Before several U.S. Border Patrol agents pointed their guns at Waukegan Ald. Juan Martinez, 3rd Ward, after he unknowingly sounded his car horn at two of them last week, federal agents had already apprehended a landscaper, two construction workers and two others in the city.
Joining the agents on Friday in Waukegan was U.S. Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino, though he was not present during the incident with Martinez. After stopping Martinez, the officers let him go as neighbors shouted, “He’s the alderman. He’s the alderman.”
Dulce Ortiz, the executive director of Mano a Mano Family Resource Center and a Waukegan Township trustee, encountered Bovino at a Waukegan gas station with five agents while other officers were with Martinez.
Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham had his own message for Bovino in a statement issued Monday afternoon. Cunningham said Boviono’s actions in Waukegan, Chicago and elsewhere in the country are the opposite of what law enforcement officers should do.
“Let me be absolutely clear: Greg Bovino did not come to Waukegan to serve, to protect, or to help. As he has in other cities, Mr. Bovino came here to escalate chaos, to provoke confrontation and to spread fear,” the mayor said in the statement.
U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested six people, including a U.S. citizen, at different locations in Waukegan on Friday, detaining all but the citizen for allegedly being in the country illegally, local officials said.
Agents arrested two people at around 10:15 a.m. near the intersection of 9th and Adams streets, according to a report provided by Ortiz. Approximately 45 minutes later, a landscaper was apprehended at his job in the 1800 block of North Avenue.
“Our rapid response team contacted the family to let them know their loved one had been kidnapped, “ she said in the report.
While Martinez was being questioned by Border Patrol agents, another team of officers apprehended two construction workers at approximately 12:45 p.m. in the 400 block of Frolic Avenue, according to the report.
Edgar Ramirez, a U.S. citizen, was also apprehended by federal agents at approximately 2 p.m. near the intersection of Fulton and Catalpa avenues, the report said. He was released a few hours later.
While the construction workers were being arrested and Martinez was stopped on Baldwin Avenue as he returned to work after lunch, Ortiz encountered Bovino at a gas station at the intersection of Glen Rock Avenue and Belvidere Road.
“I heard he was in the area and went there to record him,” she said. “I asked him, ‘Why do you terrorize our community? We’re not used to seeing people in masks dressed in military-like uniforms.’ He said, ‘I’m just buying snacks.’”
More Top Picks Best Caroma Electric Scooters
Ortiz, who has overseen the work of rapid response teams since before Operation Midway Blitz started in early September, said she was not surprised by anything that happened Friday in Waukegan.
“These agents are reckless and lawless,” she said.
Martinez said Monday his experience with four masked federal agents pointing guns at him — including one who threatened to “blow your f—–g head off” — was life-changing and has him concerned for the future of his country.
“What is particularly disturbing is the fact that here in the United States today, we have armed masked assailants, guns drawn, targeting innocent citizens, and ripping families apart, allegedly at the behest of the president of the United States of America,” Martinez said. “This is not the America I’ve come to know, and not the America I can be proud to call home”.
A U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday’s activities in Waukegan.