Federal agents shot at a woman after she rammed a law enforcement vehicle in Chicago, according to the Department of Homeland Security, amid escalating anti-ICE protests and the Trump administration’s efforts to clamp down on unrest in Democrat-led cities.
Officers fired “defensive shots” at an armed American woman after she – along with the drivers of at least 10 other vehicles – rammed and boxed in officers, Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary, said in a post on X.
“Agents were unable to move their vehicles and exited the car. One of the drivers who rammed the law enforcement vehicle was armed with a semi-automatic weapon,” McLaughlin said in her post. “Law enforcement was forced to deploy their weapons and fire defensive shots at an armed US citizen who drove herself to the hospital to get care for wounds.”
The armed woman was recently named in an intelligence bulletin last week “for doxing agents and posting online,” McLaughlin said. The woman has not been named, and her condition was unclear Saturday. McLaughlin did not provide details on which agency the officers who opened fire are part of.
Law enforcement also deployed gas canisters at the protesters, according to footage from Reuters. The footage shows protesters screaming, running, and shielding themselves. “This is Brighton Park, this is not a war zone,” one woman told a journalist.
No officers were seriously hurt in the incident, said McLaughlin, who also accused local police in Chicago of leaving the scene.
“Pritzker’s Chicago Police Department is leaving the shooting scene and refuses to assist us in securing the area,” McLaughlin said. “There is a growing crowd and we are deploying special operations to control the scene.”
The Chicago Police Department said they “responded to the scene to document the incident” and “maintain safety and traffic control for all living and working in the area,” but aren’t involved in the investigation.
CNN has reached out to Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker for comment.
Weeks of protests
The incident follows protests across Chicago sparked by a large-scale immigration enforcement campaign dubbed “The Midway Blitz Operation” by DHS. Demonstrations have concentrated on the Broadview Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility near Chicago. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem spent part of Friday on the rooftop of the controversial facility, surrounded by armed agents and a camera crew, according to CNN affiliate WLS.
The campaign has included a massive overnight raid carried out by federal authorities at a Chicago apartment building earlier this week, which triggered condemnation from Democratic lawmakers and terrified residents. One neighbor called the raid a military-style “invasion” and described seeing a Black Hawk helicopter overhead.
Adults and children alike were pulled from their apartments, crying and screaming during the raid, which led to the arrests of 37 undocumented immigrants. US citizens were arrested too, and immigrant parents were separated from their US citizen children, who were taken into custody by DHS.
As protests grew against the immigration enforcement action, law enforcement has used force and tear gas against demonstrators, including lawmakers.
Daniel Biss, the mayor of Evanston, Illinois, who is also running for Congress, said he was teargassed at a protest outside Broadview and called the experience “terrifying.” Kat Abughazaleh, a former journalist also running for Congress, was pushed to the ground by a federal law enforcement agent in a camouflage uniform wearing a full face covering, sunglasses and a helmet during the same protest, video by CNN affiliate WBBM showed.
After a protest Friday, Chicago Alderperson Jessie Fuentes said she was handcuffed in a hospital emergency room during a confrontation with two men, whom he said were ICE agents. Neither were wearing badges.
At a protest outside Broadview Saturday, five people were arrested, according to the Cook County Sheriff’s Office. All were arrested by Illinois State Police for “resisting/obstruction,” the sheriff’s office told CNN.
Trump to deploy National Guard
On Saturday, the White House announced the president had authorized 300 members of the Illinois National Guard to “protect federal officers and assets” in Chicago, a move President Donald Trump has been promising for weeks.
“Amidst ongoing violent riots and lawlessness, that local leaders like Pritzker have refused to step in to quell, President Trump has authorized 300 national guardsmen to protect federal officers and assets,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told CNN. “President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities.”
US Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, decried the move, saying, “Terrorizing families with midnight raids and military troops in our streets is writing a shameful chapter in our nation’s history” in a statement.
“This President is not intent on fighting crime. He is intent on spreading fear.”
It is a strategy the president first executed in Los Angeles and Washington, DC, and is now vowing to repeat in other Democrat-led cities across the country – whether local lawmakers agree or not. Before the president deployed National Guard troops to quell anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles, it had been over half a century since a president federalized National Guard troops against the wishes of a state’s governor.
Pritzker said he will not call up the National Guard and criticized federal immigration agents’ operations in the city, saying they are sowing fear instead of providing safety.
Before the deployment was officially announced, Pritzker said, “This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will. It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.”
Following the shooting, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she is sending “more special operations” to the scene. DHS declined to clarify what groups the “special operations” deployment would entail, citing safety concerns. CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.
“Today in Chicago, members of our brave law enforcement were attacked—rammed and boxed in by ten vehicles, including an attacker with a semi-automatic weapon. I am deploying more special operations to control the scene. Reinforcements are on their way. If you see a law enforcement officer today, thank them,” Noem posted on X.
In response to the incident and others in Chicago, the FBI said it and its federal partners will “continue to aggressively pursue charges and investigate violence against officers, obstruction of justice, and destruction of federal property.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood.
CNN’s Alejandra Jaramillo, Sarah Dewberry, and Brad Parks contributed to this report.
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