CHICAGO — Rueben Antonio Cruz was sitting with a friend in Rogers Park when ICE agents pulled up onto the street.

The immigration officers stopped their truck and went straight after them on Oct. 9, Cruz told the Tribune.

“They asked us if we have papers. I said I do but I don’t have them on me,” Cruz, a 60-year old man with heart problems originally from El Salvador, recalled in Spanish.

The agents stood Cruz up, put him in their truck, drove around in circles, and asked questions, he said.

Where was he born? What is his name? Who is his mother? Who is his father?

“I told them, they are dead,” Cruz said. The agents said they needed the information anyway so they could look him up in their databases. Eventually, the agents verified that he is, in fact, legally in the country. And they let him go.

But not before writing him a $130 ticket for not having his papers. Cruz’s friend, who is homeless, did not have legal status and was taken away by the feds.

Under federal law, registered foreign nationals must carry proof of registration with them at all times. But prior to a second Trump administration, it was rarely enforced. As President Donald Trump escalates his immigration crackdown in Chicago and its suburbs, “Operation Midway Blitz,” agents are using broad federal authority when targeting suspected immigrants, legal experts say.

The Department of Homeland Security announced Oct. 1 that it had made 800 arrests in the area since the mission began at the beginning of September.

While federal officials claim they are targeting the “worst of the worst,” bystanders have been swept up and people across the Chicagoland region have accused the government of widespread civil rights violations. In blocking the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops in Illinois last week, U.S. District Judge April Perry said the federal government had a credibility problem that made many of their claims “unreliable.”

The National Immigrant Justice Center in Chicago told the Tribune it has not yet seen any of its clients receive this sort of citation. But it’s part of a recent push by the Trump administration to ensure immigrants register with authorities and maintain their documentation to them at all times or face potential penalties.

The Immigrant Legal Resource Center calls it a “hateful tactic” meant to “cause panic and fear throughout the country.”

“America has never been a place where people need to ‘show one’s papers.’ Ticketing a lawful permanent resident — and forcing him to appear in court and pay a fine for not carrying their papers — is unnecessary and cruel,” said Ed Yohnka, communications director for the ACLU of Illinois. “It does not make our communities stronger or more safe. It is simply part of the Trump Administration’s attempt to make life uncomfortable for all immigrants. It is just awful.”

A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not return messages seeking comment.

It’s not clear how many individuals have been ticketed for not having their papers on them. The ticket Cruz showed the Tribune references a law requiring immigrants to be registered with the government and have their registration documents.

A former dishwasher, Cruz lives in a government-funded apartment but isn’t working due to his health. Cruz said he was relieved to be released but worries how he will pay the fine. The ICE agents told Cruz he has to pay it within 60 days or go to court.

“It’s not fair because I said, let’s go to my house and I’ll show you my papers. I’m a resident,” Cruz said.

U.S. citizens say they’re also being questioned by federal immigration agents for proof of citizenship.

Maria Greeley, 44, had just finished working a double shift at the Beach Bar on Ohio Street earlier this month when she said she was surrounded by three federal agents who grabbed her, forced her hands behind her back and zip tied her.

Headphones in, Greeley had been focused on getting home to her two dogs for a walk. Instead, she said she was detained by masked agents who did not answer when she asked for names. They questioned her for an hour, she said.

Greeley, who was born at Illinois Masonic hospital and is adopted, carries a copy of her passport just in case she runs into federal agents.

“I am Latina and I am a service worker,” Greeley said. “I fit the description of what they’re looking for now.”

During the encounter, Greeley said they told her she “doesn’t look like” a Greeley.

“They said this isn’t real, they kept telling me I’m lying, I’m a liar,” Greeley recalled. “I told them to look in the rest of my wallet, I have my credit cards, my insurance.”

When the agents let her go, Greeley got home and screamed when she saw the shadow on her door. Days after the incident, Greeley said, it’s still “terrifying.”

“I just have to stay strong and not think about it, I’m still here, luckily,” she said, tearing up. “All those other people are getting taken.”

Days after Cruz had the encounter with federal agents, Cruz attended a hastily organized protest in Rogers Park residents. Hundreds turned out.

Ald. Maria Hadden, 49th, represents the Far North Side neighborhood on Chicago’s City Council. She said it was an effort to “recognize people from our community who were taken” and bring people together “to remind them that we are not powerless.”

The protest organizer group, Protect Rogers Park, posted on Facebook: “Today 400+ Rogers Parkers gathered to mourn, celebrate, defy authoritarianism, (canvass) and recommit to loving their neighbors. Oh, and buy a lot of tacos.”

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