'Operation Midway Blitz' Agents Pepper-Sprayed a Chicago Family on a Grocery Run
"She was struggling to breathe," said the father of a 1-year-old exposed to the chemical.
Less than two days after a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction to restrict immigration agents from using riot control weapons, including chemical irritants, a Chicago-area couple and their 1-year-old daughter were pepper-sprayed during their Saturday morning grocery run.
On Saturday morning, the Veraza family was on its way to Sam's Club in Cicero, a Chicago suburb near the epicenter of the federal government's immigration enforcement campaign known as "Operation Midway Blitz." Upon hearing a helicopter and car horns, which are often used by community members to signal immigration enforcement activity in progress, they decided to leave. That's when a black pickup truck, captured on video by the car's passenger, drove past their vehicle while a masked agent sprayed a chemical irritant through the car's open driver's side window. A cloud of spray hit the driver, Rafael Veraza, in the face, affecting him, his wife, and his 1-year-old daughter, Ariana, in the back seat. The video then cuts to Rafael and his wife trying to wash out Ariana's eyes as she cries.
"My daughter was trying to open her eyes," Veraza told reporters on Sunday, according to the Associated Press. "She was struggling to breathe."
Matt DeMateo, who recorded a clip of the Verazas tending to their young daughter after the incident, told the A.P., "A family, and I shouldn't have to say this, but guess what? All U.S. citizens attacked while shopping. We need a better way."
In response to questions regarding the incident, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin sent a statement to the A.P. claiming "there was no crowd control or pepper spray deployed in a Sam's Club parking lot."
But that likely won't satisfy Veraza, who is considering legal action to cover costs for the specialist care his young daughter—who is particularly vulnerable to the side effects of pepper spray given her size and age—now requires. "I didn't have to go through this, and my daughter didn't have to go through this," Veraza told the Chicago Sun-Times. "We aren't protestors, we weren't going after them, we weren't attacking them."
The incident came roughly 48 hours after U.S. District Court Judge Sara L. Ellis issued a preliminary injunction restricting federal agents from using "riot control weapons" and chemical irritants against nonthreatening protestors without proper warning. The order came in response to a lawsuit accusing federal agents of engaging in "extreme brutality" to "silence the press and civilians" protesting the Trump administration's immigration enforcement in the Chicago area.
The case has involved weeks of tense hearings, where federal agents, including Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol chief leading immigration operations in Chicago, were repeatedly accused of continuing to use excessive force against citizens. Ellis ruled on Thursday that evidence of force used by federal agents "shocks the conscience." Ellis went further, stating that the arguments brought by the Justice Department to defend against the accusations "lack credibility," and found that Bovino had lied about being hit by a rock as justification for throwing a canister of tear gas into a crowd of protesters in October.
The Justice Department filed a motion with the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals seeking an emergency stay of Ellis' order, arguing that the order is an "overbroad and unworkable injunction [that] has no basis in law, threatens the safety of federal officers, and violates the separation of powers."
The Veraza incident is not the only time federal agents have been accused of using excessive force on citizens in Chicago. Pastor David Black, for example, was shot in the head with a pepper ball while praying in front of the Broadview Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility during a nonviolent protest almost two months ago. Hopefully the 7th Circuit will back Ellis' Thursday order meant to stave off some of the abuses perpetuated by federal immigration agents. Ultimately, however, it is up to the Trump administration to comply with the court and change course to respect Americans' rights.