Immigration agents make arrest outside Chicago courthouse, leaving behind broken fence

Madeline Buckley, Chicago Tribune on Nov 13, 2025

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CHICAGO — Multiple immigration agents detained a man on Wednesday outside Cook County’s main criminal courthouse on the Southwest Side in a chaotic struggle that broke a fence and left blood on the pavement, according to video footage provided to the Chicago Tribune by the Cook County Public Defender’s Office.

It was not clear whether the agents had secured a warrant for the man’s arrest. Absent a court order, immigration arrests of people attending court are prohibited in or around county courthouses by a General Order issued last month by Chief Judge Tim Evans.

Department of Homeland Security officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment or answer a question about whether the agents obtained a warrant.

Civil immigration enforcement has historically not often happened around courthouses to help ensure that defendants and witnesses will appear for legal matters. The county’s court buildings, though, have repeatedly been targeted by agents carrying out Trump administration mandates to increase arrests and deportations, drawing condemnation from the local legal community.

“The state’s longstanding practice of banning civil arrests of people accessing court is necessary to protect the integrity of the Illinois court system, including the criminal courts,” the public defender’s office said in a statement. “This system only works if people are willing to show up to court — and in the case of our clients, as they are ordered to do.”

According to the video, multiple immigration agents surrounded a man while taking him into custody on top of a broken fence.

The arrest happened at the busy Leighton Criminal Court Building at 2650 S. California Avenue as people looked on and yelled at the agents.

“We’ve got a warrant,” one of the agents says, according to the video.

But attorneys repeatedly yelled to see the warrant, which did not appear to be produced.

“Where’s the warrant? We’re his attorneys,” the man’s public defender said, according to the video.

“Are you guys proud of yourselves?” an onlooker yelled.

The agents appeared to arrest the man on top of a broken fence in front of the building. Drops of blood could be seen on the sidewalk as they led the man into a black van.

“He’s bleeding. He’s going to need medical attention,” the man’s attorney said.

She shouted at him in Spanish to not answer any questions.

“Can I have his car keys? Can I have his property?” she asked.

The man, 20, appeared in court on Wednesday in a gun possession case, according to court records.

The public defender’s office, which is representing him, said he has appeared for all his court dates.

“Arrests like we saw yesterday are detrimental to both the rule of law and to public safety. We condemn both the federal government’s disregard for Chief Judge Evans’s General Administrative Order and the wholly unnecessary violence the agents inflicted on our client,” the office’s statement said.

The presence of immigration agents around area courthouses has been the subject of increasing alarm by attorneys and advocates. Officials including Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke have spoken out against agents’ presence there, saying that it discourages witnesses and defendants from appearing in court and victims from seeking help.

In particular, officials, attorneys and advocates have decried the presence of immigration arrests around the county’s domestic violence-focused courthouse, where people can go to seek out protective measures like orders of protection.

In response, the public defender’s office, along with a group of advocates and attorneys, publicly petitioned Evans, asking for a general order that prohibits warrantless arrests.

Evans implemented the order in October.

Also in October, the Illinois General Assembly passed legislation that bars federal agents from arresting people involved in court proceedings near courthouses statewide.

In its statement, the public defender’s office urged Gov. JB Pritzker to sign the measure “as soon as possible.”

Since Evans’ order went into effect, there has been a decrease in federal activity around courthouses, the office said, though agents still “disregard local laws and policies.”

Violators who arrest individuals improperly at or near a courthouse would face civil damages for false imprisonment and $10,000 in statutory damages, according to the bill. A judge will also be able to issue an order preventing arrest under the provision, according to the bill.

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