DHS denies 'kidnapping' teen during chaotic confrontation in Chicago

DHS denies 'kidnapping' teen during chaotic confrontation in Chicago

The Department of Homeland Security responded to reports that agents "kidnapped" an American teenager during clashes with Chicago residents Tuesday afternoon in the East Side neighborhood.

CHICAGO - The Department of Homeland Security responded to reports that agents "kidnapped" an American teenager during clashes with Chicago residents Tuesday afternoon in the East Side neighborhood.

The incident happened around noon near the intersection of 105th Street and South Avenue N. 

DHS officials said Border Patrol agents were conducting an operation when an "illegal alien" used his car to ram their vehicle and start a pursuit.

Border Patrol agents performed a PIT maneuver to disable the vehicle before taking two men from Venezuela into custody.

A large crowd formed around the scene of the crash and some people started throwing objects at federal agents. DHS said one of those was a teenage U.S. citizen who threw an egg at a Border Patrol officer's head. They claimed the teen "admitted without questioning" that he threw an object at the officers before being arrested for assault.

Left: The 15-year-old detained by Border Patrol agents on Tuesday in the East Side neighborhood (Provided by Romanucci & Blandin) | Right: SkyFox aerial of the detainment.

Expand

What they're saying:

"A US teenager was arrested for assaulting law enforcement in Chicago—any claims that CBP ‘kidnapped’ a U.S. citizen and held him in a warehouse are bizarre and categorically FALSE," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. "These are more disgusting smears peddled by the media and billboard law firms. This attack is not an isolated incident, and it reflects a growing and dangerous trend of illegal aliens violently resisting arrest, and agitators and criminals ramming cars into our law enforcement officers."

The other side:

In a statement Tuesday night, law firm Romanucci & Blandin said the 15-year-old was "grabbed off a Chicago East Side street," slammed to the ground, kneed in the back and zip-tied by CBP agents.

Community leaders condemn ICE clash on Chicago?s Southeast Side

Community organizers are talking about the ICE situation on the Southeast Side on Tuesday, where federal agents reportedly rammed an SUV and tear-gassed a crowd.

Attorneys for the teen said he was then handcuffed and put in the back of a vehicle for five hours and not allowed to contact his mother.

"This is how people disappear in autocracies—grabbed off streets, held in unmarked locations, no calls to family, no stated charges, no due process," said Antonio M. Romanucci, an attorney, in the statement. "A 15-year-old American citizen was effectively 'disappeared' for five hours in Chicago. This is not law enforcement; this is the playbook of authoritarian regimes."

Dig deeper:

The two men who were taken into custody after the PIT maneuver were identified as Luis Gerardo Pirela-Ramirez, arrested for assault on a federal agent and his passenger, Yonder Enrique Tenefe-Perez, who was arrested for accessory to assault.

Yonder Enrique Tenefe-Perez (left) and Luis Gerardo Pirela-Ramirez | Department of Homeland Security

Pirela-Ramirez had previously been ordered to be removed from the country by an immigration judge in August last year, while Tenefe-Perez, had previously been apprehended by Border Patrol in 2024, according to DHS.