Krishnamoorthi Demands Transparency and Accountability After Shocking Hoffman Estates ICE Detention Caught on Video
SCHAUMBURG, IL – Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi today reaffirmed the validity of the video showing ICE agents violently detaining individuals in Hoffman Estates, confirmed that the incident occurred in his district, and condemned the Trump Administration’s campaign of secrecy, brutality, and misinformation surrounding its mass immigration raids. Krishnamoorthi said his office continues to gather information about the Hoffman Estates incident and renewed his call for transparency and oversight following the Administration’s latest attempt to obstruct congressional access at an Illinois ICE facility.
“My team and I continue to gather information about the exact details of what happened in Hoffman Estates on Friday — but there is no doubt that the video is real and that it happened here, in my district, on a street I have walked myself.
What that footage appears to show — a child being slammed to the ground by an ICE agent — is indefensible.
The Hoffman Estates Police Department has confirmed that ICE agents were present in the department’s parking lot that same day and issued a statement referencing videos circulating about the day’s events. Yet instead of providing transparency or clarifying the facts, a senior official at the Department of Homeland Security aggressively spread misinformation online, falsely claiming this was an unrelated arrest from over a year ago and miles away in Chicago. This continues a disturbing pattern of ICE and the Department of Homeland Security denying the public transparency or accountability while actively spreading politically motivated disinformation.
The events in Hoffman Estates embody everything that’s wrong with the Trump Administration’s militarized ICE raids: cruelty without accountability, secrecy without oversight, and power without restraint. That must end — and I will continue working in Congress to demand the transparency, oversight, and justice the American people deserve.”
Earlier today, Congressman Krishnamoorthi traveled to the ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois, to perform congressional oversight of reported detentions — including of minors — but was once again denied entry by the Trump Administration. The refusal follows a similar incident in June, when Krishnamoorthi and Congressman Jonathan Jackson were turned away from another ICE site in Chicago’s South Loop after attempting to inspect conditions and obtain information about detainees.