The mayor of a Chicago suburb in which a Border Patrol agent was filmed punching a U.S. citizen in the head during an immigration stop has accused the Department of Homeland Security of lying about what led up to it.
Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, 48, said he’s opening two investigations after Border Patrol agents were seen on video kneeling on the man and striking him repeatedly in the back of the head as he was handcuffed.
DHS said agents on an immigration operation were “aggressively tailgated” by a red sedan that then crashed into the Border Patrol SUV as agents tried to execute a U-turn, leading to a “hostile crowd” forming.
But Biss told CNN, “They forced this car accident, and then they started literally beating up innocent bystanders,” calling DHS “a bunch of liars.”
The mayor also pushed back on claims from the Kristi Noem-led DHS, its lead mouthpiece, Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, and Gregory Bovino, Trump’s Border Patrol commander, on X that the man seen being punched in the head in the video had grabbed an agent’s genitals and squeezed.
The department’s official account wrote: “As you know this is an extremely painful experience for most human beings and justifies certain responses, [and] the agent delivered several defensive strikes to the agitator to free his genitals from the agitator’s vice.”
However, video footage clearly shows that the man’s hands were nowhere near the agent’s genitalia at the moment he administered the blows.
About a dozen witnesses filmed the incident on Friday, and several videos were then posted online. The clips show one agent restraining a man on the pavement, delivering multiple blows as the man yells, “I can’t breathe,” before he is dragged toward a vehicle, leaving his left shoe in the road.
Another video shows an agent pointing a firearm at a woman by the SUV door, and another officer using pepper spray on bystanders who were filming the clash.
Biss disputed DHS’ version of events and said Border Patrol “deliberately caused a car accident” by braking in front of the red vehicle. He also said three U.S. citizens were arrested—a number that was later confirmed by DHS, who said the arrests were made “as a result of their violence against law enforcement.”
Biss said the man being punched in the arrest video did not receive prompt medical care, adding that the city is weighing referrals to the Illinois Attorney General’s Civil Rights Division or the Cook County State’s Attorney.
City officials said Evanston police have begun sending a supervisor to any reported immigration scene to document badge numbers and preserve evidence. The Evanston Police Department’s preliminary statement said officers arrived after the arrests, CNN reported.
In the hours after the clash, immigration advocates and residents held a vigil a block from Chute Middle School. “I’m disgusted and outraged,” Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky as wrote on X, pledging to monitor events and “defend the dignity of every person in our community.”
“This is lawlessness,” Biss said. “This is an outrage, and everyone’s got to stand up against it.” He added: “To Gregory Bovino, Kristi Noem, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Customs and Border Protection: Get the hell out of our city.”
DHS and McLaughlin have made false claims about immigration arrests before. After Iris Dayana Monterroso-Lemus lost her baby in ICE custody, McLaughlin published a “fact-check” labeling her a wanted killer. Legal documents uncovered by the Daily Beast showed this to be untrue.
McLaughlin also posted false information about the violent arrest of a teenage girl earlier this month and said a 13-year-old in Everett, Massachusetts, had a gun when he was detained, a claim the local police chief and mayor contradicted.
When the Daily Beast contacted DHS for comment, a spokesperson repeated the statement the department made on social media.
The post Mayor Calls BS on Trump DHS Goons’ Wild Excuse for Violent Arrest Video appeared first on The Daily Beast.
