Audio of 911 Call Reveals Tense ICE Stop of U.S. Citizen in Evanston

EVANSTON, Ill. — A newly released audio recording of a 911 call has drawn attention to a chaotic incident in which federal immigration agents mistakenly stopped and briefly detained a U.S. citizen on Howard Street in Evanston earlier this month.

Evanston Now obtained the full recording through a Freedom of Information Act request. The audio captures the conversation between the man and the agents, as well as his calls to a 911 operator and neighbors who assisted him after the agents left.

The incident took place on Sunday, Sept. 20. The man had been walking to a pharmacy to fill a prescription after being released from a hospital the previous day.

In the call, the man can be heard asking agents why he was being stopped and why he had to turn over his ID. Agents said they were conducting an investigation. The exchange quickly turned into shouting, with the man asking agents not to touch him.

About two minutes into the recording, the man, using a profanity, told the agents he was a U.S. citizen. An agent responded, "That's all you had to say! Why didn't you say that to begin with?"

The man was transported to a local hospital by an Evanston Fire Department ambulance after the encounter. He told police his head, neck, and teeth were injured, according to a release from the Evanston Police Department.

Officer 'lost for words'

Body camera footage obtained in the records request captured a conversation between a paramedic assisting the man into the ambulance and an Evanston police officer.

"So ICE just tackled the guy and took off?" the paramedic asked, appearing confused that the agents drove away while the man lay in the street.

"I'm actually in shock that... somebody that... I'm lost for words now myself," the officer responded.

Additional body camera recordings captured a conversation between ICE supervisor Esteban Rivas, identified in police reports, and three Evanston police officers. Rivas told EPD the man they stopped "matched the description of a fugitive" the agents were trying to locate, but that agents "subsequently realized [they] had detained the wrong individual."

An Evanston officer asked Rivas if the agents had confirmed the man was their target. Rivas appeared to indicate they had not confirmed it before he claimed to be a U.S. citizen.

"So you say you got the wrong guy?" one officer asked.

"Yeah, he wasn't him," Rivas replied, later adding, "We identified the wrong person."

Rivas told officers the agents left the scene because "protesters" were beginning to gather.

Federal response

In a statement two days after the incident, the Department of Homeland Security said the man was "not cooperative" with agents and said they "later left the scene without further incident once the individual finally identified himself."

The Evanston Police Department said it is investigating the encounter, including reviewing available video and speaking with witnesses.