A Chicago woman has told Newsweek she was “forcibly removed” from her vehicle by immigration agents. Dayanne Figueroa, a U.S. citizen and paralegal, said her car was struck by an unmarked government vehicle at the 1600 block of West Hubbard Street in Chicago on the morning of Friday, October 10, while she was on her way to get coffee before work.
A Chicago woman has told Newsweek she was “forcibly removed” from her vehicle by federal immigration agents.
Dayanne Figueroa, a U.S. citizen and paralegal, said an unmarked government vehicle struck her car at the 1600 block of West Hubbard Street in Chicago on the morning of October 10, while she was on her way to get coffee before going to work.
“I was in shock and terrified,” Figueroa told Newsweek. “Instead of handling the situation as a routine traffic incident, the masked agents, armed in hands, forcibly removed me from my car without questions and without informing me that I was under arrest.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told Newsweek that Border Patrol was making a targeted arrest when Figueroa’s vehicle blocked agents and struck an unmarked government vehicle.
Footage obtained by Newsweek appears to show armed federal agents detaining Figueroa, dragging her by the legs to remove her from her vehicle. Some agents brandish guns, and bystanders can be heard shouting, “You hit her,” as the situation unfolds.
Additional video obtained by Figueroa’s family from another witness provides a different angle of the encounter. The bystander who is filming tells federal agents: “You hit her. We all saw it.”
“You guys are f*****g scumbags, f*****g Nazis. They hit her car. You guys hit her, and you f*****g know it,” the bystander is heard saying.
“As agents were departing, the driver, a U.S. citizen, struck an unmarked government vehicle,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek.
“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 added.
Figueroa disputes DHS’s account, denying that she crashed into agents and accusing the immigration enforcers of using excessive force.
“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. I am confident the facts will speak for themselves,” she said.
Chicago has emerged as a focal point in the national conversation over immigration enforcement as federal authorities step up operations under the Trump administration’s Operation Midway Blitz. The initiative has included increased ICE activity across the city, with arrests and targeted actions in neighborhoods with large immigrant populations. Critics say the operations have heightened fear among residents and strained community relations, while federal officials maintain that the measures are necessary to enforce immigration laws and detain individuals with criminal records.
Amid the Trump administration’s hard-line mass deportation push, there have been dozens of reports of U.S. citizens being questioned or detained by immigration authorities, raising concerns over racial profiling, the agencies’ practices and enforcement criteria. Multiple federal agencies—including Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives—are being mobilized to carry out coordinated immigration operations as the administration pursues its goal of removing millions of migrants without legal status.
Figueroa described the experience as physically and emotionally distressing, saying the manner in which she was removed from her vehicle left her traumatized and injured. She said she was treated “like cattle.”
The paralegal said she was transported to multiple undisclosed locations and was not allowed to contact her family or legal counsel. She said she was never charged with a crime or informed of a legal reason for her detention.
“These actions constitute serious violations of federal civil rights law and multiple provisions of the United States Constitution,” Figueroa said.
She said she had recently undergone kidney surgery. “I am presently receiving ongoing medical treatment and attending numerous appointments to rehabilitate from recent kidney surgeries and from multiple new injuries directly caused by this assault,” Figueroa said.
Her family is now raising money on GoFundMe for legal and medical fees following the incident.
US Citizen dragged from car by Border Patrol in Chicago
“I was in shock and terrified,” Dayanne Figueroa told Newsweek.
Attorneys with Romanucci & Blandin said a U.S. citizen minor was detained, restrained, and held without family contact for hours during the incident. Romanucci said, “This is how people disappear in autocracies—grabbed off streets, held in unmarked locations, no calls to family, no stated charges, no due process.”
Border Patrol SUV Rammed in Chicago Immigration Arrest
Cory Booker, Ed Markey and others urge Linda McMahon to step in amid violent crackdowns near Chicago schools
A group of Democraticsenators have demanded that the Department of Education stop immigration enforcement activities from taking place close to schools, following several violent crackdowns near school grounds in Chicago.
Although the raids are conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the senators are making an appeal directly to the education secretary, Linda McMahon.
They said aggressive actions were affecting the safety of students.
“Federal agents continue to use unwarranted, excessive levels of force around Chicago, demonstrating an alarming lack of care or regard for the health and wellbeing of children, particularly by conducting unfocused, inflammatory operations within close proximity of school grounds,” the senators wrote, according to NBC News.
“We demand you pressure your colleague, secretary of homeland security Kristi Noem, to reinstate restrictions on federal immigration enforcement operations in and around places of education.”
Democratic senators call on education department to stop ICE raids by schools
Cory Booker, Ed Markey and others urge Linda McMahon to step in amid violent crackdowns near Chicago schools
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed an executive order Thursday authorizing the creation of an accountability commission after the deployment of federal officers to the state.
At a news conference, Pritzker announced the creation of the Illinois Accountability Commission, dedicated to “truth, transparency and justice.” Tensions have risen in the state as demonstrators call for more accountability from Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
“I am angry because this is not the country that I want for us,” Pritzker said. “This is not the country that any of us thought that we were living in. And yet here it is, nine months into an administration, I wish we didn’t have to do this. Can you imagine that we have to do this in this country?”
Pritzker said the commission will have three core missions: Creating a public record of the alleged abuses, capturing the impact on families and communities and recommending actions to prevent further harm and to pursue justice.
Pritzker calls for ‘truth, justice’ in response to Trump takeover
During the fracas at the Coast Guard base, federal agents deployed apparent flash-bang grenades to disperse the crowd and fired a pepper round that struck a clergyman near the chin. The impact caked his face and clothing in orange powder.
The Rev. Jorge Bautista, pastor of the College Heights United Church of Christ in San Mateo, said an agent shot him in the face with the projectile from about 5 feet away.
“I’m in a lot of pain,” Bautista texted the Chronicle from an emergency room in Oakland. “He clearly was aiming for the face.”
Protest of Bay Area immigration crackdown met with apparent stun grenades at Coast Guard base
In case after case, Homeland Security’s Public Affairs Office releases incorrect information about arrests carried out by federal immigration officers.
If you’ve spent any time reading the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) public statements lately, you’ve probably gotten a strong whiff of what Tennessee Williams once called the “powerful and obnoxious odor of mendacity.”
Of course, all governments since time immemorial have lied, but it’s been hard not to notice, especially for reporters, the decline in reliable information being released by the federal government, particularly the DHS Office of Public Affairs, which is responsible for distributing public information about the Trump administration’s mass deportation program.
Homeland Security won’t stop lying about who immigration enforcers are arresting
In case after case, Homeland Security’s Public Affairs Office releases incorrect information about arrests carried out by federal immigration officers.
A federal court in Chicago has ordered sweeping new limits on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in the Midwest, ruling that agents repeatedly violated federal law and a binding consent decree by arresting people without warrants.
The decision issued October 7 by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey I. Cummings extends court oversight of the agency until February 2, 2026, and warns that officers who disregard the order could face contempt or criminal referral.
ICE agents can be arrested over unlawful actions, Chicago judge rules
A federal judge says ICE broke the law with warrantless arrests—and officers who do it again could face charges.
Deaths climb, helicopters roar, and fear spreads, inside Trump’s deadly new deportation drive.
We hardly see any days when the American immigration system is not seen in the headlines, especially during the reign of President Donald Trump, and once again it has come back, and again not for a good reason. Numerous people have died in ICE custody…. According to chilling new figures shared by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), 20 migrants have died in ICE detention since Trump took office, the highest single-year toll in decades. By comparison, there were 24 deaths total during Biden’s four years in power.
The surge has sparked national outrage and fear, as reports of violent raids, tear gas, and helicopters flood cities like Chicago, where residents say ICE’s crackdown feels like “a war zone.” They further stated, “They’re Making It a War Zone.” In a fiery interview with CNN, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker blasted the Trump administration’s tactics, saying ICE has “turned Chicago into a battlefield.”
ICE Deaths Skyrocket Under Trump as ‘Invasion-Style’ Raids Rock U.S. Cities
ICE deaths soar under Trump’s crackdown as Chicago erupts over “invasion-style” raids.
The Chicago Police Department (CPD) faces allegations of instructing officers to refrain from assisting U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents during a violent confrontation involving protesters. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin confirmed that the CPD’s Chief of Patrol ordered officers to stand down, during which an armed assailant, Marimar Martinez, was shot and injured. Martinez and Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz have been charged in connection with the attack. The incident has escalated tensions, with Illinois officials launching an independent inquiry into the CPD’s response and federal actions.
Pritzker, Feds Trade Blame After Protest Turns Violent
Eduardo Santoyo was about to meet his mother, a beloved Mexican-born tamale vendor in Chicago, when she was taken by ICE, becoming another victim of US President Donald Trump’s aggressive crackdown on immigrants. “It may be days, it may be months, it may be years, or we may never see her again,” says Santoyo, one of Maria’s seven children, of whom the youngest is just six years old.
‘We may never see her again’: ICE raids shatter Chicago’s immigrant communities
Eduardo Santoyo was about to meet his mother, a beloved Mexican-born tamale vendor in Chicago, when she was taken by ICE, becoming another victim of US President Donald Trump’s aggressive crackdown on immigrants. “It may be days, it may be months, it may be years, or we may never see her again,” says Santoyo, one of Maria’s seven children, of whom the youngest is just six years old.
