Politics
Chicago Ald. Jessie Fuentes Handcuffed by Federal Agents While Asking About Patient’s ICE Warrant at Hospital
Ald. Jessie Fuentes is put into handcuffs by ICE agents while asking about a warrant for a detained man on Oct. 3, 2025. (Credit: 26th Ward Office)
Chicago Ald. Jessie Fuentes was handcuffed and briefly detained by federal agents inside Humboldt Park Health hospital on Friday, as tensions continue to rise between local residents and officials and immigration agents conducting enforcement operations in the city.
The 26th Ward alderperson joined other elected officials outside the hospital Friday afternoon to denounce the “ongoing militarized immigration enforcement” in Humboldt Park and surrounding neighborhoods in the city.
In a video posted to her social media pages, Fuentes can be seen inside the hospital telling a male ICE agent “We have constitutional rights,” as the agent repeatedly states “No” and instructs her to leave the area.
“I am gonna arrest you if you do not leave,” the agent tells Fuentes.
When Fuentes begins to respond, the agent grabs her and places her into handcuffs. She then asks if the agent has a “signed judicial warrant” for a man being treated in the hospital and states that she never touched the agent.
He replies that Fuentes was being arrested for “impeding” and she is led away by a second agent.
Fuentes said she was then taken outside and released from the handcuffs. She said the man being treated in the hospital is around 37 years old and had broken his leg after being chased by ICE agents.
The man has sought legal assistance, Fuentes said, but she claimed ICE is preventing attorneys from speaking with him.
“People deserve to get medical attention and not fear they’re going to be detained or deported,” she said.
“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,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said Friday. “Any attempt to block this work is a direct attack on democratic accountability and an assault on the rights of the people of Chicago.”
Fuentes’ arrest comes as at least five others were taken into custody Friday outside Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Broadview processing center.
Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker lashed out at the Trump administration for the way federal agents, many of them masked to hide their faces, are treating protesters over the past month, castigating their “inhumane” tactics including slamming protesters to the ground, arresting a reporter and firing chemical agents into the crowds.
Pritzker said the newly established “unified command” of the Illinois State Police, Cook County Sheriff’s Department and others on Broadview’s streets will control crowds while ensuring protesters their First Amendment right to free speech.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates
Heather Cherone and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
