Agents from the Department of Homeland Security descended upon the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture in Chicago on Tuesday, with at least 15 DHS vehicles arriving in the museum’s parking lot, according to the Chicago Sun Times, which first reported on the news.
The vehicles were in the parking lot for almost two hours, Veronica Ocasio, the museum’s director of education and programming, told the Sun Times. Ocasio also said that an agent, who did not identify what agency he was with, was granted permission to use the bathroom at the museum.
Billy Ocasio, the museum’s president and CEO, told Hyperallergic that the agent looked around the museum instead of using the bathroom and did not leave the museum when asked to do so by staff. “People were frightened. They didn’t know how to respond and were intimidated,” he said.
“Homeland Security presented themselves in force, Gestapo-style intimidation to our staff, who was not ready. We were not ready. And we, as a staff, as the National Puerto Rican museum, will not allow this bullying and intimidation to happen here,” Veronica Ocasio said during a news briefing on Wednesday.
Representative Delia Ramirez, whose district includes Humboldt Park, where the museum is located, told the Sun Times that DHS agents “should identify themselves, like every law enforcement official is required to do.”
In a statement circulated to the press, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, “FALSE. The Department of Homeland Security DID NOT target the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture. On July 8, HSI Chicago’s Financial Crimes Task Force (FCTF) staged and held a quick briefing in the Museum’s parking lot in advance of an enforcement action related to a narcotics investigation.”
Ramirez added, “All these tactics of authoritarianism are about control. It’s about suppressing dissent. It’s about trying to dismantle resistance, and it’s about trying to paralyze our communities. It’s about creating these crazy spectacles of violence to pit people against each other and then justify their tactics when they get caught.”
Veronica Ocasio also said that staff had heard the agent discussing the museum’s upcoming festivals, which includes the Barrio ArtsFest this weekend. The museum’s parking lot closes at 5 p.m. on Tuesdays when the museum closes. When a museum representative told this to the agents, they asked to leave their vehicles overnight, she said. The museum refused and the agents departed shortly before 5 p.m.
