A federal agent smashed the driver seat window of a vehicle in a parking lot of a grocery store in a Chicago suburb Sunday morning to detain a woman, video posted to social media showed.
Around 8:50 a.m., an employee of the La Huerta in Addison at 396 West Lake Street started a livestream on Facebook and showed a group of masked federal agents surrounding a vehicle in the store’s parking lot.
Stream NBC 5 for free, 24/7, wherever you are.
One of the agents can be seen using a baton to shatter the driver seat window of the vehicle.
After breaking the window, the agent reached into the vehicle and unlocked the car.
The agents then opened the car doors and removed the people from the vehicle.
There were multiple people in the vehicle, and it was not immediately clear how many were detained.
Addison police said they received a call about a disturbance in the parking lot around 8:45 a.m. and saw federal officers when they arrived.
“A crowd began to form and our officers ensured the safety of the public until the area was clear,” Roy Selvik, Addison Police Department Chief of Police said in a statement.
Selvik said no Addison officers were involved in the immigration enforcement operation.
Village of Addison Mayor Tom Hundley wrote a letter to the community addressing immigration enforcement in the area a few hours after the incident, around 1:30 p.m.
“These events have understandably caused fear and uncertainty, and I want to assure you that your safety and dignity matter to me,” he said.
The mayor said police may respond to the area where an immigration operation is happening, however, they are there to ensure “bystanders are safe, traffic does not become an issue, and the area is secure.”
“While immigration enforcement is a federal matter and outside the authority of our local government, I want to reaffirm what the Police Department has already shared: our officers do not assist with federal immigration operations, do not inquire about immigration status, and are bound by the Illinois Trust Act to preclude involvement in such enforcement,” the mayor said.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to NBC Chicago’s inquiries.
The Addison Police Department posted on Facebook two days prior to the incident, on October 24, addressing a “growing concern among the community” regarding federal immigration operations in the area.
“To date, we have yet to receive any calls from ICE or Border Patrol agents announcing their presence or their intent to come to Addison, and we typically learn about their presence in town when the public does,” the post said.
Addison police also said they have no interaction with federal agents’ immigration operations.
