A recent anecdote from Chicago suggests that the Department of Justice is not the only Trump Administration agency to have lost its “presumption of regularity.” In the case of DOJ, that means courts are increasingly unlikely to assume the agency is acting in good faith: in other words, acting truthfully while following procedures.
Federal agents roughly pulled Dayanne Figueroa, a U.S. citizen, out of her car after a federal vehicle sideswiped hers in a Chicago neighborhood, “multiple videos reviewed by the [Chicago] Tribune show.” Reportedly, the DHS vehicle was making a U-turn (which is usually an illegal move).
Seconds after the crash, agents abruptly stopped their vehicle and exited with weapons in hand pointing at Figueroa, a U.S citizen. Agents then forcibly opened her door and pulled her out of the vehicle by her legs without identifying themselves, presenting a warrant or informing her that she was under arrest.
As bystanders yelled, “You hit her! We have it on video!” agents ignored the crowd and forced Figueroa into a red minivan and drove away.
“Pulled her out of the vehicle by her legs.”
“No warrant.”
No identification.
Just unjustified and excessive force as they “drag[ged] her through the street.”
Do we have to point out she is a person of color?
NEW: Footage of a US citizen in Chicago being rammed then dragged from her car on her way to work.
Abducted, with no warrant, her family couldn’t find her for hours.
She was later released with NO CHARGE.
A DHS statement said she “violently resisted arrest, injuring two officers”.
You decide…
— News Eye (@newseye.bsky.social) November 3, 2025 at 11:14 AM
They left her car in the middle of the street, keys in the ignition.
The Department of Homeland Security, of course, claims she was at fault and hit their vehicle. And of course, she “assaulted” whatever masked man was dragging her out of her car by her legs.* Wouldn’t you resist in that situation?
But they charged her with nothing. Because they had nothing.
Even if she had been responsible for hitting the DHS vehicle, that is not a criminal offense. So not just excessive force but illegal force.
Why is this not a false arrest? How can DHS employees be exempt from the basic rule of law that governs local and state police, and, one assumes, the FBI? Is it because DHS can kidnap someone and not call it an “arrest”?
Based on reports like this one, federal district judge Sara Ellisor had ordered DHS to report daily on their encounters and arrests (“detentions”). An appeals court blocked her order.
Ellis’ order followed the use of tear gas in a neighborhood where children gathered for a Halloween parade last weekend on Chicago’s Northwest Side. Neighbors joined in the street as someone was arrested.
This is not the first time video evidence contradicts the DHS narrative.
A woman who was shot multiple times by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents did not ram them with her car and had her weapon stored in her purse at the time of the incident, according to her lawyer, contradicting accounts by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that described the shooting as an act of self-defense…
Parente said body camera footage from one of the border patrol agents in the car showed an agent saying “Do something, bitch” as Martinez drove alongside them, with the agent’s finger resting on the trigger of an assault rifle…
Parente said [body cam] footage showed the driver of the border patrol vehicle turn the steering wheel to the left, toward Martinez’s vehicle. After the vehicles made contact, the agents stepped out and one fired at Martinez.
According to The New Republic, assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security Tricia “McLaughlin’s statements justifying horrific ICE arrests have ranged from missing essential details to contradicting witness testimony and straight-up lying about every single detail of an arrest (emphasis added).”
DHS expects us to ignore the evidence of our eyes and ears and accept their demonstrably false narratives through a “presumption of regularity.”
I refuse.
~~~
* According to Figueroa, after getting arrested, she was transported to multiple undisclosed locations, and repeatedly denied contact with family or legal counsel.
“I was in shock and terrified. The video evidence is clear: Agents crashed into me. I was not involved in any protest or related activity, and I intend to seek justice for how I was treated,” Figueroa told the Tribune…
Teresita Figueroa said she picked up her daughter from an ambulance in a parking lot in Lombard, a suburb west of Chicago. Her daughter was “very injured, in shock, and bleeding from [kidney] surgery,” she said. They had to rush Dayanne Figueroa to a nearby hospital to get checked.
Known for gnawing at complex questions like a terrier with a bone. Digital evangelist, writer, teacher. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles. @kegill (Twitter and Mastodon.social); wiredpen.com