Food truck owner says 2 detained by feds on Southeast Side worked for his fiancée, also detained
Questions and concerns linger one day after federal agents chased and crashed into a vehicle that led to a chaotic scene where they set off tear gas canisters on the city's Southeast Side.
One man says he knows the two people who were detained and accused of ramming their SUV into a federal agent's vehicle, which prompted the chase.
"ICE instigated, ICE escalated, and ICE attacked," said Olga Bautista, Chicago Board of Education.
Concerned community members gathered the day after a showdown between federal law enforcement and neighbors in Chicago's East Side neighborhood. The tense moments turned to tear gas after items, including eggs, were thrown at law enforcement.
"This is not about safety. This is about control, fear, and silencing communities that have always resisted injustice," Baustia said.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said federal agents were in the area chasing a red SUV that they said rammed the vehicle of a Customs and Border Patrol agent before the agents pulled what's called a PIT maneuver, with two people bailing from the car and running. On Wednesday, they said both were charged — the driver with assault on a federal agent and the passenger with accessory to assault.
Jaime Perez said the two people detained from the red SUV on Tuesday, whom he calls Geraldo and Gina, both from Venezuela, are food vendors who worked for his fiancée. He said he believes they were targeted for being Hispanic vendors, as the same thing happened to his fiancée, Laura Murillo, who was detained nearly three weeks ago as she was selling tamales near 47th and Western. She is now held in Texas.
Perez says Geraldo was working at this food truck in South Deering when he found out about federal agents in the area. Employees at a nearby business confirmed that law enforcement visited their store on Wednesday morning, reviewing surveillance cameras for about half an hour.
Perez, however, said Geraldo left his location to pick up a coworker, Gina, about a mile away. He doesn't know what happened next, but says it's Geraldo's car caught on camera in a chase around the southeast side, and in a video of the crash.
DHS told CBS News Chicago that the driver rammed his SUV into theirs, but Perez says that claim doesn't make sense.
"He had already told us that he was going to self-deport in December. He has a wife and kids in his country," Perez said. "It just doesn't make sense. The whole thing doesn't make sense."
Perez says both Geraldo and Gina are hardworking and trustworthy, but he believes they were scared.
Homeland Security officials told CBS News Chicago that they also detained a teenager for throwing eggs at law enforcement following the crash. His attorneys say he's been released without charges.
It remains unclear exactly how many people were detained during Tuesday's operation. DHS has yet to respond to that request.