Dad says he and his toddler were pepper sprayed by federal immigration agents
Source: NBC News/AP
Nov. 10, 2025, 4:15 PM EST
CHICAGO A suburban Chicago father and his 1-year-old daughter were pepper-sprayed at close range as they were headed to go grocery shopping over the weekend and happened upon federal immigration agents, the family said.
Rafael Veraza said the incident happened in a Sam's Club parking lot in Cicero on Saturday, amid escalating clashes that day between immigration agents and frustrated area residents. The suburb shares a border with the Chicago neighborhood of Little Village, a largely Mexican enclave that has frequently been at the center of a federal immigration crackdown that began two months ago in the nation's third-largest city.
Veraza said the family was in their car when they heard a helicopter and honking, common signals in the Chicago area these days that federal agents are nearby. They decided to leave.
That's when a masked agent pointed a pepper-spray gun through their vehicle's open window and fired. A cloudy substance hit Veraza in the face, which also affected his daughter, according to a video taken by the family.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/chicago-family-pepper-spray-allegations-ice-immigration-cicero-rcna242536
SunSeeker
(57,262 posts)BumRushDaShow
(163,346 posts)Because -
It didn't happen in the city of Chicago but one of the suburban towns - Cicero, IL - which is almost 90% Hispanic. It's not a small town either (used to be a big Italian enclave, including of Al Capone fame, and is now mostly Hispanic).
SunSeeker
(57,262 posts)BumRushDaShow
(163,346 posts)and is 1/4 the size in population (at 20,000) of Cicero (which has over 80,000).
There is obviously a problem there!
SunSeeker
(57,262 posts)Which could be part of the problem.
BumRushDaShow
(163,346 posts)SunSeeker
(57,262 posts)But LAPD is 50% Hispanic, unlike Cicero PD, which has only 3 out of 24 officers with Hispanic surnames.
BumRushDaShow
(163,346 posts)and LA is so sprawling, you pretty much HAVE to have that kind of coordination.
I live a couple blocks from the border between Philly and that suburban county with Springfield Township and they DO coordinate right on the county line (although the Springfield cops are usually there on the scene of a car accident, no matter what side of the border, WAY BEFORE the Philly cops get there
).
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(130,983 posts)Timeflyer
(3,529 posts)oasis
(53,198 posts)cities without immediate consequences. Im sure there will be a ton of documentation about this ugly period.
republianmushroom
(22,078 posts)popsdenver
(1,017 posts)is owned by Walmart, and caters to mexican clients???? Anyone know?????
Not sure, but if that is the case, ....that they want to pick on Walmart........they must know about some of the top 1/10th of the top 1% Billionaires own it......
SunSeeker
(57,262 posts)I don't think it specifically caters to Mexican clients. Like Costco, you have to pay a yearly membership fee to shop there.
BumRushDaShow
(163,346 posts)and there is one not far from me in suburban Philly (one of my BILs used to hang out there to get BBQ stuff and I have been in there a couple times), but it wasn't specifically catering to Mexicans (we don't have that many here in the Philly metro area).
Most of the Mexicans here are probably in Delaware county near the mushroom farms in Kennett Square and there are other concentrations of them in Reading and Allentown, PA. The rest of the Hispanics in this area have been mostly Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Dominicans, and more recently, a mix from a variety of Central American countries.
Although there is a Costco sort of near me too, I have yet to get there, but I think it's the same principal there too - the sale of inexpensive "bulk quantities" of stuff like food, household products, etc., and they have departments with other items (furniture, small appliances, etc) - both warehouse stores having an annual "membership card" (for a fee). Another similar one was BJ's (that I used to get a lot of mailers for but had never been in one).
popsdenver
(1,017 posts)You are the posts I most often read because they are the best...........and most informative, esp with stuff no one has.......you must have copious "Insiders" everywhere!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BumRushDaShow
(163,346 posts)Alot of it is "been there done that" (with some where I even "wore the T-shirt" ).
popsdenver
(1,017 posts)I scan for your commentaries, read them, and then move on to Heather Cox Richardson......
orangecrush
(27,582 posts)From the link -
"The U.S. Department of Homeland Security flatly rejected the family's account.
"There was no crowd control or pepper spray deployed in a Sam's Club parking lot," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement sent to the Associated Press Monday."
Video -
Bayard
(27,794 posts)They would still claim it never happened, or--"Score one for our side." The dad did have asthma, and both had to go to the hospital. I'd say that's pretty damning.