Border Patrol Shoots Woman During Clash With Protesters on Southwest Side
CHICAGO – A woman was shot by a Border Patrol agent Saturday night during a confrontation between federal agents and protesters outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in the Brighton Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side. The shooting occurred after hours of escalating tensions, including the deployment of tear gas by federal agents against demonstrators.
The incident adds to growing scrutiny of ICE tactics and follows a recent fatal shooting involving federal immigration agents in nearby Franklin Park just weeks prior. Residents reported hearing gunshots and witnessing a heavy presence of federal agents responding to the protest, raising concerns about the use of force against demonstrators.
Matthew, a 34-year-old Brighton Park resident who declined to give his last name, said he heard “roughly four gunshots” and saw federal agents after looking out his window. “It’s scary and it’s wrong,” he said.
reina Diaz, a 36-year resident of Brighton Park and a native of Mexico, was near ICE agents as protesters shouted at them. “It hurts, it hurts because we are all here fighting for ourselves. It’s a shame that the president is harming the economy of this country,” she said.
Maritza Vega, who lives half a block from the scene, described agents throwing tear gas canisters into the crowd. “They were spraying it halfway down the block. It came down here. We had to run [inside] at one point,” Vega said. “it’s a disgrace.It’s a disgrace as they shouldn’t be treating people like that at all, the way they were standing out ther with those big old guns [when] nobody was touching them.”
the shooting comes weeks after Silverio Villegas González, 38, was fatally shot by federal immigration agents during a traffic stop in Franklin Park on September 12. DHS initially stated Villegas González attempted to drive his car into ICE officers, dragging one, who then opened fire. However, body-worn camera footage obtained by the Sun-Times showed the officer describing his injuries as “nothing major” shortly after the shooting.
