The Department of Homeland Security publicly attacked a Chicago-area man as an unlawful immigrant and a criminal — even while knowing he was neither of these things, American Immigration Council fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick revealed in a lengthy thread posted to X on Tuesday.
The original DHS statement, posted by Secretary Kristi Noem, comes as President Donald Trump escalates his threats of a military takeover of Chicago, which is being met with fierce resistance by Illinois state and local leaders.
"This week, a brave @ICEgov officer was dragged many yards by a car after a criminal illegal alien resisted arrest," wrote Noem. "His life was put at risk and he sustained serious injuries. President Trump has been clear: if politicians will not put the safety of their citizens first, this administration will. I was on the ground in Chicago today to make clear we are not backing down. Just this morning, DHS took violent offenders off the streets with arrests for assault, DUI, and felony stalking. Our work is only beginning."
But the reality of what happened is very different, wrote Reichlin-Melnick, a frequent watchdog of federal officials' abuses of power under color of immigration law.
"OMG. What @Sec_Noem isn't telling you is that this guy in the video is a U.S. citizen named Joe Botello," wrote Reichlin-Melnick. "They smashed in the doors, dragged him and his roommates out in handcuffs, then posted a video online suggesting he was a criminal, despite knowing he was released soon after."
"In a pre-dawn raid, CBP and DHS officers smashed in the front door of the house Mr. Botello lived in with five other roommates," he continued, posting an original report of the incident by the Chicago Tribune. "He was handcuffed, marched out in front of the cameras, then put into a CBP vehicle. An agent 'asked him how he was able to speak English so well.' Mr. Botello is glad that he was released. But he says that agents never showed anyone in the house a warrant at any point, and when he asked them where they were taking his roommates, they refused to answer him."
"I believe they were targeting the house where he lived, and the roommates, and he got caught up and detained because he's Hispanic," he added. "They did release him soon thereafter; but his citizenship didn't stop @Sec_Noem from blasting his video to the world."