Video shows Rafael Veraza holding his face after he and his family were allegedly sprayed through open car window

An Illinois man said his US citizen family – including his one-year-old daughter – were pepper-sprayed in their car by federal immigration agents during a shopping trip in a Chicago suburb.

Video of the encounter outside a Sam’s Club in Cicero shows Rafael Veraza clutching at his face after he was allegedly sprayed through his open window by a cloudy substance fired by a masked agent from a pick-up truck traveling in the opposite direction.

Veraza, 25, told reporters his wife told him to stop their car because she, their daughter, and sister were also hit. The images show the aftermath of the episode with the girl in distress in her mother’s arms with her eyes streaming.

“My daughter was trying to open her eyes. She was struggling to breathe,” Veraza told reporters at a press conference Sunday, a day after an operation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the store.

  • shawn1122@sh.itjust.works
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    14 hours ago

    It should go without saying but their citizenship should have no bearing on their treatment. If they were undocumented, this behaviour would still not be justified.

    People without legal status in ones nation state are not less worthy of human rights.

    • Englishgrinn@lemmy.ca
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      11 hours ago

      Of course I agree with you completely, it just further illustrates ICEs intellectual dishonesty.