Suburban Chicago father, a US citizen, says ICE pepper-sprayed him and year-old daughter during grocery shopping trip

CHICAGO — A suburban Chicago father and his 1-year-old daughter were pepper-sprayed at close range as they headed grocery shopping over the weekend and happened upon federal immigration agents, the family said.

Rafael Veraza said the incident happened in a Sam’s Club parking lot in Cicero on Saturday, amid escalating clashes that day between immigration agents and frustrated area residents. The suburb shares a border with the Chicago neighborhood of Little Village, a largely Mexican enclave that has frequently been at the center of a federal immigration crackdown that began two months ago in the nation’s third-largest city.

Veraza said the family was in their car when they heard a helicopter and honking, common signals in the Chicago area these days that federal agents are nearby. They decided to leave.

That’s when a masked agent pointed a pepper-spray gun through their vehicle’s open window and fired. A cloudy substance hit Veraza in the face, which also affected his daughter, according to a video taken by the family.

“My daughter was trying to open her eyes,” Veraza told reporters Sunday, as his wife held their daughter nearby. “She was struggling to breathe.”

He said they were not protesting, honking their horns to warn others or trying to interfere.

A longtime pastor in the area, the Rev. Matt DeMateo, arrived at the scene to help and also recorded footage of Veraza struggling to open his eyes and of their daughter, Arianna, crying while her mother tried to comfort her.

“A family, and I shouldn’t have to say this, but guess what? All U.S. citizens attacked while shopping,” he said. “We need a better way.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security flatly rejected the family’s account.

“There was no crowd control or pepper spray deployed in a Sam’s Club parking lot,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin