Attorneys and workers’ rights advocates are fighting to free a Chicago asylum seeker detained by federal immigration agents in mid-September, saying authorities wrongfully arrested someone who was not facing deportation and has no criminal record.
Willian Alberto Gimenez Gonzalez and his wife, Mari Torrealba, took a day off from work to run errands the morning of Sept. 12, said Kevin Herrera, legal director for Raise the Floor Alliance. They were parked outside a barbershop in Little Village when two Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stopped the couple on Cermak Road around 11 a.m., Herrera said.
Neither the couple nor the agents said much, aside from agents confirming Gimenez Gonzalez’ identity, Herrera said. Torrealba tried to film and asked what they were doing, but the agents wouldn’t interact with her. Then, without explanation, the agents handcuffed Gimenez Gonzalez and took him into custody…