Department of Homeland Security agents were shot at throughout an immigration enforcement operation in Chicago Saturday, the company mentioned — as federal agents were additionally accused of utilizing pepper spray and flash-bang grenades towards protesters throughout the Chicago area.
The incidents come as Chicago has emerged as the middle of tense standoffs between federal agents finishing up immigration enforcement operations and pissed off and angry community members protesting the Trump administration’s wide-ranging deportation marketing campaign. A federal choose issued a ruling Friday limiting federal agents’ use of power in Chicago, after they repeatedly used tear gasoline and different varieties of power towards protesters.
The capturing came about in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood Saturday morning, according to DHS. A male driving a “black Jeep” opened fireplace at Border Patrol agents, then fled the scene, mentioned the company. A suspect from Mexico was arrested in reference to the capturing, DHS mentioned in a post on X Monday.
DHS has framed the incidents as half of a collection of assaults they are saying target federal agents. “The violence in Chicago against law enforcement is unprecedented,” mentioned Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a press release shared with NCS. “These attacks are the consequence of vitriolic smears from sanctuary politicians and the media.”
But immigrant advocates, native politicians, and authorized teams mentioned it’s federal agents who’re driving violence and chaos towards offended however peaceable protesters and bystanders.
“Yesterday was a day of terror,” mentioned Alderman Mike Rodriguez, who says he witnessed flash grenades detonated in the road. “It follows an agenda of terror by this president.”
Several DHS statements about its immigration crackdown in Chicago — “Operation Midway Blitz” — have later been contradicted by native officers, a civil rights legal professional and a authorized submitting, fueling mounting skepticism of the company’s claims. In Friday’s ruling, a federal choose mentioned Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino “admitted that he lied” when he claimed he threw tear gasoline at protesters after a rock was thrown close to his head, and mentioned video disproved his account.
The authorities’s proof was “simply not credible” and its portrayal of Chicago “untrue,” US District Judge Sara Ellis mentioned.
The Trump administration filed a discover Sunday appealing Ellis’ order limiting the use of power by federal agents concerned in the Chicago immigration crackdown. The court docket doc didn’t embrace the grounds for enchantment.
It is just not instantly clear when the seventh Circuit Court of Appeals will take up the case.
The National Lawyers Guild Chicago mentioned 9 folks in all were arrested and brought into federal custody Saturday. DHS says Border Patrol arrested eight US residents and one “illegal alien.”
Border Patrol agents were “accosted by a hostile crowd” whereas conducting an immigration enforcement operation round 9:30 a.m. Saturday close to twenty sixth Street and Kedzie Avenue, DHS said. The crowd “boxed them into a street and alleyway,” the company mentioned.
“As they were apprehending a subject, agents came under direct gunfire when a male driving a black Jeep Wrangler fired multiple rounds,” reads DHS’ assertion. “He immediately fled the scene.”
There were no stories of anybody struck by gunfire, in accordance with the Chicago Police Department, which responded to assist safe the scene.
Bovino didn’t identify the suspect in an interview on Fox News Monday however described him as an “illegal alien” with a earlier firearms conviction. NCS has reached out to DHS for extra info. The FBI informed NCS it doesn’t touch upon “potential investigative matters.”
After the incident, “an unknown number of agitators also threw a paint can and bricks at Border Patrol’s vehicles,” in accordance with DHS. The company mentioned no Border Patrol agents were injured in the incident.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson mentioned at a Monday information convention he had heard in regards to the capturing. He mentioned Bovino and federal agents “have absolutely no credibility because of the repeated lies, both to the courts and to the public, so we have no way to verify the reports,” however that federal authorities were investigating.
“While I do not welcome federal agents operating in this capacity, I unequivocally condemn violence directed at them,” the mayor mentioned in a post on X.
After leaving the scene of the capturing, Border Patrol agents “encountered a vehicle that attempted to ram their convoy” and deployed a “Controlled Tire Deflation Device,” DHS mentioned. Another driver was arrested after trying to ram the convoy as agents proceeded towards an FBI facility, in accordance with DHS.
Then the Border Patrol agents “encountered protesters lying in the street near 26th and Pulaski,” in accordance with DHS. The company mentioned the “rioters refused to comply with basic instructions and began throwing objects” and agents used “crowd control measures.”
Matt DeMateo, a pastor at New Life Community Church, mentioned he was driving at the intersection of twenty sixth Avenue and Pulaski Road when he noticed federal agents exit their autos, “guns drawn.” He says he didn’t hear “any warning” earlier than flash-bang grenades were deployed.
Videos from the scene taken round 11:10 a.m. present what look like agents in tactical gear exiting their autos in the road. Another video reveals folks standing round a white car, some seemingly filming with their telephones.
A passenger in the white car is seen in the video tossing an object out of the window. A loud bang sounds and smoke explodes, scattering bystanders because the car begins to drive away. One individual is seen in the video throwing one thing at the car.
Flash bangs deployed in Little Village
Whistles — a sign neighborhood members have used to alert others to the presence of federal immigration agents — ring out. “Get the f**k out of here,” one individual was heard yelling.
Alderman Rodriguez mentioned he was attending his son’s chess competitors close by however stepped outdoors to hitch “rapid responders.”
“People were vociferously protesting,” he mentioned. But the federal autos “had a clear path to move out,” he mentioned, and echoed DeMateo’s assertion that he didn’t hear any warnings earlier than the flash-bang grenades were detonated. He mentioned he didn’t see any objects thrown at agents earlier than the flash-bangs.
One flash grenade exploded only a foot away from him, mentioned the alderman, who represents Chicago’s twenty second ward, sending him ducking for canopy.
“I think we stand here today, sick and tired of what’s happening here, not just in our country and not just in our city, but in our neighborhood and on our streets,” he mentioned. “We want peace. We want tranquility.”
Bovino was noticed at twenty sixth and Pulaski by DeMateo, the pastor, in the Little Village neighborhood the place DHS and the Border Patrol chief initially claimed he was hit in the head with a rock by a protester.
“I saw right next to my van, Bovino pull the pin on another grenade, threatening to throw it,” mentioned DeMateo. The Border Patrol chief had an interplay with “neighbors” after which acquired into his car, DeMateo mentioned.
It was simply days after Ellis mentioned Bovino had lied about being hit earlier than utilizing tear gasoline and ordering restrictions on federal agents’ use of power.
Video from the scene seems to indicate Bovino holding a shiny object and yelling “back up” after a flash bang went off. He then approaches a car. Bovino isn’t seen throwing the article or deploying tear gasoline in any movies obtained by NCS.
DHS has not responded to NCS’s repeated questions on Bovino’s presence in Little Village and his position on Saturday.
At Sunday’s information convention, native politicians and activists expressed their anger and frustration at federal agents’ actions Saturday.
Chicago’s mayor mentioned Monday ICE raids “are meant to be provocative.”
“They are trying to incite chaos,” Johnson mentioned. “And they are putting our police officers right in the middle of it to clean up the mess that they are creating.”
Victor Rodriguez, who described himself as a lifelong neighborhood resident, mentioned he was struck by each the “anger” and the “great lament” of his neighbors Saturday.
“We have people here running home, mothers and fathers scared to leave their house,” he mentioned.
Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García, who represents Illinois’ 4th Congressional district, decried the “unconstitutional, illegal and barbaric acts of federal agents who continue to inflict violence on our community.”
He lauded the “nonviolent resistance” that Chicago protesters have engaged in and referred to as the town “the forefront of a fight for new civility and civil rights in America.”
State Sen. Celina Villanueva characterised Saturday’s operations as “state-sponsored terrorism” and praised neighborhood efforts to struggle again.
“We don’t have tear gas, we don’t have pepper spray,” she mentioned. “We literally have our bodies and whistles, and we’re fighting back with that because it’s about humanity.”
Meanwhile, DHS blamed liberal politicians, saying they “fueled an environment of lawlessness and assault on federal law enforcement.”
“Make no mistake: Our mission will continue despite the violence,” mentioned Assistant Secretary McLaughlin in the company’s assertion. “And if you lay a hand on law enforcement, you will face the consequences.”