A woman argues with a federal agent yesterday in Chicago after she said her son was arrested. Photo / Joshua Lott, The Washington Post
Tensions over the Trump Administration’s immigration crackdown in Chicago significantly escalated yesterday as angry residents faced off against heavily armed federal agents, resulting in the shooting of a woman and warnings from Governor JB Pritzker that 300 National Guard troops are being activated against his wishes.
A woman was shot by federal agents during immigration enforcement operations in the city’s Brighton Park neighbourhood, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
She said that agents fired after “officers were rammed by vehicles and boxed in by 10 cars”.
The agents exited their vehicles and fired “defensive shots”, hitting the woman, McLaughlin said. The woman, who was a United States citizen but not identified, drove herself to a nearby hospital, according to DHS.
The Washington Post could not immediately verify DHS’s version of events. The woman who was shot “drove herself to the hospital to get care for wounds”, McLaughlin added.
The Chicago Police Department said officers were called to the scene after the shooting and remained there to maintain traffic and safety for the neighbourhood.
The department declined to comment on the incident and said federal authorities are handling the investigation into the shooting. Mount Sinai Hospital told the Post the woman had been treated and was released.
The shooting occurred a few hours before Pritzker, a Democrat, said in a statement that the Trump Administration had issued him an “ultimatum” that state National Guard troops be deployed to Chicago or those troops would be sent in under federal command.
Pritzker said he rebuffed the Administration’s demands, but he now expects 300 National Guard troops to be federalised soon.
“They will pull hardworking Americans out of their regular jobs and away from their families all to participate in a manufactured performance - not a serious effort to protect public safety,” Pritzker said in a statement.
“For Donald Trump, this has never been about safety. This is about control.”
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson confirmed: “President Trump has authorised 300 national guardsmen to protect federal officers and assets”.
Officials with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office did not immediately respond to the Governor’s statement.
Two officials familiar with the matter said discussions have been ongoing for a federalised mission in Chicago and possibly other cities, similar to what Pritzker suggested.
In a series of other chaotic events, federal agents shot chemical irritants at the more than 100 demonstrators who were protesting against enforcement operations in Brighton Park, a neighbourhood in southwest Chicago. Online videos show residents forcing ICE agents to retreat down neighbourhood streets.
Jesus, a 30-year-old Brighton Park resident who asked that he be identified only by his first name out of concern for his safety, was headed to the washroom at around 11am when he heard cries of “La Migra!” and “ICE is out!” echoing outside on his normally quiet street.
He stepped outside to learn from residents that federal agents had shot a woman nearby and watched as unmarked cars with no licence plates lined up at an intersection.
Over the next few hours, crowds gathered to protest against immigration agents who had set up several police lines.
Once agents began firing chemical rounds and stun grenades into the street, Jesus said, protesters ran to his stoop asking for water to wash off the irritants.
He and his partner invited protesters to their stoop to flush their eyes and distributed water, snacks and protective gear.
“To have it in our community, five feet away, is petrifying,” Jesus said of the federal response.
Though Jesus and his partner are US citizens, he told the Post he’s felt deeply anxious over the past two months as he said the federal immigration agents have increasingly engaged in racial profiling.
“I’m always afraid that something will happen to me while waiting on the bus when I get out of work late at night - that some unmarked van will spontaneously pull up and just snag me without leaving a trace,” Jesus said.
He and his partner have developed contingency plans and code words and have tucked AirTags into their shoes and bags should the other go missing.
Jesus said he believes federal agents don’t care if they violate the law anymore.
“They just look at the colour of our skin. So, for me, as a US citizen, I’m brown-skinned. That makes me an easy target to get grabbed by these people for no reason.”
If federalised, the National Guard members in Illinois would work under Title 10 of federal law, prohibiting them from carrying out law enforcement duties.
The mission would probably focus more narrowly on protecting federal law enforcement personnel and facilities, the officials said. It was not clear whether Guard members would carry firearms.
Last weekend, Hegseth sent a letter to Oregon’s governor, saying he was invoking Title 10 to deploy 200 National Guard members in Portland to “temporarily protect” ICE and other US officials, prompting the state to sue the Administration to stop the action. A judge yesterday blocked the Portland deployment.
California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) also sued after Trump seized control of the California National Guard despite the governor’s objections. Trump deployed about 4000 Guard members and about 700 active-duty infantry Marines to Los Angeles after a few cases of violent protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids.
In early September, a federal judge said that the Trump Administration had violated the Posse Comitatus Act by placing the troops in law enforcement roles.
However, the judge temporarily paused his order, which a federal appeals court left in place until arguments could be heard in greater detail.
Separately, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said yesterday that she will be deploying more “special operations” officers to Chicago.
Over the past month, the Trump Administration has surged federal agents into Chicago to make hundreds of arrests for immigration-related offences. The operations have strained relations with the community and prompted continual protests outside an ICE detention centre in Broadview, a Chicago suburb.
ICE agents and other federal authorities in armoured vehicles and helicopters swarmed a building last week as they went door-to-door at a large apartment building on the South Side of Chicago looking for suspects.
On Saturday, federal agents were seen detonating chemical irritants as they drove down a street in Chicago. The irritants affected operations at a nearby primary school, Pritzker said.
He referred to the federal operations as “unprecedented escalations of aggression against Illinois citizens and residents”.
McLaughlin, the DHS spokeswoman, countered that ICE agents are being threatened and attacked in Chicago. She said the woman who was shot yesterday had previously threatened ICE agents in social media posts.
“The violence and dehumanisation of these men and women who are simply enforcing the law must stop,” McLaughlin said.
Brandon Lee, communications director for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, questioned Homeland Security’s accounting of the shooting.
Lee said preliminary information suggests the border patrol agents “crashed into a civilian vehicle” during an enforcement operation.
The accident led to a “chaotic scene” where local residents stood up to demand accountability.
“ICE is coming in from the outside and they are the ones creating this atmosphere of fear, detaining community members without warrants, and carrying out these operations with militarised equipment,” Lee said.
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