-at-an-oct-3","10":"tag-ald-jessie-fuentes","11":"tag-chicago","12":"tag-il","13":"tag-illinois","14":"tag-lesbian"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115313466730199073","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Ald.-Anthony-Quezada-speaks-at-an-Oct.-3-2025-press-conference-after-another-alderperson-was-handcuf.jpeg\")
Ald. Anthony Quezada speaks at an Oct. 3, 2025, press conference after another alderperson was handcuffed by federal agents. Photo by Jake Wittich<\/p>\n