Flower vendor arrested at launch of Trump's 'Operation Midway Blitz' in Chicago deported to Mexico

CHICAGO -- A flower vendor arrested by federal immigration agents last weekend in Chicago’s Archer Heights neighborhood is now back in Mexico, according to his family and a social media post.

Last Sunday afternoon, bystanders filmed federal immigration agents arresting the vendor. The videos quickly gained traction across Chicago as President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security announced it had launched its surge in immigration law enforcement, dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz.” A friend alerted family members of the arrest of Leodegario Martínez Barradas.

His sister and one of his sons desperately searched for him on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement database from their home in Veracruz, Mexico, but there was no trace of him. A day later, he finally called from the Broadview processing center to inform them that he was safe but would be deported.

He arrived Tuesday.

“He doesn’t understand how all of this happened. We don’t either,” Nancy Martínez told the Tribune on a phone call from Mexico this week.

The Trump administration said the operation will target “criminal illegal aliens” exploiting the city and state’s sanctuary policies. But an ICE spokesperson neither provided the man’s criminal history nor confirmed that he had been deported. The Tribune could not find any violent criminal records on people with the same name as Barradas.

On a social media post Thursday night, Barradas said: “I know this is sad because ICE is not deporting people with a criminal background, they’re deporting those that dedicate their time to work, street vendors, as it was with my case.”

While the Trump administration says its operation targets immigrants who are criminals, data shows that ICE has arrested thousands with no criminal history in random locations across the nation.

On Monday, the Supreme Court lifted a judge’s order that had stopped immigration agents from making random stops based only on race, language, job, or location in Los Angeles. That order was intended to prevent racial profiling.

Advocates say they expect similar operations to be conducted in Chicago, like those in Los Angeles, where ICE agents arrested street vendors, day laborers, construction workers and farmhands. Families have shared stories of being separated during large workplace raids.

“We believe he was racially profiled,” said Any Huamani, a community organizer with the Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council. “They never showed a warrant, and how can you just randomly pick someone? They’re out in the streets, grabbing vulnerable people, assuming they’re undocumented, without caring if they have a criminal record or not.”

A group of residents has now organized to patrol the streets daily throughout the Southwest Side with whistles, horns and other devices to alert the community when ICE has been sighted. They are calling it “Migra Watch,” which means watching out for immigration authorities.

Barradas arrived in the Chicago area about a year and a half ago, his sister said. Other than friends, he had no other family in the country. Like many immigrants, he migrated to the United States, hoping for a better life, his sister said. He has six children in Mexico.

“My brother is a good man,” Martínez said. “All he did was work to provide for his family.”

Her brother had dedicated his short time in Chicago to working at a warehouse during the week and selling flowers on the weekends.

Last Sunday when Martínez Barradas was arrested, Gissele García, 26, was driving home from the grocery store when she saw the commotion in the parking lot of a Honda City car dealership on South Archer Avenue and South Pulaski Road. She pulled over her car.

There were three men wearing vests that read “Police Federal Agent.” They were in two vehicles, including a dark Subaru with a Missouri license plate.

The West Lawn resident approached with her phone up, filming the encounter. She tried getting the vendor’s name and asked him if he had any family she could call. Speaking in Spanish, the man said he didn’t know his relatives’ phone numbers.

“It seemed — I don’t know how to put this — like he had given up,” García told the Tribune.

As the agents took off with the vendor they had arrested, his backpack was left behind on the street. Flowers were scattered along the road as well, García recalled.

In a video she posted to social media, one of the agents turned to García, repeatedly yelling “Back up!” García and another witness, who also filmed the incident, said the agents had threatened to pepper spray them earlier for being “on their way.”

The video also shows the agent arresting the vendor porting a gold pin of Trump’s profile face on his tactical vest.

Afraid, García started crying. ”It was frustrating, because we were just trying to help,” she said.

García then walked around the area, alerting other vendors nearby of the presence of federal agents. Some told her they were citizens or permanent residents and chose to continue selling their products along Pulaski Road, she said.

In his social media post, Barradas thanked the bystanders who witnessed his arrest.

“I have to thank God because I’m here, back home with my family,” he said. “I want to thank all the people who stepped in to help when they arrested me. They tried to help, but there was nothing they could do.”

By Monday morning, some of the tamaleros and other vendors that usually set up shop on Archer were no longer there. While ICE did not confirm the flower vendor’s arrest, his name Monday morning appeared on their online locator.

____

Chicago Tribune’s Madeline Buckley contributed.

____