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CHICAGO — <\/span>A U.S. citizen was left bloodied and injured on the side of the road in a Chicago suburb after a confrontation with immigration enforcement agents who mistook him for a fugitive, according to local police and a resident who tried to help the man.<\/p>\n The man, whose identity was not disclosed, was taken away in an ambulance after the encounter on Sunday in Evanston, a city around 12 miles (19 kilometers) north of downtown Chicago. He told police his head, neck and teeth were injured, according to a news release from the Evanston Police Department.<\/p>\n A federal agent told officers who responded to calls reporting an altercation at just before 10 a.m. that morning that five agents in separate vehicles were looking for a fugitive with a Chicago address and a warrant for his arrest, according to the release. The agents mistook the man for the fugitive, the agent told police.<\/p>\n When the man refused to give his identification, the agents tried to handcuff him, the agent said. After realizing he was a U.S. citizen and not the person they were seeking, they released him.<\/p>\n One police officer saw blood on the agent\u2019s hands, according to the release. The agent told police he was injured while trying to handcuff the man, and that they left the area immediately after because they feared protesters who had gathered would attack them, it noted.<\/p>\n Police have visited the man at the hospital and photographed his injuries, and are investigating the encounter.<\/p>\n Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss said in a post<\/a> on X that the man was treated at St. Francis Hospital for minor injuries. The police department \u201ccontinues to investigate the situation, and we will remain vigilant about federal activities,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers had \u201cencountered an individual who resembled the target\u201d of a \u201ctargeted enforcement operation,\u201d the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. \u201cThe individual was given lawful commands but was not cooperative and refused to identify himself.\u201d<\/p>\n The officers \u201cleft the scene without further incident\u201d after the man identified himself, according to the statement. \u201cWhen ICE officers offered the individual assistance, he refused.\u201d<\/p>\n The incident drew condemnation from Illinois officials as backlash grows against ICE’s presence in communities around the country. ICE announced<\/a> a record number of arrests last month, with nearly 51,000 people arrested.<\/p>\n \u201cI am disgusted and outraged by reports of what happened in my hometown of Evanston on Sunday,\u201d Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky said in a statement.<\/p>\n Ryan Garton, 56, told The Associated Press that he saw the agents pinning down the man, who was Black, on the side of the road as he was driving home. He pulled over to document what was happening on video.<\/p>\n One agent had his knee on the man\u2019s back and was \u201cbeating up on him,\u201d Garton told the AP. \u201cI\u2019m a citizen, leave me alone,\u201d Garton said the man screamed as the agent pinned him down. Around five people stood nearby, and yelled at the agent to stop.<\/p>\n Garton said he urged the agent to get off the man so he could inspect his injuries, and that the agent acknowledged that he was already aware the man was a U.S. citizen. When the agent stepped away, Garton saw bloodstains in the shape of handprints on the man’s shirt.<\/p>\n \u201cHis upper right eye socket and temple were swollen as if he had been punched\u201d and his face was scraped \u201cas if it had been ground into the sidewalk,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The man told Garton that he had been walking to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription when the agents stopped him.<\/p>\n Michael Lipson, the owner of a store across the street from where the incident occurred, said he saw the agents wrestle the man to the ground as he repeatedly yelled that he is a U.S. citizen. The man’s face looked \u201cbadly messed up,\u201d Lipson told the AP.<\/p>\n Lipson said the agents checked cards and papers from the man\u2019s wallet before leaving them scattered on the road. Lipson laid out his sweatshirt for the man to rest on while Garton inspected his injuries.<\/p>\n The same day, ICE agents shot and wounded a man<\/a> in Austin, Texas, the latest in a string of shootings by federal immigration agents that have prompted growing backlash against the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration tactics.<\/p>\n At least 10 people have died<\/a> in encounters with immigration agents in President Donald Trump’s second term, including a Colombian man<\/a> shot dead in Maine in July by an agent with a history of violent behavior, and a Mexican man hit by a tractor trailer<\/a> as he fled agents in Florida the same month. ICE agents fatally shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both U.S. citizens, during the Trump administration’s siege of Minneapolis, named \u201cOperation Metro Surge,\u201d earlier this year.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Mayes-Osterman is a corps member for The Associated Press\/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America<\/a> is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n