CHICAGO (Reuters) -A man in Chicago fired shots at U.S. Border Patrol agents during an immigration enforcement operation on Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security said, but the Chicago Police Department said it did not find anyone injured.
DHS said the suspect, who was driving a black Jeep, remained at large. Chicago’s Police Department said officers responded to a call about shots being fired and secured the area.
“There are no reports of anyone struck by gunfire,” the Chicago Police said in a statement.
The incident took place during protests on Saturday in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago following immigration raids by federal agents. A Reuters witness saw police detaining a man during an argument with residents after an immigration raid.
DHS said “agitators” threw a paint can and bricks at Border Patrol vehicles on Saturday during operations.
“Over the past two months, we’ve seen an increase in assaults and obstruction targeting federal law enforcement,” DHS said in a statement, which was posted on X.
Raids across Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, including one at a daycare center this week, have led to protests and violent arrests.
More than a dozen suburban Chicago mothers were arrested on Friday outside an immigration detention facility in Broadview, a suburb west of Chicago which has been a flashpoint for anger around Trump’s “Operation Midway Blitz.”
The immigration crackdown in Chicago began in September, with the stated purpose of pursuing dangerous criminals without the legal right to reside in the U.S. It has resulted in more than 3,000 arrests, according to the DHS. Those arrests have included U.S. citizens and people with no criminal history.
(Reporting by Carlos Barria in Chicago and Phil Stewart in Washington; writing by Phil Stewart; editing by Chizu Nomiyama )
Comments