ICE agents kidnapped a U.S. citizen in Chicago who had just finished working a double shift because she didn’t “look” American to them.
Maria Greeley, 44, was on her way home from her job at Beach Bar earlier this month when she was surrounded, seized, and zip-tied by three ICE masked agents without cause or warning and interrogated for an hour. ICE determined she was an undocumented immigrant because she didn’t “look like” a Greeley. Greeley, who was born in Illinois, is Latina and adopted. She had her U.S. passport on her when she was detained.
“I am Latina and I am a service worker,” Greeley said. “I fit the description of what they’re looking for now…. They said this isn’t real, they kept telling me I’m lying, I’m a liar,” she told The Chicago Tribune. “I told them to look in the rest of my wallet, I have my credit cards, my insurance.”
Greeley was later released.
This type of indiscriminate racial profiling has been protocol for ICE for some time now, and is effectively legally codified. Last month, the Supreme Court lifted an injunction blocking federal agents in Los Angeles from accosting and harassing people based on their race or ethnicity. This is exactly what’s happening in Chicago and other cities nationwide, and there’s no sign of anyone stepping in to stop it. There will only be more Maria Greeleys in the near future.
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