Homeland Security swarms parking lot of Chicago's National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture

The private parking lot of Humboldt Park's National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture was swarmed with 15 Department of Homeland Security vehicles Tuesday afternoon, in what local elected officials called a scare tactic and what Trump officials said was related to a narcotics investigation.

Veronica Ocasio, the museum's director of education and programming, said DHS agents began appearing in 15 large unmarked black vehicles at 3:05 p.m., and stayed on the property until nearly 5 p.m. Ocasio said one agent asked to enter the museum to use the bathroom, and was let in. After he exited, museum staffers overheard the agent talking about upcoming festivals in the area, Ocasio said.

Ocasio told reporters the agents also "aggressively" asked if they could leave their vehicles in the lot, to which the museum staffers said no. She said agents were in unmarked clothing and admitted that they were with DHS but did not say why they were there. The museum shared footage of the vehicles in the lot, as well as the agent entering the museum.

Hours after local elected officials held a large media briefing to decry the event, DHS officials denied to the Sun-Times that the museum was targeted and said the agents had gathered there about a drug investigation.

“FALSE. The Department of Homeland Security DID NOT target the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an email. "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."

The Sun-Times asked whether DHS had executed a search warrant, but did not immediately receive a response.

In January, a visit from U.S. Secret Service to a Back of the Yards elementary school sparked fear in the city, with Chicago Public Schools officials initially identifying them as ICE officers. The incident happened the same week that DHS ended a policy that restricted ICE agents' ability to arrest undocumented people near houses of worship, schools and hospitals.

Tuesday's incident unleashed a similar panic in a community with many immigrants living in fear of raids and deportations.

U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., who appeared with elected officials to decry the DHS visit earlier on Wednesday, said agents should have identified themselves.

“Once again, agents of DHS — and let's be clear that HSI agents work within ICE and are agents of DHS — should identify themselves, like every law enforcement official is required to do,” Ramirez said in a statement. “And in case [DHS Secretary Kristi] Noem and DHS’s spokesperson forgot, the office of Homeland Security Investigations is under ICE according to their own website: Homeland Security Investigations | ICE."

Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th), too, said the feds' lack of transparency in an immigrant community already impacted by Trump's deportation plight is heightening fear.

"Why not just say that? Why? Why spark fear in a community that's already concerned about these types of raids that are occurring right now?" Villegas said. "That's the problem here. This whole philosophy of Trump talking about while campaigning that he wants to go after criminals that are here illegally. And then you hear some of the stories where people have been here 10, 20 years that are being targeted and deported despite the fact that they haven't committed a crime. ... They like to operate in this space where there's not transparency, and we have to demonstrate that we're going to fight back. Period."

Earlier, at the museum, staffers and elected officials quickly sounded the alarm about the DHS visit, less than 24 hours after the parking lot incident.

"I am upset, frustrated and literally in disbelief of what happened yesterday between the hours of three and five in our parking lot," Ocasio said at a news briefing. "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."

Ald. Jessie Fuentes (26th) accused DHS officials of preparing for an influx of people coming in for the upcoming Barrio Arts Festival and Colombian Fest.

"After being asked to leave by staff members of the museum, Homeland Security proceeded to tell staff members of this museum that they could be wherever they want, whenever they want, and how ever," said Fuentes.

Ramirez urged the community to continue to mobilize and to "push back against this fascist government."

"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," she said. "It's about creating these crazy spectacles of violence to pit people against each other and then justify their tactics when they get caught."

Ramirez later told reporters that the museum is looking into its legal options against DHS.

"It was private property. People were intimidated. They got footage of them being here. And so I think it's important for us to start using every legal aspect that we can. And I think the museum is going to consider that, as well as some of what we're going to be doing around being denied to come into detention centers."

Prior to DHS agents descending onto the museum property Mayor Brandon Johnson on Tuesday was asked whether the city has considered setting up Chicago Police Department "safety perimeters" around public places, including schools or parks, to shield residents from federal agents without arrest warrants.

Officials in Los Angeles have posted local police outside schools, graduations and other school events as a sanctuary for families.

Johnson deferred to the city's attorney, Mary Richardson-Lowry, who said the city is "prohibited from being viewed as, quote, interfering with a federal law enforcement action," but that Chicago stays in contact with 12 other cities and is always "reevaluating what additional steps we might take."

Asked whether there should be a security perimeter around public places, Fuentes said "perimeters around festivals, perimeters around cultural events is a tactic that we are looking into using."

Contributing: Mariah Woelfel