A man was hospitalized and remains in federal custody after being arrested by immigration agents in suburban Melrose Park on Sunday morning, his family told the Tribune. As of Monday afternoon, they had not been allowed to see Ricardo Aguayo Rodriguez, 53, and they had received no updates on his condition.
“I will try again,” his older sister, Dora Suane, said Monday after she was denied a visit at Loyola Medicine’s Gottlieb Memorial Hospital for a second day in a row.
Videos shared on social media show Aguayo Rodriguez struggling on the ground, lying next to a white truck, while a federal agent kept him in a headlock.
“Por favor, amigo,” he can be heard pleading as he groans and yells in pain. “Please, friend.”
The Department of Homeland Security could not be reached for comment.
Suane told the Tribune in Spanish Sunday that two agents were standing guard outside his room when she arrived at the hospital. They wouldn’t let her in, but she caught a glance from the doorway and saw her brother in bed, with bandages on his face and head.
“They didn’t even say anything to us,” she said.
A hospital spokesperson said in an emailed statement: “Loyola Medicine treats federal agencies like U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) the same way we treat all law enforcement personnel. If they need to enter our facilities, they coordinate with our Security team. This morning, ICE personnel came to Gottlieb Memorial Hospital to accompany a patient in their custody who required medical care. Visitation is restricted for any patient in custody and is at the discretion of the law enforcement agency. Hospital staff have been in contact with the family to update them on the patient’s condition.”
Law enforcement does not need a warrant to be present in the building when someone is already in their custody, a hospital official on site Sunday told advocates.
According to Suane, her brother had left home on his bicycle in the morning to get some food when agents picked him up near 17th Avenue and Main Street.
“They hit him on the face and head, they were almost choking him,” Suane said. Witnesses told her that Aguayo Rodriguez was taken to the hospital after complaining of chest pain.
Videos from the scene at 17th and Main shared to a neighborhood Facebook page show vehicles and an ambulance driving away as emergency sirens wail.
Brian Orozco, an attorney at Gregory E. Kulis and Associates, was retained by the family Sunday night to represent them. He told the Tribune he had formally submitted a request to DHS to meet with his client but had yet to hear back.
“Based on the video that we have, he was bleeding on his forehead,” Orozco said.
Originally from Zacatecas, Mexico, Aguayo Rodriguez has been in the country since the 1980s. He has a construction job and is the father of two children, aged 5 and 7.
“Él es bien trabajador,” Suane said. “He is a hard worker.”
On Monday morning, a handful of people rallied outside the hospital in support of Aguayo Rodriguez. A man in a neon-green vest yelled “Todos somos Ricardo” into a megaphone, “We are all Ricardo.”
“They’re not letting us go see him and they keep having security guards around us,” said his niece, Stephanie Suane, 33. “And we’re not doing nothing, just sitting there hoping to get updates from him but they don’t tell us anything.”
A local rapid response team confirmed federal immigration enforcement activity across the village of Melrose Park that resulted in at least three arrests Sunday, including that of Aguayo Rodriguez.
The office of state Rep. Norma Hernandez, whose district includes Melrose Park, also confirmed sightings along the village’s Lake Street, as well as the three arrests and the hospitalization. Hernandez said agents had been present in nearby Northlake and Addison.
“In light of this incident and other recent ICE activity in the district, we urge all residents to exercise extreme caution while walking, driving, or commuting through these areas. It is crucial to stay aware of your surroundings and to understand your rights,” a post shared by Hernandez’s office read.
The western suburbs have been hit hard as part of President Donald Trump’s “Operation Midway Blitz” in the Chicago area. Two months ago, a man, Silverio Villegas González, was shot and killed by an ICE agent during a traffic stop in Franklin Park. And strong-arm tactics have become the norm among federal immigration agents in the city and its suburbs.
Community leaders have planned a training for rapid response volunteers at the Maywood Public Library on Tuesday, organized by the PASO West Suburban Action Project, Rep. Hernandez and House Speaker Emmanuel “Chris” Welch.
Chicago Tribune’s Stacey Wescott contributed.
