US citizen injured in Illinois after ICE agents mistook him for
fugitive, tried to arrest him
[September 24, 2026]
By CYBELE MAYES-OSTERMAN
CHICAGO (AP) — A U.S. citizen was left bloodied and injured on the side
of the road in a Chicago suburb after a confrontation with immigration
enforcement agents who mistook him for a fugitive, according to local
police and a resident who tried to help the man.
The man, whose identity was not disclosed, was taken away in an
ambulance after the encounter on Sunday in Evanston, a city around 12
miles (19 kilometers) north of downtown Chicago. He told police his
head, neck and teeth were injured, according to a news release from the
Evanston Police Department.
A federal agent told officers who responded to calls reporting an
altercation at just before 10 a.m. that morning that five agents in
separate vehicles were looking for a fugitive with a Chicago address and
a warrant for his arrest, according to the release. The agents mistook
the man for the fugitive, the agent told police.
When the man refused to give his identification, the agents tried to
handcuff him, the agent said. After realizing he was a U.S. citizen and
not the person they were seeking, they released him.
One police officer saw blood on the agent’s hands, according to the
release. The agent told police he was injured while trying to handcuff
the man, and that they left the area immediately after because they
feared protesters who had gathered would attack them, it noted.
Police have visited the man at the hospital and photographed his
injuries, and are investigating the encounter.
Local authorities investigating
Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss said in a post on X that the man was treated
at St. Francis Hospital for minor injuries. The police department
“continues to investigate the situation, and we will remain vigilant
about federal activities,” he wrote.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers had “encountered an
individual who resembled the target” of a “targeted enforcement
operation,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
“The individual was given lawful commands but was not cooperative and
refused to identify himself.”
The officers “left the scene without further incident” after the man
identified himself, according to the statement. “When ICE officers
offered the individual assistance, he refused.”
Illinois authorities condemn bloody encounter
The incident drew condemnation from Illinois officials as backlash grows
against ICE's presence in communities around the country. ICE announced
a record number of arrests last month, with nearly 51,000 people
arrested.
“I am disgusted and outraged by reports of what happened in my hometown
of Evanston on Sunday,” Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky said in a
statement.
Eyewitnesses tell AP what they saw
Ryan Garton, 56, told The Associated Press that he saw the agents
pinning down the man, who was Black, on the side of the road as he was
driving home. He pulled over to document what was happening on video.
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One agent had his knee on the man’s back and was “beating up on
him,” Garton told the AP. “I’m a citizen, leave me alone,” Garton
said the man screamed as the agent pinned him down. Around five
people stood nearby, and yelled at the agent to stop.
Garton said he urged the agent to get off the man so he could
inspect his injuries, and that the agent acknowledged that he was
already aware the man was a U.S. citizen. When the agent stepped
away, Garton saw bloodstains in the shape of handprints on the man's
shirt.
“His upper right eye socket and temple were swollen as if he had
been punched” and his face was scraped “as if it had been ground
into the sidewalk,” he said.
The man told Garton that he had been walking to the pharmacy to pick
up a prescription when the agents stopped him.
Michael Lipson, the owner of a store across the street from where
the incident occurred, said he saw the agents wrestle the man to the
ground as he repeatedly yelled that he is a U.S. citizen. The man's
face looked “badly messed up,” Lipson told the AP.
Lipson said the agents checked cards and papers from the man’s
wallet before leaving them scattered on the road. Lipson laid out
his sweatshirt for the man to rest on while Garton inspected his
injuries.
The same day, ICE agents shot and wounded a man in Austin, Texas,
the latest in a string of shootings by federal immigration agents
that have prompted growing backlash against the Trump
administration's aggressive immigration tactics.
At least 10 people have died in encounters with immigration agents
in President Donald Trump's second term, including a Colombian man
shot dead in Maine in July by an agent with a history of violent
behavior, and a Mexican man hit by a tractor trailer as he fled
agents in Florida the same month. ICE agents fatally shot Renee Good
and Alex Pretti, both U.S. citizens, during the Trump
administration's siege of Minneapolis, named “Operation Metro
Surge,” earlier this year.
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Mayes-Osterman is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for
America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a
nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local
newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
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