CHICAGO, Illinois — A suburban father alleges that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents pepper-sprayed him and his 1-year-old daughter in a Sam’s Club parking lot over the weekend, prompting a hospital visit and public outcry. Rafael Veraza said that while leaving the lot in their car, a masked agent approached their vehicle and sprayed through an open window. “I had waters, water down my face and basically water down her face because I didn’t know the effects of the pepper spray towards her,” he said during a Sunday press conference.
Veraza reported that his daughter struggled to breathe and that the spray aggravated his asthma, sending him to the hospital with a heart rate exceeding 260 beats per minute. Doctors called poison control for his daughter while Veraza’s face went numb, according to the Chicago Tribune. The incident allegedly occurred as federal operations increased in the area, with agents responding to what they described as violent encounters with residents.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) denied that the pepper-spraying took place. “There was no crowd control or pepper spray deployed in a Sam’s Club parking lot,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told the Associated Press. DHS said agents had earlier encountered a “hostile crowd” that threw paint cans and bricks at their vehicles but reported no injuries. Operation Midway Blitz, involving Customs and Border Patrol, is expected to conclude soon, though ICE agents will continue operations in the Chicago region.
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