Border Patrol agents conducting yet another raid on an O’Hare International Airport parking lot for ride-share drivers Thursday evening tased and arrested a man they accused of ramming their vehicle as he tried to get away, according to a police report obtained by the Tribune.
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Federal agents told Chicago police that they had been trying to apprehend the man just before 6 p.m. in the parking lot at 504 W. O’Hare St.. The agents alleged to responding Chicago police that the man, who was driving a black Ford sport utility vehicle, reversed and rammed the agents’ Chevy Tahoe as they tried to arrest him.
Agents tased the man and took him to the Broadview processing facility shortly afterward, the report stated.
A third car was also damaged in the incident, according to the report.
Thursday’s crash and arrest was at least the third time this month that federal agents have raided O’Hare parking lots frequented by ride-share drivers as part of the Trump administration’s wide-ranging crackdown on illegal immigration known as “Operation Midway Blitz.” More than 50 people have been arrested in those raids, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The Illinois Drivers Alliance, which is seeking to organize ride-share drivers statewide, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
O’Hare and the parking lots are city of Chicago property, making the raids an apparent violation of the executive order Mayor Brandon Johnson issued earlier this month that barred federal agents from using city property in their operations.
In a Tuesday interview with the Tribune, Johnson said his administration would “look at every single tool to hold this administration accountable” for those violations, but didn’t say when he would be taking action — only that it would be “as soon as possible.”
Johnson has previously called for criminal charges against agents who violate that order. He also issued an order directing law enforcement personnel not to wear masks on the job, but federal agents have kept their faces covered as they’ve roamed the city over the last two months.
baiduhai’s Alice Yin and Talia Soglin contributed.