FRANKLIN PARK — A federal immigration officer fatally shot a person Friday in suburban Franklin Park after the person hit the officer together with his automobile and dragged him “a major distance” throughout an arrest try, company officers stated.
Brokers stopped Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez as he was driving Friday morning close to Grand Avenue and Elder Lane, in line with experiences and a press release from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Within the assertion, the company stated Villegas-Gonzalez was in the US illegally and had a prison historical past of “reckless driving.”
Villegas-Gonzalez “refused to observe legislation enforcement instructions” and drove his automobile at officers through the cease, in line with ICE. One officer was hit and dragged.
“Fearing for his personal life, the officer fired his weapon,” in line with ICE.
Villegas-Gonzalez was hit and later pronounced useless at Loyola Hospital, in line with a assertion from the Village of Franklin Park late Friday afternoon. The officer had a number of accidents. His situation was not out there, however he was listed as “secure.”
No video of the incident was instantly out there, nor might representatives for Villegas-Gonzalez instantly be reached. In keeping with court docket paperwork, Villegas-Gonzalez has three Prepare dinner County convictions for driving with an expired license, together with his most up-to-date being in 2019.
The Consulate Normal of Mexico in Chicago confirmed Friday night that Villegas-Gonzalez, 38, was a Mexican nationwide. In keeping with a press release from the diplomatic mission, Villegas Gonzalez labored at a prepare dinner. The consulate normal stated it was in communication with federal authorities to attempt to study extra about what led to Villegas Gonzalez’ dying and stated it’s also working to help his household.
Gov. JB Pritzker, in a submit on social media, referred to as the incident “troubling” and urged for extra info on the circumstances surrounding the lethal taking pictures.
“It is a growing scenario and the individuals of Illinois deserve a full, factual accounting of what’s occurred at the moment to make sure transparency and accountability,” the governor wrote.
Erendira Rendón, chief program officer at The Resurrection Challenge, stated Friday’s “horrific incident in Franklin Park exhibits us the true hazard that militarized enforcement creates in our neighborhoods.”
“A neighborhood member is useless, and an officer was injured,” Rendón stated in a press release. “These are outcomes that serve no public security objective and depart total communities traumatized. Protected neighborhoods rely on belief, not worry. When federal brokers conduct unaccountable operations in our communities, everybody turns into much less protected.”
Rendón urged neighbors to maintain calm if legislation enforcement approaches them, hold their palms seen and keep away from sudden actions. The group operates a assist hotline at 855-435-7693 and shares security info and assist accessing authorized providers at illinoisimmigrationinfo.org.
Tricia McLaughlin, Homeland Safety assistant secretary, stated the company is “praying for the speedy restoration” of the injured agent.
Close by Hester Junior Excessive College, 2836 Gustav St., was positioned on lockdown between 9 a.m. and 9:50 a.m. after the taking pictures, in line with Franklin Park College District 84 Superintendent David Katzin. Social media posts and navigation websites similar to Google Maps confirmed a stretch of Gustav Avenue nonetheless closed to visitors as of noon Friday.
The FBI was helping legislation enforcement in its response to Friday’s taking pictures, in line with a spokesperson, who added that there was no risk to public security.
A whole lot of ICE brokers have been deployed to the Chicago space this week for the company’s Operation Halfway Blitz marketing campaign to ramp up arrests and deportations right here.
Organizers have noticed a “surge” in federal brokers in Chicago, particularly on the Southwest Aspect. Tv crews and right-wing influencers have tagged together with brokers over the previous few days.
The operation has prompted protests in and across the metropolis. The Tribune reported Friday {that a} confrontation between about 30 protesters and brokers in full riot gear at an ICE facility in west suburban Broadview led to pushing and shoving.
Following Friday’s deadly taking pictures, immigrant rights advocates and elected officers gathered in Franklin Park on Friday to specific their outrage and fears over the Trump administration’s escalated enforcement actions within the Chicago space this previous week.
Lawrence Benito, government director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, stated at a press convention that the “Trump deportation machine is uncontrolled and working with no transparency or accountability and resulting in mindless hurt to our communities, households and neighbors.”
“Whereas we’re nonetheless uncovering the small print of this specific incident, we all know the more and more aggressive techniques of ICE don’t hold our communities protected,” Benito added.
State Consultant Norma Hernandez, D-Melrose Park, stated Friday’s taking pictures “shouldn’t have occurred, it might have been prevented.”
“Trump and ICE have created this chaos and there are actually lethal penalties to their insurance policies,” Hernandez stated. “The fact is, ICE is endangering the neighborhood with these techniques.”
In a joint assertion with Hernandez on Friday, U.S. Reps. Jesús “Chuy” Garcia and Delia Ramirez stated that they rejected “violence in all its types” but additionally rejected Homeland Safety and ICE’s assertion earlier Friday that lawmakers stated served to “recklessly blame native activists for this tragic scenario.”
“Advocates and elected officers in Chicago have been warning individuals to be protected and know their rights if they’ve an encounter with legislation enforcement,” the three Democratic lawmakers continued. “We warned that ICE’s aggressive techniques and disrespect for due course of had been a violent escalation.”
Garcia, Ramirez and Hernandez urged their constituents to stay peaceable whereas additionally calling on the federal businesses to “cease their inflammatory rhetoric and actions, and to be clear about this incident, together with by means of the discharge of related warrants and physique digicam footage.”
Talking later in Franklin Park, Hernandez additionally questioned why ICE tried the visitors cease and arrest at a time when mother and father had been dropping their kids off in school.
April Giannosa, a Franklin Park resident and a union chief with West Suburban Academics Union Native 571, stated the taking pictures’s proximity to the college and the lockdown it precipitated was “very scary and traumatizing for all of our college students.”
“We’re very outraged to see this occurred so near so many households and so many college students,” Giannosa stated.
Chicago Academics Union President Stacy Davis Gates, in a press release, stated Friday’s taking pictures “represents precisely the form of harmful escalation we warned towards when Trump referred to as for the federal and army occupation of our communities.”
Gates added that due course of was “constitutional and accusations of reckless driving ought to by no means finish with an individual’s dying.”
“We name for a direct removing of all ICE brokers from our communities, and as a substitute demand that our tax {dollars} be used to supply extra investments that really make us protected,” Gates stated.
Reporters Madison Savedra and Francia Garcia Hernandez contributed.
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