{"id":2570,"date":"2025-07-11T21:46:03","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T21:46:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/2570\/"},"modified":"2025-07-11T21:46:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T21:46:03","slug":"homeland-security-targets-chicagos-national-museum-of-puerto-rican-arts-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/2570\/","title":{"rendered":"Homeland Security Targets Chicago\u2019s National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAgents 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\u2019s parking lot, according<\/a> to the Chicago Sun Times, which first reported on the news.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe vehicles were in the parking lot for almost two hours, Veronica Ocasio, the museum\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\t\tRelated Articles<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Prime<\/p>\n

\n\tBilly Ocasio, the museum\u2019s president and CEO, told<\/a> 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. \u201cPeople were frightened. They didn\u2019t know how to respond and were intimidated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHomeland 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,\u201d Veronica Ocasio said during a news briefing on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\n\tRepresentative Delia Ramirez, whose district includes Humboldt Park, where the museum is located, told the Sun Times that DHS agents \u201cshould identify themselves, like every law enforcement official is required to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement circulated to the press, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, \u201cFALSE. The Department of Homeland Security DID NOT target the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture. On July 8, HSI Chicago\u2019s Financial Crimes Task Force (FCTF) staged and held a quick briefing in the Museum\u2019s parking lot in advance of an enforcement action related to a narcotics investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRamirez added, \u201cAll these tactics of authoritarianism are about control. It\u2019s about suppressing dissent. It\u2019s about trying to dismantle resistance, and it\u2019s about trying to paralyze our communities. It\u2019s about creating these crazy spectacles of violence to pit people against each other and then justify their tactics when they get caught.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tVeronica Ocasio also said that staff had heard the agent discussing the museum\u2019s upcoming festivals, which includes the Barrio ArtsFest this weekend. The museum\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Agents from the Department of Homeland Security descended upon the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88,3091],"class_list":["post-2570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-national-museum-of-puerto-rican-arts-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}