US Congress(CHICAGO) — A U.S. congressman said he was briefly handcuffed after refusing to leave a meeting at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Chicago.
U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., said he participated in a sit-in at the Chicago ICE headquarters after attending a meeting there.
“Federal police giving us our first warning that we risk arrest if we stay at Chicago ICE HQ,” Gutierrez tweeted Monday.
Federal police giving us our first warning that we risk arrest if we stay at Chicago ICE HQ.#chiresist #twill pic.twitter.com/M77rU0EgGs
— Luis V. Gutierrez (@RepGutierrez) March 13, 2017
“I was arrested, cuffed then cuffs were cut off. Waiting for further word on if [or] when we will be arrested,” he said in a later tweet.
I was arrested, cuffed then cuffs were cut off. Waiting for further word on if/when we will be arrested. #chiresist pic.twitter.com/vKJRnz6Ebj
— Luis V. Gutierrez (@RepGutierrez) March 13, 2017
ICE did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Gutierrez said he wanted the federal law enforcement agency to rescind tweets perceived as a threat to the U.S. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, which makes allowances for some undocumented immigrants who entered the United States as minors.
The tweets garnered an outcry from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, of which Gutierrez is a member.
“President Trump and his people should keep their hands off of the DREAMers, period. Tweeting out that every DACA recipient is vulnerable to deportation is just another way this President is trying to create fear in immigrant communities, to make families and children think that their government could come after them at any time,” Gutierrez said in a statement Friday in response to ICE’s tweets. “It is disgusting behavior on the part of the Department of Homeland Security and the White House and it needs to stop.”
Gutierrez’s sit-in comes amid ongoing controversy surrounding President Trump’s immigration overhaul. Trump has also threatened to deport as many as three million immigrants with criminal records.
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