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Law enforcement officers detained a man around 7 a.m. this morning in an alley between UChicago’s Community Programs Accelerator building and an apartment complex near East 53rd Street and South Maryland Avenue, according to two videos of the incident obtained by the Maroon.
In a post on Instagram, Hyde Park’s Rapid Response network called the detention “federal immigration activity” and said that officers “attempted to detain multiple people outside their homes” at the same location.
The incident marks the eighth immigration detainment near UChicago’s campus since October and the first of 2026.
When asked to confirm details about the detention, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) public affairs officer asked the Maroon to provide footage of the incident and details about the detained individual. The Maroon declined to do so. ICE did not confirm to the Maroon whether it was responsible for the detention, nor did it provide details on what grounds the person was detained, but said it was looking into the request.
In a statement, Hyde Park Rapid Response told the Maroon that “one person was abducted in Hyde Park this morning, and his family has been contacted about his detention. We have not received reports of any other detentions or federal immigration enforcement activity in Hyde Park or surrounding neighbors today.”
“We encourage anyone who believes they are witnessing ICE or other federal immigration enforcement activity to contact ICIRR’s Family Support Network at (855)-435-7693,” the statement concluded.
The Maroon was not able to independently verify whether the detention was conducted by immigration officers, nor was the Maroon able to verify where the person detained is currently being held in custody.
A UChicago student who witnessed the arrest from their apartment window told the Maroon there were three officers and three different cars in the alley during the event. Only two officers and one vehicle are visible in the footage obtained by the Maroon.
In the first video, an officer can be seen pushing the detained man up against the side of an unmarked, dark SUV with sirens blaring. Another officer pulls out what appears to be a handgun from his holster and points it at the man’s head for several seconds before returning it to his side. The man then calls for help in Spanish.
In the second video from the same vantage point, one of the officers fires at the man with a taser. At the time, the man was being held against the side of the vehicle and did not appear to be resisting or attempting to flee.
After the man screamed and collapsed to the ground, the officers held him down, continuing to point the taser at his back. One officer appears to use his foot on the man’s back to keep the man on the ground. The man again calls for help in Spanish.
Per Department of Homeland Security guidelines, “Use of force is necessary when it is reasonably required to carry out the Authorized Officer’s law enforcement duties in a given situation, considering the totality of facts and circumstances of a particular situation,” for example, when “the subject poses an imminent threat to the safety of the Authorized Officer or others” or “is actively resisting or attempting to evade arrest by flight.”
A document titled “Interim ICE Use of Force Policy” governing ICE’s use of tasers has recently been redacted from government websites. ICE’s current policy around use of force states that it must be done “in accordance with agency policy, procedure, and guidelines.”
The two officers in the video wore plainclothes and body armor. One was labeled “Police,” while the other was unmarked. The unmarked officer wore a face mask. After putting the man in one of the cars, the officers fist-bumped each other, according to the student who witnessed the arrest.
“We’re in the alley, Maryland and 53rd, Maryland and 53rd. Hurry up,” one of the officers said, stepping out of frame before the video cuts off.
The detainment occurred two weeks after an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis. Amid heightened ICE activity in Chicago this fall, ICE agents also shot two people, Silvaro Villegas-Gonzalez and Marimar Martinez, in individual, high profile cases.
Illinois and Chicago sued the Trump administration on Monday, alleging “unlawful and violent tactics” by federal agents during “Operation Midway Blitz”—the Department of Homeland Security’s name for immigration enforcement activities in Chicagoland since September. Last week, a federal judge cited the fatal shooting in Minneapolis in her decision to maintain limits on use of force during immigration enforcement activities.
Editor’s note, January 14, 9:15 p.m.: This article has been updated to include a statement from the Hyde Park Rapid Response network.
Editor’s note: The Maroon is documenting Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sightings in the Hyde Park, Kenwood, and Woodlawn neighborhoods on an interactive map following the launch of ICE’s Operation Midway Blitz in fall. This incident has been added to the map, which can be viewed here. This article was translated into Spanish by Elena Eisenstadt.
