Illinois DOT worker, who is Indian American, stopped and questioned about Mamdani

An Indian American Illinois Department of Transportation employee was allegedly stopped and questioned about his immigration status before being asked about New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, an action Gov. JB Pritzker condemned as the Trump administration targeting citizens based on skin color.

What happened: The employee was working on the Busse Highway resurfacing project on Nov. 7 when three masked agents confronted him over his immigration status, the Chicago Sun-Times first reported. He was then pressed about whether he had traveled to New York or knew about the city’s mayor-elect. Addressing the incident, Pritzker said he was “appalled” agents would stop and question a state employee working to improve infrastructure.

In response, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the agents were neither from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) nor Customs and Border Protection (CBP), though it did not identify which agency they represented. The encounter sparked enough concern that schools in Park Ridge kept students inside following reports of agents in the area.

What this means: The interrogation of an Indian American state worker doing his job marks a concerning escalation of racial profiling disguised as immigration enforcement. The idea of agents specifically mentioning Mamdani, a Democratic socialist of South Asian heritage, suggests potential monitoring of individuals based on ethnic background and political ties.

Needless to say, the incident demonstrates that even citizenship and government employment provide no immunity from being stopped when physical appearance alone raises suspicion. This validates Pritzker’s concern about the practice of questioning people “apparently based on the color of their skin.”

The big picture: The Mamdani question comes as the mayor-elect has been actively seeking advice from Democratic governors on confronting President Donald Trump’s push to deploy troops into Democratic-led cities. On Monday, Mamdani and Pritzker reportedly strategized about handling the president and preparing for possible military action like that threatened against Chicago. This cooperation represents a reversal from August, when Pritzker publicly rebuked Mamdani’s assertion that billionaires should not exist, countering that values matter more than wealth. Trump, for his part, has repeatedly labeled Mamdani a “communist” and warned of cutting New York’s federal funding following his election victory.

Despite the tensions, Mamdani plans White House outreach before taking office, calling the Trump relationship “critical to the success of this city.”