'Based on skin colour': Indian-origin Illinois worker stopped, questioned by masked immigration agents

An Indian-origin employee of the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) was questioned by three masked agents about his immigration status while working on a road project in the state. The agents also asked if he knew Zohran Mamdani, the new mayor of New York. The incident has sparked outrage among Illinois officials and raised concerns about racial profiling and the targeting of US citizens based on ethnicity.

According to The Chicago Sun-Times, the man, an Indian-American and a US citizen, was working on the Busse Highway resurfacing project when the agents approached and questioned him about his background and any links to New York. The episode took place amid heightened federal immigration activity in the Chicago area.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker condemned the questioning, calling it part of a larger pattern of “racial profiling by federal officials.” He said President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem were “continuing to question US citizens apparently based on the colour of their skin.”

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“I am appalled they would stop and question a state employee working hard on the job to help improve our state’s roads and infrastructure,” Pritzker said in a statement. “Our state employees should be able to go to work and do their jobs without masked agents targeting them for no legitimate reason.”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) later denied that the agents were from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The governor’s office did not identify the agents or clarify which agency they represented.

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The incident caused concern in the local community, prompting Park Ridge-Niles School District 64 to keep students indoors on Friday. Superintendent Ben Collins said he was “aware of reports regarding ICE agents in Park Ridge neighbourhoods near some of the district’s schools.”

This comes during a week of increased federal immigration operations in the Chicago area. Federal judges recently imposed new limits on the Broadview immigration facility and DHS use-of-force policies. On Thursday, agents reportedly drove a caravan through Chicago’s Southwest Side, questioning residents about their immigration status under the command of Border Patrol’s Gregory Bovino.

The same week, agents entered a North Centre day care and detained a teacher, Diana Patricia Santillana Galeano of Colombia. Local officials said the agents searched classrooms without a warrant. Video footage showed Santillana Galeano being led away while saying, “Yo tengo papeles,” asserting that she had legal documentation.