CHICAGO — Roughly 2,400 miles from where her nephew faced an hourslong standoff with ICE agents in Elgin last Saturday, Genesis Adriana Gutierrez Morales’ voice shook in Maracaibo, Venezuela, with sadness and rage at the words from authorities she said tarnished her nephew’s name.

“I don’t have the words to describe the frustration that you feel as family, of not being able to do anything, to be far away from him and not be able to help him,” Morales, 35, said in Spanish in a phone interview with the Tribune. “And I’m angered by all the things they’re saying about him that are false, angered that they are smearing his name when I know that does not represent him.”

Morales describes Luis Jesus Acosta Gutierrez as an “incredibly hardworking” man with a huge heart. The Department of Homeland Security says he’s a suspected member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, an accusation the department has routinely leveled at Venezuelans detained during President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

DHS said Acosta Gutierrez resisted arrest by intentionally ramming an officer’s vehicle into a tree, an accusation his family and advocates deny.

Morales, who lives in Maracaibo and has helped care for Acosta Gutierrez, 31, since his mother died of cancer, said she was angered by the news headlines claiming Acosta Gutierrez is a suspected member of the Venezuelan prison gang. She felt even more frustrated that she could do nothing to help him from so far away.

“It is honestly denigrating that they are trying to pass him off as a member of a gang, this boy who doesn’t know what violence is,” she said.

Morales said her nephew left Maracaibo about two years ago in search of a better life. Indeed, federal authorities said he entered the U.S. in April 2023 and was granted temporary protected status by the Biden administration. The Department of Homeland Security revoked that status last month, it said.

A Tribune search of local court systems did not locate criminal matters matching Acosta Gutierrez’s name. Records, though, show that Acosta Gutierrez paid a fine for a 2023 traffic violation for driving without a license and the matter was closed in April 2024, according to McHenry County court.

Morales described Acosta Gutierrez as a faithful believer in God. He had worked since age 13 as a delivery person among other side jobs while he studied.

In the U.S., Morales said he provided economic support for his family and two young kids back home, ages 7 and 9.

“It’s not a secret that you can find a better quality of life in another country,” said Morales, who compared her nephew’s story to that of countless Latin American migrants.

“It’s the story of one more Venezuelan, one more Latino,” she said.

The saga began in Elgin shortly after 9 a.m. Saturday in the 1600 block of West Highland Avenue. Acosta Gutierrez had been driving to a mechanic to get work done on his car, said Robert Held, an attorney and activist assisting Acosta with the case.

What happened next is in dispute.

Federal authorities said ICE was attempting a vehicle stop, and that Acosta Gutierrez rammed an officer’s vehicle into a tree. Held said it was an agent who rammed Acosta Gutierrez’s vehicle.

“Fearing for himself,” Held said Acosta Gutierrez didn’t stop, at which point agents again rammed him from behind.

“He ran (from agents) because he feared for his safety, given the dangerous, violent, unprovoked, inordinate, stupid conduct of federal agents by ramming their vehicle into his vehicle twice,” Held said.

Acosta Gutierrez fled to an apartment building in the 1600 block of Maple Lane, where he barricaded himself on an outdoor balcony, as more than a dozen federal agents tried to arrest him. The scene attracted the attention of neighbors and onlookers.

By mid-afternoon, the crowd had grown to 200 people as about 30 agents tried to negotiate with him. Protesters told the man not to talk to them. Tensions were high. A video taken by a witness at the scene shows at least two agents tackling a protester while other agents pushed the crowd back. Agents deployed tear gas and pepper balls into the crowd, according to witnesses and videos.

By 3:30 p.m., agents reportedly arrested Acosta Gutierrez while he was inside an apartment. Afterward, videos taken by a witness at the scene showed some people throwing snowballs at the agents and their vehicles, while others yelled at them to stop. Agents hurled pepper spray and flash-bang grenades into the crowd as they departed.

The narrative put forth by the Department of Homeland Security claiming Acosta Gutierrez is a suspected member of a criminal gang shook Morales. She questioned the lack of evidence from authorities presenting the claim.

“He has never belonged to any criminal gang,” Morales said. “There’s no evidence, there is absolutely nothing.”

When asked about evidence of Acosta Gutierrez’s alleged affiliation to the Tren de Aragua gang, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist group as of this year, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said, “DHS intelligence assessments go well beyond just gang affiliate tattoos and social media.”

“We are confident in our law enforcement’s intelligence, and we aren’t going to share intelligence reports and undermine national security every time a gang member denies he is one. That would be insane,” McLaughlin said.

In September, federal immigration agents raided an apartment building at 7500 S. South Shore Drive in Chicago in a middle-of-the-night operation the government said was intended to target Tren de Aragua gang members and their associates in the country illegally. The Tribune reported exclusively that no public criminal charges have been filed against anyone in connection with the controversial raid.

Held said Acosta Gutierrez was an Uber driver and a painter, not a gang member. He said agents allegedly roughed up Acosta Gutierrez when they took him into custody, and that he suffered injuries to his face. When asked about this accusation, a DHS spokesperson didn’t directly respond and instead referred to a previous news release.

Acosta Gutierrez is currently detained in Clay County, Indiana, ICE records show.

Morales said some of the people present during the protest Saturday contacted her. They reassured her that Acosta Gutierrez was not alone, and for that Morales who feels powerless from a distance, is profoundly grateful.

“Thousands of thanks, really,” Morales said, “because together we are stronger.”

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