Latino leaders and local lawmakers on Saturday condemned recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Chicago that included a fatal shooting during a traffic stop, the detention of a man at a neighborhood barbershop and tense clashes between protesters and agents outside an immigration processing facility.
Officials said an ICE officer fatally shot a man Friday after the man tried to evade arrest by driving his car at officers and dragging one of them. The man, identified by authorities as Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, was pronounced dead at a hospital. The agency said the shooting occurred during an attempt to take the man into custody.
Also on Friday, ICE detained Willian Gimenez after a traffic stop in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, according to Gimenez’s attorney, Kevin Herrera, who said Gimenez holds a work permit and is pursuing an asylum claim. Herrera told reporters he believes the stop and detention were retaliation for Gimenez’s involvement in a lawsuit against city leaders, the Home Depot corporation and an off-duty police officer alleging mistreatment of immigrant workers.
Immigration authorities disputed Herrera’s account in a statement, saying Gimenez was arrested for being in the country illegally. “No one is above the law. Gimenez Gonzalez is an illegal alien with charges for criminal trespassing and a history of not showing up to court, including when he failed to appear in immigration court in April of last year, after which an immigration judge ordered him removed from the country,” the statement said.
The arrests and shooting took place as part of a Department of Homeland Security operation the agency has labeled “Operation Midway Blitz,” which it described as a campaign targeting what DHS termed sanctuary laws in Illinois. In a separate statement, DHS said the operation “will target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois because they knew Governor Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets.”
Democratic U.S. Rep. Chuy Garcia spoke at a morning news conference outside the ICE processing facility in Broadview, a Chicago suburb, calling the incidents troubling and raising concerns about the reach of enforcement. “These incidents make us all ask, if ICE can kill one of our neighbors in broad daylight … if they can arrest someone for joining a lawsuit or simply for being Latino, what’s to stop them from getting any one of us?” Garcia said.
Rep. Delia Ramirez, also a Democrat, said she will demand a thorough investigation into the traffic stop that led to Villegas-Gonzalez’s death and called for unity in the community. Governor J.B. Pritzker, a frequent critic of federal immigration operations in the state, has opposed the administration’s enforcement approach in Chicago.
Protesters organized a planned 12-hour demonstration Friday outside the Broadview facility. Officials and witnesses reported several clashes between participants and officers wearing face coverings, helmets and later gas masks. The facility has been a flashpoint for regular demonstrations in response to increased immigration enforcement, and organizers said the latest wave of activity has heightened tensions across immigrant-heavy neighborhoods.
Community leaders and advocates expressed concern that the enforcement actions and confrontations could chill public life in predominately immigrant neighborhoods, noting that Mexican Independence Day celebrations on Sept. 16 are an important cultural gathering and that residents may fear attending public events.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and ICE have said they are carrying out targeted actions in Illinois to enforce federal immigration law, while local officials and immigrant-rights advocates have called for transparency, independent investigations and safeguards to protect civil rights. The White House and federal law enforcement agencies did not immediately provide additional comment Saturday beyond the statements issued by DHS and ICE.
Authorities have released limited details about each incident as inquiries continue. Local and federal officials have indicated that investigations, including reviews of use-of-force in the fatal shooting, will proceed. Lawmakers and community groups are seeking more information about the circumstances that led to the encounters and the decision-making behind the broader enforcement campaign in the Chicago area.