Chicago woman detained by federal agents among five U.S. citizens to testify in Washington

A U.S. citizen who in October was dragged from her SUV by masked federal immigration agents in West Town testified before a congressional public forum in Washington Tuesday that she has experienced panic attacks and daily nightmares after being held in federal custody.

“What happened to me that day is not an arrest,” Dayanne Figueroa said. “It was an assault and a kidnapping of a U.S. citizen. I was never arrested. I was never charged and never given an explanation or an apology. But the damage is done, and it continues.”

Figueroa was one of five U.S. citizens who offered their accounts during a bicameral public forum, despite the U.S. Department of Homeland Security repeatedly claiming they are not arresting U.S. citizens.

The witnesses included Wilmer Chavarria, a school superintendent in Vermont, who was detained after returning to the U.S. from visiting family overseas; Javier Ramirez, who was held for four days in California and denied medical treatment for diabetes; George Retes, a U.S. Army veteran, who was arrested and detained during a raid at his job site in southern California and detained for three days; and Andrea Velez, of California, who was on her way to work in Los Angeles when she was caught in a raid and charged with assaulting an officer, a charge that was later dropped for Velez. She said she is 4 foot 11 inches and did not assault an officer.

Figueroa was driving to work on Oct. 10 when videos show an unmarked vehicle sideswipe her car. Three masked federal agents got out of the vehicle, with two of the agents dragging Figueroa out, pulling her from her legs, and one of the agents ultimately placing his knee on her to hold her down.

A Chicago Tribune review of video from the scene found that a vehicle driven by federal agents collided with Figueroa's vehicle as the agents' vehicle tried to speed away from a crowd. But the Department of Homeland Security has accused Figueroa, who they identified as a U.S. citizen, of using her vehicle to ram the agents’ vehicle.

DHS also claimed Figueroa was arrested for assaulting a federal agent — though which she was never charged with that offense. Shortly after the incident, Figueroa said in a statement, "Agents crashed into me. I was not involved in any protest or related activity."

“They ripped open my door. One of them screamed in my face, demanding that I get out, yet never identifying himself, never asked me for my ID and never told me where I was being detained or why,” Figueroa said on Tuesday. “They never read me my rights. Instead, I was violated. These tough guys violently dragged me out of my car, yanked me by my feet and ripped the phone out of my hand.”

Figueroa testified that she was “beaten, bleeding and barefoot” and dragged into a red van. She was shoved into a third row seat, wedged between two Latino men who did not speak English.

“We were all handcuffed, unsecured, helpless and I went into a full panic attack,” Figueroa said. She said that while she was shaking and crying, agents raised their phones to take pictures of her. Videos of her being taken from her vehicle show a man taking photos of the incident.

Figueroa was taken to the immigration holding facility in Broadview and eventually to a facility in Lombard. She said she was fingerprinted, photographed and swabbed for DNA. Figueroa said she told agents she was recovering from two recent kidney surgeries, but her pleas went ignored. She said she had to urinate in a toilet that was under direct surveillance, and there was blood in her urine. She said she “begged for help, for a phone call, a lawyer, for water, bandages, anything to ease the pain.”

“Instead, I was laughed at and thrown into a filthy jail cell,” Figueroa said.

Figueroa said the blood in her urine finally prompted agents to allow her to get medical help, and she was able to finally contact her boyfriend while in an ambulance. Sen. Dick Durbin, who introduced Figueroa as a witness, said her family was frantically searching for her when they saw a video of her arrest online. They were able to track her phone to the Broadview facility, he said.

"I watched the videotape of your violent arrest, and I can't imagine what you experienced," Durbin told her.

"It's a damn lie and they know it," Figueroa said when she was later asked about a DHS statement that says federal agents aren't arresting U.S. citizens.

Figueroa was also asked about the lasting effects of her experience.

“I feel violated. I’ve never felt this disgusted in my life," Figueroa said. "I’m so proud to be an American and since that happened, I’m embarrassed."