ICE mocked as video of food delivery rider escaping agents goes viral: 'Now that's a Chi-town biker'
A viral video shows ICE agents chasing a food delivery worker in Chicago, sparking public ridicule and questions about agent effectiveness.
Around 10 Immigration and Customs (ICE) officers can be seen chasing a food delivery worker in downtown Chicago in a now viral video. Christopher Sweat, co-founder and CEO of Gray Stak Media, initially posted the video footage as an“Exclusive.” According to the images currently dominating social networking site X, the individual being pursued seems to have managed to elude all ICE officers, who are pursuing him while fully outfitted in tactical gear.
In the clip, one officer can be heard shouting, “Get him!”
Sweat said the situation had momentarily gotten out of hand, saying that the person being hunted down was a food delivery person who made “verbal comments but no physical or threatening contact” with the ICE agents.
“EXCLUSIVE: Earlier today ICE agents chased after a man in downtown Chicago after he made verbal comments but no physical or threatening contact. The man was able to get away,” he captioned the video posted on X on September 29, garnering over 3.5 million views so far.
In a subsequent tweet, Sweat tagged top US officials, such as Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, and mentioned that he thought he could have “posterized ICE” by recording the incident.
Netizens react to viral ICE agents video
As the video rapidly went viral on the internet, many people poked fun at ICE's unsuccessful pursuit. One person remarked, “S**t we can't afford bicycles for ICE?,” while another said, “The @ChicagoBears need to sign this guy for Special Teams.”
A third person even said, “Now that's a Chi-town biker,” praising the rider's ability to escape the agents.
“Are ICE agents disproportionately overweight middle-aged men who run slowly?” the fourth person asked.
“He escaped, ICE is frozen,” one more commented.
ICE operations in Chicago: Multiple people held
Sweat further stated that ICE operations continued on Sunday in downtown Chicago.
“Multiple people,” including a family with children, were taken into custody on Sunday afternoon, according to ABC7Chicago. A senior US Border Patrol official was spoke to WBEZ, acknowledging that some detentions were being conducted solely on “how they look.”
“You know, there’s many different factors that go into something like that. It would be agent experience, intelligence that indicates there’s illegal aliens in a particular place or location. Then, obviously, the particular characteristics of an individual, how they look. How do they look compared to, say, you?” the official said.
