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Chicago alderwoman arrested by ICE agents while checking on detainee at hospital in Humboldt Park

A Chicago alderwoman was arrested by ICE agents on Friday afternoon inside a hospital in the Humboldt Park neighborhood.

Ald. Jessie Fuentes (26th) had gone to the Humboldt Park Health to check on someone who was injured during an immigration arrest, when ICE agents demanded she leave before grabbing her and handcuffing her.

The encounter was recorded on cell phone video shared on social media.

"This is a hospital. Do you have a signed judicial warrant for him? I am asking. I am asking. I did not touch you. I did not touch you," she said as she was handcuffed. "I did not touch you. I asked you if you had a signed judicial warrant for him. It is very simple. It is very simple. That man has constitutional rights. I did not touch you. It is a public space. I am not trespassing. I am asking you do you have a signed judicial warrant?"

"We told you to leave. You are impeding. Now you are under arrest for impeding," said the agent who handcuffed her.

Fuentes was released from custody a short time later.

"I simply asked, 'Well, what did I do wrong, outside of ask you if you have a signed judicial warrant. I want you to articulate to me what law did I break? They had to take those handcuffs off, because we have constitutional rights, and in the city of Chicago, every single elected official is going to protect those constitutional rights," she said.

Fuentes said she had gone to the hospital to check on a man who suffered a broken leg after ICE agents chased him.

"I asked them if they have a signed judicial warrant to be in the emergency room and have him detained, and they refused to respond," she said. "Not only do they refuse to respond, but they respond with violence by shoving me in the emergency room, and then I continue to ask if they have a signed judicial warrant, and then they handcuff me and threaten arrest, and they threaten arrest because I'm exercising my constitutional right to ask a question."

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Fuentes said she wants to make sure the man who was injured gets the medical attention he needs and is allowed to contact an attorney.

"The individual that's in this emergency room might need surgery as a result of ICE agents chasing him and him breaking his leg. He deserves all the medical care without living in fear. He also has the right to an attorney," Fuentes said. "And so I will not leave the front of this hospital until I am sure that that individual is connected to a lawyer so that he is not disappeared and kidnapped by federal agents."

Mayor Brandon Johnson condemned the ICE agents' treatment of Fuentes in a statement posted on social media.

"Chicago's elected officials have a First Amendment right to document ICE's actions and to inform their constituents of their rights without federal interference. Any Attempt to block this work is a direct attack on democratic accountability and an assault on the rights of the people of Chicago," he wrote. "ICE's abusive tactics have no place in our city, and our elected officials will continue to stand with residents against this attempt to stoke fear and intimidation."

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