Episodes From the Great Disappearance

 

 

JEFFREY ST. CLAIR  

+ On January 31, Julio Noriega, a US citizen born in Chicago, was walking in Berwyn, Illinois, to get a pizza when ICE descended on him, placed him in handcuffs, and shoved him into a van with other shacked men. His wallet, which held his ID and Social Security card proving his citizenship, was confiscated. He was detained overnight before being released without a record of what occurred.

+ At 5:30 in the morning of January 27, Jhony Godoy Gregerio was driving with his brother Bayron to work in Maywood, Illinois, when he was pulled over. Bayron was wearing an ankle bracelet mandated by ICE. The officer asked if his name was “Brian.” After Jhony answered “no,” the officer opened the car door and pulled Jhony from the car, his hands and feet cuffed. As multiple trucks carrying 15 armed officers surrounded the vehicle, the officer said he was from ICE. The ICE agent didn’t show Jhonny a warrant, and he has no criminal history other than a few traffic citations. He was taken to Indiana, and before he was able to contact his wife and child or a lawyer, he transferred to the same Louisiana prison where ICE sent Mahmoud Khalil. Jhony has been living legally in the US for 15 years.

That same day, Jhony’s brother Marco Godoy Gregerio, who was driving in a second car, was also pulled over and arrested by ICE. The ICE agent also asked Marco if he was “Brian.” Marco said, “No,” and handed the officer his ID from the Guatemalan consul’s office. As armed ICE agents surrounded his car, Marco was told to turn the car off and that he was going to be placed under arrest. He wasn’t told why, and he wasn’t shown a warrant. Marco had no criminal record. Like his brother Jhony, he was taken into custody, held in Indiana, and quickly transferred to Louisiana without being able to contact his family or a lawyer. He was held for 25 days before being able to request bond from an immigration judge.

+ On January 26, ICE agents surrounded an apartment building in Chicago where Sergio Bolanos Romero lived. As he got into his car and started driving to work, he was pulled over by armed ICE agents who told him to exit the vehicle and demanded he show them proof of his immigration status. After Sergio didn’t provide any, he was handcuffed, taken to a parking lot, which served as an ICE processing center, and then transferred to a jail in Wisconsin. It turned out that ICE had mistaken Sergio for the target of a planned raid who lived in the same building, even though Sergio’s car did not match ICE’s intended target. Sergio had not committed a crime and was not shown a warrant for his arrest. He was released two days later.

+ On January 29, ICE pulled over Bernandino Randa Marinas on his way to work in Chicago. After handing his ID to an ICE agent, Bernandino was ordered to keep his hands on the steering wheel of his car and not to move. He was held this way for around 40 minutes before one of the ICE officers told him he was under arrest. When Bernando asked to see a warrant, the officer quickly flashed him his cell phone. But he was not shown a Notice to Appear, and at the time of his arrest, there were no pending proceedings against him. Bernandino has lived in the US for more than 20 years, has two children who are US citizens, and a third is due in May. He has no criminal history.

+ On the morning of February 6, 2025, Jose Ortega Gonzalez was arrested by ICE while driving to work in Kansas. Jose has lived in the US for 20 years and is the father of children who are US citizens. Armed ICE officers surrounded his car and demanded his immigration papers. Jose told them he didn’t have proof of his legal status on him. He was then asked if he’d been arrested for drug trafficking. Jose told the officers he had no criminal history besides a couple of traffic tickets. Jose was then handcuffed, taken to a local police station, and then to an ICE detention center, where he was held for three weeks before seeing a judge who freed him on bond.

+ On January 26, Abel Orozco Ortega was driving back from the grocery store to the same Lyons, Illinois house he’s lived in for 15 years when he was stopped and arrested by ICE. The ICE agents had mistaken him for his son, Abel Jr., who is more than two decades younger. After Abel handed an ICE officer his driver’s license, the immigration cop reached inside Abel’s car window, unlocked and opened the door, then grabbed Abel’s arm and told him he was under arrest. He was hauled out of the car, cuffed, and put into an ICE vehicle. Abel’s son Eduardo came out of the house to see what was going on. As Eduardo, who is a US citizen, tried to speak with his father, the driver of the ICE car drove over his foot. These traumatic events caused Abel to experience a severe health episode, which required his hospitalization. After he was discharged from the hospital, ICE transferred him to a detention center in Indiana, where he remains. Abel Ortega has no criminal record and was never shown a warrant for his arrest.

+ On the morning of January 27, ICE agents showed up at an apartment building in Chicago. They were looking for a man named Carlos. When one of the residents of the apartment told them no one named Carlos lived there, eight ICE officers busted through the door and began searching the apartment. They found 24-year-old Jockneul Hernandez Rojas in his room watching television while in bed. The officer told him to get dressed and that he was under arrest. Jockneul was handcuffed and led out of the building. Jocknuel was not shown a warrant and had no criminal record. He had previously been issued a Notice to Appear by ICE, but the immigration court had dismissed the case against him. Jocknuel was taken to the ICE center in Indiana and then swiftly transferred to Louisiana, where he was later released on the orders of an immigration judge.

+ In the early morning hours of January 28, federal agents broke down the door of Raul Lopez Garcia’s house in Elgin, Illinois. They located Raul in an upstairs bedroom, where they handcuffed him and confiscated his identification documents. He was taken to an ICE facility for processing. Raul was not shown a warrant for his arrest and had no criminal record. ICE later claimed that they encountered Raul while looking for his stepson. Raul was eventually released on bond by a federal judge.

+ ICE agents broke down the door of Senen Becerra Hernandez’s Chicago apartment, looking for his roommate. Senen was placed in handcuffs and ordered to wait outside for more than an hour as they looked for the target of their raid. Instead of releasing him, the ICE officers took Senen to a detention center. ICE later justified his warrantless arrest by falsely claiming that he didn’t live at the address and had no community ties. In reality, Senen lived in the apartment where the raid occurred, had a job, and attended a local church.

+ At 11 AM on February 7, an ICE team entered El Potro’s Mexican Café and Cantina in Liberty, Missouri. The 10-member team was armed and dressed in tactical gear. Several of the agents wore masks over their faces. One of the ICE agents told the cafe owner they were looking for someone and ordered him to make all his employees available for questioning. They didn’t provide a name, show him a photograph, or provide a warrant. Still, the owner felt he had to comply.

As two ICE agents guarded the door, the employees were rounded up and placed in separate booths in the restaurant, where each employee was ordered to provide their ID. One employee was almost immediately placed in handcuffs, while the others were detained in the booths for more than two hours as ICE seized the employment records from the restaurant. At 12:30, 12 employees were placed in handcuffs, marched out of the cafe, and taken into custody. Eleven workers were detained in Kansas, while another was taken to Kentucky and later to Indiana. All but two of the workers were soon released on minimal bonds. One was deported, and the other remains in detention.

(Note: Most of these accounts are taken from a class action suit filed this week by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and Organized Communities Against Deportation.)

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