Latino leaders expressed dismay Saturday over recent immigration enforcement operations in Chicago that resulted in a fatal shooting during a traffic stop, the arrest of an immigrant at a barbershop and a tense standoff between protesters and agents at an immigration processing facility.
An Immigration, Customs and Enforcement officer fatally shot a man who tried to evade arrest Friday by driving his car at officers and dragging one of them, officials said. The man, Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, was pronounced dead at a hospital.
On the same day, Willian Gimenez was pulled over while driving in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood and detained by ICE agents. Kevin Herrera, Gimenez’s attorney, said he believes it was retaliation for his involvement in a lawsuit against Chicago leaders, Home Depot and an off-duty police officer for their actions toward immigrant workers.
Herrera said Gimenez has a work permit and is going through the process of pursuing an asylum claim.
In a statement Saturday, immigration authorities said 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.
During a morning news conference outside an ICE facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview, Rep. Chuy Garcia, a Democrat, said the incidents are troubling.
“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.
A planned 12-hour protest Friday outside the facility included several clashes between participants and officers wearing face coverings, helmets and later gas masks. The facility has seen regular demonstrations in response to increased immigration enforcement.
Rep. Delia Ramirez, also a Democrat, said she will demand a thorough investigation of the traffic stop that led to Villegas-Gonzalez’s fatal shooting and called for community unity.
The Department of Homeland Security’s campaign, labeled “ Operation Midway Blitz,” targets so-called sanctuary laws in the state.
“This ICE 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,” DHS said in a statement.
Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker has been one of the most vocal opponents of the Trump administration’s immigration operations in Chicago.
The recent incidents have also raised fears in immigrant-heavy neighborhoods about celebrations for Mexican Independence Day on Sept. 16.
