A Waukegan councilman says he faced the guns of four federal immigration enforcement agents Friday while sitting in his car with his hands raised, as he tried to return to work from home after lunch, before they left him alone as people on the street shouted, “He’s the alderman. He’s the alderman.”
Ald. Juan Martinez, 3rd Ward, was briefly detained by U.S. immigration agents while all of them were stopped in traffic on Baldwin Avenue in Waukegan in what he came to believe was an operation by the officers.
While the guns were pointed at him with his hands raised, Martinez said he kept saying, “Don’t kill me. Don’t kill me.”
“My life flashed before my eyes,” he said. “All I could think of was my family was going to be planning my funeral.”
His day started like most. Martinez said he went to work, came home for lunch and began driving on Baldwin Avenue back to his job as he does every day. It was almost 1 p.m. when he ran into a traffic jam.
“I saw the commotion and I stayed in my vehicle,” he said. “I didn’t pay attention to what was happening around me.”
A vehicle was stopped in front of Martinez, and he said he could not see what was in front of him because the vehicle ahead of his was blocking his view. He was worried about being late in returning to work. He said he tapped his horn with a short honk and remained in his car the entire time.
“I waited two or three minutes, and a man wearing a mask came up to me with his gun drawn,” Martinez said. “It was a rifle. He said, ‘Put your hands up or I’ll blow your f—–g face off.’ I told him four or five times, ‘I’m the alderman.'”
While he sat in the car, a second agent came to the other side of the car with what Martinez believed was a handgun.
“They were both yelling at me,” he said. “I was frazzled. I said, ‘Please don’t kill me.’ Then a black vehicle appeared and two more guys got out. They also drew their guns. There were four barrels pointed at me.”
Eventually, he said the four agents walked away, in part because Martinez’s neighbors were letting the agents know Martinez was a member of the Waukegan City Council. He got out of his car and saw the agents had left.
As soon as he felt he felt he was safe, Martinez said his first call was to Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham. Cunningham told Martinez he would meet him at City Hall. Others eventually joined the gathering.
“I cried; I broke down,” Martinez said of his reaction as soon as he heard the mayor’s voice.
Cunningham expressed shock over Martinez’s experience, saying he was “deeply troubled” by the incident. The mayor said he has been concerned about his community since federal Operation Midway Blitz began in early September, and even before.
“No one should ever have a gun pointed at them by those sworn to protect the public,” Cunningham said in a social media post. “I am relieved that Alderman Martinez is safe. Waukegan is a city that values compassion and unity. I stand with our community in rejecting fear and intimidation.”
Approximately 30 minutes before agents confronted Martinez, Dulce Ortiz, the executive director of Mano a Mano Family Services and a Waukegan Township trustee, said she had an encounter with U.S. Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino at a Waukegan gas station.
“He was there with five agents getting snacks,” Ortiz said. “I asked him, ‘Why do you terrorize our community?’ He just ignored me. I’m not surprised about what happened to Alderman Martinez. Those agents are reckless and lawless.”
In a statement issued later Friday, Martinez said he met with Cunningham and members of the Waukegan Police Department, and he filed a police report. Cunningham said the police are conducting an investigation.
“What happened to me today should never happen to anyone,” Martinez said in the statement. “We deserve accountability, respect and the right to feel safe in our own city.”
Cunningham said in an interview Friday night that it is time to let the police complete their investigation. He knows what he will do when it is done.
“Once they conclude it, I will walk it across the street to the Lake County state’s attorney and get direction from them.”
A U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the incident.
