An Illinois congressman is contesting the Trump administration’s assertion that a federal officer shot a migrant fatally because the undocumented man drove his car at them.
The incident took place Friday in west suburban Franklin Park as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer attempted to detain a man who had unlawfully entered the U.S., the Department of Homeland Security reported in a news release. According to officials, the driver disobeyed orders and directed his vehicle toward the officers, resulting in an ICE officer discharging his weapon.
Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez was pronounced dead at a local hospital, where the officer also was taken.
“The videos that I’ve seen do not corroborate that story,” said Rep. Chuy Garcia, a Chicago Democrat, regarding the shooting. “It seems that DHS was quick to put something out that essentially accuses and convicts a person, portrays him as somebody who was a very bad person. And that’s why we’ve called for a real investigation, a complete investigation and the release of all evidence that will tell us exactly what happened.”
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has also demanded “a full, factual accounting” of the death, arising amid an ICE crackdown in Chicago, a city known as a sanctuary city.
Garcia and other leaders from the Hispanic community gathered on Saturday outside an ICE facility in suburban Broadview to condemn federal tactics. The congressman accused immigration officers of “severe racial profiling.”
The DHS upheld its mission, releasing a statement that the “ICE operation will target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois because they knew Governor Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
