ICE picks up random Latino man who was born in Chicago while buying a pizza
A routine pizza run turned into a nightmare for Julio Noriega, a 54-year-old U.S. citizen born in Chicago, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents surrounded him, handcuffed him, and detained him for hours without a warrant.
The incident, which occurred on January 31 in Berwyn, is one of at least 22 cases cited in a new legal motion filed Thursday by Chicago attorneys with the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) and the ACLU of Illinois against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE.
The attorneys accuse federal agents of violating immigration laws, the U.S. Constitution, and a landmark 2018 settlement agreement in their aggressive pursuit of arrests since President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2025.
Noriega’s ordeal began after he purchased a pizza and stepped outside. “I was surrounded by ICE agents and arrested,” he said in a statement. “They took away my wallet, which had my ID and Social Security card. They then handcuffed me and pushed me into a white van where other people were handcuffed as well.” Noriega, who spent most of the night at an ICE processing center in suburban Broadview, was never questioned about his citizenship. Agents released him only after inspecting his ID—nearly 10 hours later—without documenting the arrest. “I was born in Chicago, Illinois, and am a United States citizen,” Noriega emphasized.
The motion, filed in federal court in Chicago, alleges that ICE’s actions reflect a broader pattern of unlawful arrests across the Midwest, targeting at least 22 individuals since Trump’s second term began. Of those, two remain in custody, 19 have been released on bond, and one has been deported. The attorneys are demanding the immediate release of those still detained, reimbursement of bonds, weekly reports on immigration arrests, and additional training and discipline for the agents involved.
Central to the case is the Nava Settlement, a 2018 class-action lawsuit that curbed ICE’s use of warrantless arrests following widespread abuses, such as traffic stops targeting Latino individuals. The settlement, which covers Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kentucky, and Kansas, permits warrantless arrests only when agents have evidence an individual is likely to flee. However, the NIJC and ACLU argue that ICE has flouted this agreement since January, failing to assess flight risk or secure proper warrants. “Federal agents since January failed to assess whether there was probable cause that an individual was likely to flee before a warrant could be issued,” the motion states.
Mark Fleming, associate director of NIJC’s federal litigation project, told reporters that ICE’s actions stem from pressure to fulfill Trump’s mass deportation promises. “In order to do this mass deportation that the administration has demanded of them, [federal agents] are going way outside the bounds of the legal guardrails around arrest and deprivation of liberty, both within the immigration laws but also under the U.S. Constitution,” Fleming said. He accused ICE of devising an “unlawful workaround” to the Nava Settlement by generating administrative warrants after detaining individuals. “No one disputes that ICE has authority to do immigration enforcement in the U.S.,” he added, “but they only have authority to do it under the laws that Congress has passed or are part of the legal limitations of the U.S. Constitution.”
Noriega’s case is not isolated. In suburban Lyons, Abel Orozco-Ortega, 47, was detained without a warrant on January 26 while returning home with tamales. Federal agents, reportedly searching for one of his sons—who shares his name but is 20 years younger—approached Orozco-Ortega’s car, identified themselves as police, and asked for his driver’s license. After presenting a “Temporary Visitor’s” license—a type once issued to non-citizens in Illinois—agents arrested him. Fleming alleges that ICE kept Orozco-Ortega handcuffed in a vehicle while creating an administrative warrant on the spot. He remains detained at the Clay County Jail in Indiana, separated from his family for over a month.
Another disturbing incident unfolded in Liberty, Missouri, where 12 restaurant workers were barricaded inside a Mexican restaurant by armed DHS agents and arrested without warrants on February 7. Attorneys claim ICE later fabricated documentation to justify the arrests, a tactic they say violates the Nava Settlement, federal immigration law, and the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.
The majority of the 22 individuals cited in the filing lack criminal records, with the most serious offense being a DUI, according to Fleming. Yet, the aggressive tactics have sown fear in immigrant communities and drawn sharp criticism from advocates. An ICE spokesperson declined to comment, citing a policy against discussing ongoing litigation.
The legal battle comes amid heightened scrutiny of ICE’s operations under Trump’s renewed immigration crackdown. Attorneys warn that without accountability, such violations could escalate, further eroding constitutional protections. For Noriega, the experience remains a stark reminder of vulnerability despite his citizenship. “I just wanted to get a pizza,” he said. “Instead, I lost a night of my life.”
