8 hours Ago By Liz Nagy
CHICAGO (WLS) -- From pre-dawn preps to detention, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Chicago targeted a man they call a dangerous criminal. The feds say Jose Antonio Reyes-Mundo is a fugitive and member of the Mexican cartel CJNG, known as New Generation. The ABC7 I-Team was with ICE as they arrested a man known as "El Tres P".
He's in ICE custody, part of increased removal enforcement. It was pitch dark when federal agents huddled in a Northwest Side parking lot Wednesday morning for the last minute run through of a carefully orchestrated, targeted immigration arrest they were about to execute. I-Team cameras were rolling on an exclusive ride-along with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
When the crew pulled up on a residential Northwest Side block, armed agents, blocked by protective shields and long rifles drawn, surrounded a minivan. It was the so-called target's brother, an undocumented Mexican national, that was pulled from the van and handcuffed. It's what's known as a collateral arrest.
The man agents came for was Jose Antonio Reyes-Mundo, as his name reads on the federal arrest warrant, a member of the CJNG cartel, according to ICE. Sam Olson, the director of Chicago's ICE Field office, was in the field for the arrest. "This case, it was readily apparent that we needed to, because he was, you know, very dangerous history," Olson told the I-Team.
That's why he says a Customs and Border Patrol chopper hovered high overhead, and agents came with a full squad from multiple agencies "Because of a significant criminal history, it rose to a level where we brought tactical teams out there," Olson said. "And again, I think it's better that when we have more people out arresting, it's safer for us, and it can also be safer for the aliens." Agents delivered Reyes-Mundo and his brother to a booking center in Broadview.
They were stripped of their belongings and registered into the system. SEE ALSO | Illinois officials concerned over anti-terrorism agents reassigned to immigration enforcement ICE describes Reyes-Mundo as a 31-year-old man known as "El Tres P." "Somebody who we suspect to be part of a cartel in Mexico that had a conviction for kidnapping and homicide," Olson said.
He said it was the U.S. Marshals Service that flagged Reyes-Mundo's presence in Chicago.
"We brought together kind of a collaboration of these agencies to unify together and focus on an actual immigration enforcement mission," Olson said. He said their mission is to get the worst first for immigration violators. Now ICE says Reyes-Mundo will be placed before an immigration judge for removal proceedings.
The I-Team could not find a criminal record for Reyes-Mundo in the U.S. ICE said he is in the country illegally, but they are not sure how long Reyes-Mundo has been here.
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