NEED TO KNOW
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A dad in Chicago claims that his daughter was hit by pepper spray after his family was caught up in an immigration raid on Saturday, Nov. 8
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Rafael Veraza, his partner, Evelin Herrera, and their 1-year-old daughter Arianna were allegedly trying to shop at Sam’s Club when a Border Patrol car drove by them and pepper-sprayed their car
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“My daughter was trying to open her eyes. She was struggling to breathe,” Veraza recalled of the incident, which the Department of Homeland Security denies occurred
A Chicago father claims that his 1-year-old daughter was struck with pepper spray during an immigration raid in the city.
On Saturday, Nov. 8, Rafael Veraza, 25, was driving to a Sam’s Club in Cicero with his partner Evelin Herrera, 24, and their 1-year-old daughter Arianna Sofiaa when they encountered a unit of Border Patrol agents, according to reporting by the Associated Press, the Chicago Tribune and ABC7 Chicago.
Veraza and Herrera told the Chicago Tribune they heard honking horns and the sound of helicopters in the air when they arrived at Sam’s Club — sounds that have now become a warning sign that an immigration raid is about to occur in the city, per the outlet.
The parents said that they decided to leave the store because of the activity and were pulling out of the parking lot when a Border Patrol vehicle drove by and released an orange plume of smoke near their car. They claim that it was pepper spray.
Video shot by Herrera shows the smoke enveloping their vehicle. The footage and a follow-up recording shared by the Chicago Tribune on YouTube also shows Herrera attempting to comfort her daughter. In the second video, Arianna’s eyes appear to be swollen.
Candace Dane Chambers/Chicago Sun-Times via AP
Rafael Veraza speaks at a press conference
“This is what ICE does. This is what these terrorists do to babies,” a man behind the camera can be heard saying as Arianna cried and Veraza attempted to reassure her in the video.
“My first thought was my daughter,” Veraza told the Chicago Tribune. “I didn’t even care if it got to me,” he added.
Speaking to ABC7 Chicago, he said, “My daughter was trying to open her eyes. She was struggling to breathe.”
Veraza noted that he also struggled to breathe during the incident because of his asthma.
The outlet reported that both he and his daughter were briefly hospitalized and later recovered. Despite this, the Chicago Tribune reported Veraza as saying that since the incident, Arianna has been clingier and doesn’t want to be left alone.
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The Department of Homeland Security denied the allegations that the family was hit with pepper spray. In a statement on X, they wrote, “DHS LAW ENFORCEMENT DOES NOT PEPPER SPRAY CHILDREN.”
“Here are the FACTS,” the statement continued. “During an operation rioters began throwing objects at agents and blocking the road. This did NOT occur in a Sam’s Club parking lot. Border Patrol deployed crowd control measures, and safely cleared the area. When rioters impede law enforcement operations they are putting officers, themselves, and others in danger.”
Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary for DHS posted a similar message on X, writing, “No. There was no crowd control or pepper spray deployed in a Sam’s Club parking lot.”
She directed people to a lengthier statement from DHS.
“Yesterday around 9:30 AM, in the Chicago neighborhood of Little Village, U.S. Border Patrol was attacked while conducting immigration enforcement operations. Border Patrol was accosted by a hostile crowd that boxed them into a street and alleyway. As they were apprehending a subject, agents came under direct gunfire when a male driving a black Jeep Wrangler fired multiple rounds. He immediately fled the scene,” it read.
“Attackers then began throwing bricks and even a paint cans from a roof, damaging Border Patrol vehicles,” the statement continued. “Chicago Police Department successfully helped law enforcement evacuate the area as more bricks were thrown at the law enforcements’ vehicle. Fortunately, no Border Patrol agents were injured in this attack.”
“After clearing the scene of the first attack, Border Patrol then encountered a vehicle that attempted to ram their convoy at the intersection of Cermak and California, but was thwarted when a Controlled Tire Deflation Device was deployed. The Border Patrol convoy then proceeded toward an FBI facility and encountered two drivers trying to impede operations. After they were warned to stop, one of the drivers attempted to ram the convoy. The driver was arrested. Border Patrol reached the FBI facility when rioters attempted to breach security there. Chicago Police responded to help secure the perimeter,” DHS wrote.
The organization alleged that additional protesters were then encountered, writing, “As the rioters refused to comply with basic instructions and began throwing objects, Border Patrol deployed crowd control measures, cleared the area, and proceeded to a Sam’s Club parking lot. Individuals stalked and followed the convoy into the parking lot and a vehicle rammed a Border Patrol’s vehicle. Three suspects were immediately arrested for assault.”
“After departing the parking lot, the law enforcement convoy was again attacked resulting in a broken window. The convoy became stuck at 26th and Kostner and sustained window damage along with a fourth vehicle ramming. The subject fled the scene and Border Patrol pursued. This driver remains at large,” they wrote.
DHS reported that eight U.S. citizens and one “illegal alien” were arrested amid the incidents, adding, “Thankfully, no Border Patrol agents were injured during these multiple attacks.”
This latest claim of people suffering at the hands of DHS agents comes after Donald Trump suggested that ICE raids “haven’t gone far enough.”
He affirmed that he was “okay” with how ICE agents are behaving, accusing “liberal judges” of limiting their scope during a November interview for 60 Minutes.
“You have to look at the people. Many of them are murderers. Many of them are people that were thrown outta their countries because they were, you know, criminals,” he continued, according to an official transcript shared by CBS News.
PEOPLE reached out to the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement for additional comment.
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