LITTLE VILLAGE — Federal agents again deployed tear gas against protesters and neighbors Saturday in Little Village in a clash that saw the agents bring “violence and disruption” to the heavily immigrant neighborhood, neighbors and a watchdog group said.
The immigration agents had a heavy presence in Little Village Saturday, where they were met by protesters who followed the agents in cars to alert neighbors to their activity. The situation then escalated, with shots fired at the immigration officers who then used tear gas against the gathered crowds, according to local and federal officials.
Border Patrol officers were conducting immigration enforcement near 26th Street and Kedzie Avenue Saturday morning when a man driving a black Jeep fired shots at the agents, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
“Agitators” also threw bricks and a paint can at Border Patrol cars, Homeland Security said. No injuries were reported in the incidents.
“This incident is not isolated and reflects a growing and dangerous trend of violence and obstruction,” Homeland Security wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The officers were accused of violence themselves, including the use of tear gas in Little Village and pepper spray in suburban Cicero, where a family with a 1-year-old was hit with the chemical irritant while they were out getting groceries, family patriarch Rafael Veraza said.
The family was in a Sam’s Club parking lot in Cicero when agents in a pickup sprayed pepper spray, which got into the family’s car, Veraza said. He was hospitalized, but his concern was for his daughter, 1-year-old Evelin.
“Me, I’m a grown man, I can handle this. But my 1-year-old? We don’t know what [pepper spray] could do to her,” he said at a press conference Sunday.
Video posted to social media by the group shows Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino in Little Village with a tear gas canister in his hand, but it is unclear if Bovino personally deployed the chemical irritant.
“On Saturday, [Border Patrol chief] Greg Bovino and his [Border Patrol] and ICE henchmen once again brought violence and disruption to Little Village and Cicero,” the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights said in a statement.
Around 11 a.m., Ald. Mike Rodriguez (22nd) saw an “armada” of federal vehicles stopped near 26th Street and Pulaski Road, where they made an arrest and attacked neighbors, he said.
Rodriguez said he was talking to a family whose visit to the local Citi Bank was disrupted by federal agents making an arrest when the officers deployed a chemical weapon by the alderman and the family, including a 6-year-old girl.
“It was a reign of terror,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said he never heard the shots that were allegedly fired at immigration agents. After fielding testimony from several witnesses present at the scene of the reported shooting, Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez cast doubt over Homeland Security’s version of events.
“The burden of proof is on [the federal officers],” Sigcho-Lopez said. “But as far as I’m concerned, the evidence that I gathered from our community suggests that our community was non violent, and that ICE and CBP [Border Patrol] were violent.”
Chicago police responded to the area near 25th Street and Kedzie Avenue to help with crowd control following the report of shots fired at immigration agents, the department said in a statement.
At least nine protesters were taken into federal custody during the actions in Little Village and Cicero, according to the the National Lawyers Guild’s Chicago chapter. All but one were expected to be released by Sunday.
“Trump’s federal agents turned what would have been a quiet Saturday afternoon on the Southwest side of Chicago into a dangerous and unsafe environment due to their repeated and unnecessary escalations,” the lawyers guild said in a statement.
Business Owner Tells Bovino: ‘Get Out’
Shortly after deploying tear gas against protesters on 26th Street, Bovino and other federal agents tried to buy drinks at Carcineria y Taqueria Aguascalientes, 3132 W. 26th St., according to Michelle Macias, the daughter of the Aguascalientes’ owner.
The agents were denied service, she said.
Macias’s father, Carlos Macias, yelled at Bovino to “f—king get out” of the restaurant’s parking lot, Macias said. Moments earlier, agents had deployed chemical weapons on several neighbors near Carlos Macias and threatened to throw tear gas at the taqueria owner, his daughter said.
“Bovino was ignoring him but my dad just wouldn’t let it go,” Michelle Macias said. “Bovino eventually told him, ‘If you step any closer, you will get arrested.’ We refused him service.”
Everyone at the scene of the tear-gassing was “crying,” Michelle Macias said.
It wasn’t the first time agents had swung by Aguascalientes. Three weeks earlier, a worker was taken from the restaurant, Macias said.
On Thursday, agents arrested a person outside the business, Carlos Macias told Block Club that day.
“They’re racial profiling us,” Carlos Macías said Thursday. “It’s horrible.”
2nd Scene Of Civil Unrest In Little Village
Chicago police arrested four people in a separate immigration enforcement activity Saturday in Little Village that saw an impassioned neighbor response, the department confirmed.
Around 12:10 p.m. Saturday, federal agents were near 23rd Street and Sawyer Avenue, where neighbors told Rapid Responder Mayra Macias that agents chased down and attempted to arrest an 11-year-old girl. By the time Mayra Macias, who is not related to the Aguascalientes’ owners, arrived at the scene, there were around 75 Chicago police officers sequestering neighbors onto the sidewalks, she said.
“It was very confusing because ICE was not there when I arrived,” Mayra Macias said. “Police were shuffling people onto the sidewalks. I was there for a good 30 minutes, and a lot of the cops were Latino, and you could hear community members yelling ‘Why are you working with them’ at the cops. Even though it was tense, it was peaceful for 30 minutes.”
Seven unmarked federal vehicles reappeared at the scene around 12:35 p.m., Mayra Macias said. Agents were trying to make entry into a home as a line of police officers stood between agents and the crowd of neighbors.
After agents dispersed from the area, the situation grew tense, Mayra Macias said. Officers withdrew their batons and forcefully pushed a woman. Two men told the officers “don’t hit women,” and allegedly pushed officers before around five cops “hurled themselves” at the men, Mayra Macias said.
Police arrested four, with one charged with reckless conduct/bodily harm, two others just charged with reckless conduct and one with pending charges, a department spokesperson said.
“You could see in these cops eyes that they didn’t want to terrorize their own neighborhood,” Mayra Macias said.
Saturday’s events were the latest skirmish between Little Village neighbors and immigration agents who have heavily targeted the largely Hispanic and immigrant neighborhood.
At least two people were detained by federal immigration officials in Little Village Wednesday.
A caravan of Customs and Border Patrol vehicles was also spotted across the Southwest Side, including in Gage Park and Chicago Lawn, where agents drove through Marquette Park, 6743 S. Kedzie Ave.
Bovino was also present for Wednesday’s enforcement activity, which came the same day a federal judge in a Downtown courthouse admonished the government’s use of force in Chicago, particularly the use of tear gas against civilians.
The judge also noted that Bovino had admitted in a deposition that he lied when claiming he was hit by a rock before tear-gassing people in Little Village last month.
Listen to the Block Club Chicago podcast:
