A college professor with suspected links to Antifa — and who believes Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are Nazis — was arrested in Chicago late last month after he allegedly brought a loaded gun to an anti-ICE protest.
Elias Cepeda, who is listed as a faculty member in the English department at Northeastern Illinois University, was collared on Sept. 26 with a loaded gun and multiple rounds of ammunition on him amid President Trump’s Operation Midway Blitz crackdown in the Windy City.
The Department of Homeland Security alleges Cepeda brought the loaded firearm with him to a demonstration outside an ICE facility in Broadview, Ill., the site of several violent protests.
“Elias Cepeda has suspected ties to the domestic terrorist organization ANTIFA and has a history of glorifying violence against—and the killing of—our brave law enforcement,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement.
“Violent individuals like Cepeda are putting the public and our law enforcement’s lives in danger. Just two days after the horrific attack on ICE in Dallas, Cepeda brought a loaded gun and multiple magazines to our ICE facility in Chicago,” McLaughlin added.
“Thank God law enforcement intervened and arrested Cepeda before he could have potentially shot or killed anyone. Let this serve as a stark warning to any individual who wishes to do our law enforcement harm or any ANTIFA terrorist: President Trump and Secretary Noem will fight every day to protect and defend the men and women who keep our country safe from violent extremists and criminal illegal aliens alike.”
Prior to his arrest, Cepeda had made several social media posts calling for violence against ICE, describing federal agents as Nazis and referencing Antifa.
“[Y]our Nazi asses are lying,” Cepeda wrote on X in June, in response to a DHS post about the arrest of a person in Los Angeles for allegedly assaulting federal law enforcement officers.
“Secondly, we’d all be morally justified in taking your Nazi heads off with weed whackers,” he added.
In a post made days after President Trump took office, Cepeda expressed support for having teachers “protect children” from ICE with firearms.
“No that ICE is showing up at elementary schools with weapons and no warrants attempting to terrorize kids I am in favor of teachers and staff being armed to protect children,” the professor wrote.
In a May tweet aimed at DHS, Cepeda wrote, “Shut up, Nazi.”
Cepeda also used the “#Antifa” hashtag on multiple tweets in 2020, where he shared links and posts glorifying the Trump-designated domestic terror group.
In 2022, Cepeda bragged about training a Portland-based transgender cage fighter with sympathies for Antifa.
“That’s right, and I’m damned proud to train her. You cowards coming for her can come for me as well. I’m easy to find,” he wrote in response to a post from independent journalist Andy Ngo about the mixed martial artist.
A short bio for Cepeda on the Northeastern Illinois University website describes him as “an experience journalist” with a background in covering sports, writing restaurant reviews, and “writing politically engaged essays.”
“To share his veteran knowledge, Elias created and taught an Online Summer course for NEIU in 2020: ENGL 374J: Critical Journalism, with a focus on the role and the politics of the fourth estate,” the bio states. “He is currently looking for a PhD program, limiting himself to merely his top fifteen choices.”
Local outlet ABC7 reported immediately after Cepeda’s arrest last month that the he was a volunteer for Pilsen Defense and Access, a nonprofit that “facilitates access to self-defense, anti-bullying, and violence prevention training and other resources for marginalized families and children.”
Cepeda was reportedly shot in the face with a less-than-lethal round before he was detained, according to the outlet.
Leila Mendez, Cepeda’s mother, acknowledged that her son was likely armed at the ICE Broadview protest.
“My son has a legal concealed and carry, but he did not come to use it. His hands, if you look at the video … are up in the air,” she told ABC7.
It’s unclear if Cepeda will face charges.
A Chicago grand jury earlier this week refused to indict an engaged couple — Ray Collins, 31, and Jocelyn Robledo, 30 — after they were arrested for allegedly assaulting federal agents while carrying loaded weapons outside the ICE Broadview facility.
It’s unclear why the grand jury refused to indict, but federal prosecutors were forced to drop their cases.
Elias, Pilsen Defense and Access and Northeastern Illinois University did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
