Questions raised about use of deadly force in shootings in Chicago-area immigration enforcement in wake of Minnesota ICE shooting
Throughout Operation Midway Blitz in the Chicago area, there have been two shootings by federal immigration agents, one of them deadly.
The directive is clear. ICE agents are not permitted to use deadly force to prevent the escape of a fleeing subject, unless they have a reasonable belief that person poses a significant threat of death or physical harm.
The narrative from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after the latest shooting in Minneapolis is nearly word for word the same as the DHS response to two shootings during immigration enforcement in the Chicago area.
The first shooting during Operation Midway Blitz happened on Sept. 12 in Franklin Park. An ICE agent targeting Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez opened fire after he said Villegas-Gonzalez refused law enforcement commands and drove his car at officers. At the time DHS said the officer was hit and seriously injured and "Fearing for his own life, the officer fired his weapon." Villegas-Gonzalez was killed.
But in body camera video obtained by ABC7 and the I-Team, the federal agent who fired his weapon said his own injuries were nothing major .
Then on Oct. 4, Marimar Martinez was shot five times by an immigration agent and initially accused of "ambushing" federal agents during an immigration sweep at 39th and South Kedzie. The DHS statement after the shooting in Minneapolis Wednesday mirrors its statement in the Martinez incident almost verbatim, calling Martinez a "domestic terrorist" and accusing her of ramming agents with her vehicle.
"You're taking these agents from outside areas, away from the border, and placing them into cities they're not from into situations that are not controlled, and they are not they're not prepared for this, and they're not prepared for the general public not being fans of them," Martinez's attorney Christopher Parente told the I-Team.
He says the public should be critical of any DHS narrative. When the case against Martinez came before a federal judge in Chicago, all charges against her were dropped by the U.S. Attorney .
"DHS continues to say that Miss Martinez rammed the vehicle, like black and white misstatements," Parente said.
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According to ICE use of force policy, "Deadly force is not authorized solely to prevent the escape of a fleeing suspect" unless "there is probable cause to believe that the escape of the subject would pose an imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury to the officer or another person."
"If there's a place for you to step away from, or if there's an escape route, do you really need to utilize deadly force in that situation. Probably not," said ABC7 police affairs consultant Bill Kushner.
He told the I-Team this shooting in Minneapolis may come down to officer training.
"Their role was never designed to deal with crowds of people," Kushner said.
The FBI is now investigating the ICE shooting in Minneapolis. President Donald Trump said the officer that shot and killed a 37-year-old woman was acting in self defense.
