President Donald Trump on Saturday approved the deployment of 300 Illinois State Guard troops to protect federal officers and property in Chicago, marking another escalation of federal intervention in American cities.
“This morning, the Trump administration gave me an ultimatum. Call on your troops, or we’ll do that,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pretzker said in a statement. “It is absolutely outrageous and patriotism for the governor to request that troops be sent to our territory against our will.”
Attorney General Pam Bondy also issued memos directing Department of Justice agencies, including the FBI, to help protect immigration and customs enforcement facilities in the United States, including Chicago and Portland.
Tensions have risen in the cities and surrounding suburbs as clashes between protesters and federal agents increase. On Friday, agents handcuffed the mayor as they stood up to them at Humboldt Park Hospital.
That same morning, ice agents led by Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino attacked protesters vigorously outside an ice facility on the outskirts of Broadview.
A local Chicago reporter for the local news site Block Club reported that one of the agents had placed their hands on the neck of Pastor Michael Wolf of Lake Street Church in Evanston, protesting in front of the center.
“One of them grabbed my nipples and twisted me, placing my hand on my throat. They weren’t calm… I’m not completely peaceful. I’m a pastor and I’m committed to non-violence,” Pastor Wolf said in an interview with Block Club Chicago.
Federal agents were fired by protesters outside the Broadview Center who were repeatedly using tear gas and were trying to disrupt ice operations in the city. Local governments, including Mayor Broadview, are asking agents to stop aggressive behavior against residents.
Chicago has raised an alarm about racial profiling
The sight of armed, camouflaged and masked border patrol agents arrested near the famous downtown landmark amplified such concerns. Many Chicagoans were already worried after the immigration crackdown began earlier this month. Agents are targeting Latinos, where there are high numbers of immigrants.
Protesters frequently gather near immigration facilities outside the city, and federal officials reported the arrests of 13 protesters near the U.S. immigration and customs enforcement treatment facility on Friday.
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed that federal agents shot a woman on the southwest side of Chicago Saturday morning. A statement from the department said it happened after Border Patrol agents patrol the area were “shot in with a vehicle and boxed in 10 cars.”
“When the suspects tried to run them, officers left the locked vehicle and had officers fired defensively,” the statement said.
Law enforcement officials were not seriously injured, according to DHS spokesman Tricia McLaughlin.
According to McLaughlin, the woman shot was a US citizen and was armed with semi-automatic weapons. She told the Chicago Sun Times that the woman drove to the hospital for treatment, but a Chicago Fire Department spokesman told the Chicago Sun-Times that she was found near the scene and taken to the hospital in fair condition.
Immigration rights advocates and residents individually reported that federal agents used tear gas near grocery and hardware stores elsewhere in Chicago on Friday, raising doubts about the man’s attempted arrest.
Governor Pretzker treated protesters last month after being attacked by the Trump administration in a way that many of the federal agents, many of them, are hiding to hide their faces. He denounced the officials’ “inhuman” tactics, including slamming protesters to the ground, arresting reporters and firing chemicals at crowds.
“It is clear that federal agents cannot trust them to act to protect the safety of their people and constitutional rights,” the Democratic governor said.
