ICE tickets Chicago man with legal residency $130 for not having his papers on him: 'It's not fair ... I'm a resident'
ICE tickets Chicago man with legal residency $130 for not having his papers on him: ‘It’s not fair ... I’m a resident’
CHICAGO — Rueben Antonio Cruz was sitting with a friend in Rogers Park when ICE agents pulled up onto the street.
The immigration officers stopped their truck and went straight after them on Oct. 9, Cruz told the Tribune.
“They asked us if we have papers. I said I do but I don’t have them on me,” Cruz, a 60-year old man with heart problems originally from El Salvador, recalled in Spanish.
The agents stood Cruz up, put him in their truck, drove around in circles, and asked questions, he said.
Where was he born? What is his name? Who is his mother? Who is his father?
“I told them, they are dead,” Cruz said. The agents said they needed the information anyway so they could look him up in their databases. Eventually, the agents verified that he is, in fact, legally in the country. And they let him go.
But not before writing him a $130 ticket for not having his papers. Cruz’s friend, who is homeless, did not have legal status and was taken away by the feds.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/13/ice-fines-chicago-man-for-not-having-papers-on-him/
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