A man was left bloodied on the ground in Evanston, Illinois, on Sept. 20 after ICE agents mistook him for someone they were searching for, according to CNN. Evanston police were dispatched around 9:49 a.m. after a caller reported two men arguing. Officers found the man on the ground with bystanders helping him and called an ambulance after he reported injuries to his head, neck and teeth.
Police identified him only as an Evanston resident. A federal agent told an Evanston officer the man had refused to identify himself and “resisted detention.” Bystander Ryan Garton, 56, said he was driving home when he saw two agents pinning the man down. “They were punching a guy and putting their knee into his back,” he said.
He pulled over and told the agents to back off, offering first aid. Witness Miguel Olivares told the outlet’s affiliate WLS he heard the man shouting, “I’m a US citizen,” and began filming. “They were being rough with him; they had him pinned against the floor, and it looked like one of the agents hit him in the face,” Olivares said.
How the confrontation unfolded on camera
Video reviewed by the outlet shows two agents, one masked and hooded, holding the man down. He can be heard saying, “I’m a ****** US citizen.” The agents released him, stepped away, then returned to their vehicles and left while he remained face down in the street. Garton said he knelt beside him, telling him, “I have you. You’re safe. They can’t hurt you anymore.”
The man had been walking to a pharmacy for a prescription, Garton said. He dialed 911 himself but was too shaken to speak, so Garton relayed his location to dispatchers. Evanston’s police chief met the man at the hospital, where an evidence technician documented his injuries, including a swollen temple and blood from his mouth.
Police said an officer noticed blood on one agent’s hands, which the agent attributed to an injury sustained detaining the man; he declined treatment. Agents later left the area after protesters gathered, fearing they’d be attacked, police said.
DHS said agents “immediately identified themselves as law enforcement” and that the man “was given lawful commands but was not cooperative and refused to identify himself,” adding officers “relied on their training and later left the scene without further incident once the individual finally identified himself.” DHS said he refused assistance but didn’t address his injuries.
Garton disputes that no help was offered. A DHS spokesperson said ICE’s arrest authority comes from 8 U.S.C. § 1357, permitting warrantless arrests based on reasonable suspicion and probable cause. Evanston police said the case hasn’t been presented to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, which said it can only decide on charges once the investigation is complete.
Kate Huddleston, a senior ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project attorney, told the outlet that standard actually requires probable cause on two points: that someone is in the country unlawfully, and that they’re likely to flee before a warrant could be obtained. Merely walking or driving in public, she said, generally isn’t enough on its own. She added that someone wrongfully detained can seek relief through the Federal Tort Claims Act.
Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss said the man was treated for minor injuries at St. Francis Hospital. The incident was one of three separate episodes involving federal immigration agents that Sunday, including a shooting of a Venezuelan DoorDash driver in Austin and a fatal car crash in Michigan.
Published: Sep 25, 2026 03:41 pm