DHS says agents were shot at amid chaotic day of immigration enforcement operations in Chicago area
By Zoe Sottile, Sarah Dewberry, CNN
(CNN) — Department of Homeland Security agents were shot at during an immigration enforcement operation in Chicago Saturday, the agency said — as federal agents were also accused of using pepper spray and flash-bang grenades against protesters across the Chicago area.
The incidents come as Chicago has emerged as the center of tense standoffs between federal agents carrying out immigration enforcement operations and frustrated and angry community members protesting the Trump administration’s wide-ranging deportation campaign. A federal judge issued a ruling Friday limiting federal agents’ use of force in Chicago, after they repeatedly used tear gas and other forms of force against protesters.
The shooting took place in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood Saturday morning, according to DHS. A male driving a “black Jeep” opened fire at Border Patrol agents, then fled the scene, said the agency. A suspect from Mexico was arrested in connection with the shooting, DHS said in a post on X Monday.
DHS has framed the incidents as part of a series of attacks they say target federal agents. “The violence in Chicago against law enforcement is unprecedented,” said Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement shared with CNN. “These attacks are the consequence of vitriolic smears from sanctuary politicians and the media.”
But immigrant advocates, local politicians, and legal groups said it is federal agents who are driving violence and chaos against angry but peaceful protesters and bystanders.
“Yesterday was a day of terror,” said Alderman Mike Rodriguez, who says he witnessed flash grenades detonated in the street. “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 local officials, a civil rights attorney and a legal filing, fueling mounting skepticism of the agency’s claims. In Friday’s ruling, a federal judge said Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino “admitted that he lied” when he claimed he threw tear gas at protesters after a rock was thrown near his head, and said video disproved his account.
The government’s evidence was “simply not credible” and its portrayal of Chicago “untrue,” US District Judge Sara Ellis said.
The Trump administration filed a notice Sunday appealing Ellis’ order limiting the use of force by federal agents involved in the Chicago immigration crackdown. The court document did not include the grounds for appeal.
It is not immediately clear when the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals will take up the case.
The National Lawyers Guild Chicago said nine people in all were arrested and taken into federal custody Saturday. DHS says Border Patrol arrested eight US citizens and one “illegal alien.”
Agents shot at by driver, DHS says
Border Patrol agents were “accosted by a hostile crowd” while conducting an immigration enforcement operation around 9:30 a.m. Saturday near 26th Street and Kedzie Avenue, DHS said. The crowd “boxed them into a street and alleyway,” the agency said.
“As they were apprehending a subject, agents came under direct gunfire when a male driving a black Jeep Wrangler fired multiple rounds,” reads DHS’ statement. “He immediately fled the scene.”
There were no reports of anyone struck by gunfire, according to the Chicago Police Department, which responded to help secure the scene.
Bovino didn’t name the suspect in an interview on Fox News Monday but described him as an “illegal alien” with a previous firearms conviction. CNN has reached out to DHS for more information. The FBI told CNN it does not comment on “potential investigative matters.”
After the incident, “an unknown number of agitators also threw a paint can and bricks at Border Patrol’s vehicles,” according to DHS. The agency said no Border Patrol agents were injured in the incident.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said at a Monday news conference he had heard about the shooting. He said 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,” but 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 said in a post on X.
After leaving the scene of the shooting, Border Patrol agents “encountered a vehicle that attempted to ram their convoy” and deployed a “Controlled Tire Deflation Device,” DHS said. Another driver was arrested after attempting to ram the convoy as agents proceeded toward an FBI facility, according to DHS.
Flash bangs deployed in Little Village
Then the Border Patrol agents “encountered protesters lying in the street near 26th and Pulaski,” according to DHS. The agency said 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, said he was driving at the intersection of 26th Avenue and Pulaski Road when he saw federal agents exit their vehicles, “guns drawn.” He says he didn’t hear “any warning” before flash-bang grenades were deployed.
Videos from the scene taken around 11:10 a.m. show what appear to be agents in tactical gear exiting their vehicles in the street. Another video shows people standing around a white vehicle, some seemingly filming with their phones.
A passenger in the white vehicle is seen in the video tossing an object out of the window. A loud bang sounds and smoke explodes, scattering bystanders as the vehicle starts to drive away. One person is seen in the video throwing something at the vehicle.
Whistles — a signal community members have used to alert others to the presence of federal immigration agents — ring out. “Get the f**k out of here,” one person was heard yelling.
Alderman Rodriguez said he was attending his son’s chess competition nearby but stepped outside to join “rapid responders.”
“People were vociferously protesting,” he said. But the federal vehicles “had a clear path to move out,” he said, and echoed DeMateo’s statement that he didn’t hear any warnings before the flash-bang grenades were detonated. He said he didn’t see any objects thrown at agents before the flash-bangs.
One flash grenade exploded just a foot away from him, said the alderman, who represents Chicago’s 22nd ward, sending him ducking for cover.
“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 said. “We want peace. We want tranquility.”
Bovino was spotted at 26th and Pulaski by DeMateo, the pastor, in the Little Village neighborhood where DHS and the Border Patrol chief originally 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,” said DeMateo. The Border Patrol chief had an interaction with “neighbors” and then got into his vehicle, DeMateo said.
It was just days after Ellis said Bovino had lied about being hit before using tear gas and ordering restrictions on federal agents’ use of force.
Video from the scene appears to show Bovino holding a shiny object and yelling “back up” after a flash bang went off. He then approaches a vehicle. Bovino isn’t seen throwing the object or deploying tear gas in any videos obtained by CNN.
DHS has not responded to CNN’s repeated questions about Bovino’s presence in Little Village and his role on Saturday.
Community outrage
At Sunday’s news conference, local politicians and activists expressed their anger and frustration at federal agents’ actions Saturday.
Chicago’s mayor said Monday ICE raids “are meant to be provocative.”
“They are trying to incite chaos,” Johnson said. “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 community resident, said he was struck by both 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 said.
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 called the city “the forefront of a fight for new civility and civil rights in America.”
State Sen. Celina Villanueva characterized Saturday’s operations as “state-sponsored terrorism” and praised community efforts to fight back.
“We don’t have tear gas, we don’t have pepper spray,” she said. “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,” said Assistant Secretary McLaughlin in the agency’s statement. “And if you lay a hand on law enforcement, you will face the consequences.”
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CNN’s Graham Hurley contributed to this report.
