By Steve Neavling
U.S. Border Patrol agents shot and wounded an armed woman in Chicago on Saturday as federal immigration officers clashed with protesters on the city’s southwest side, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
A DHS spokesperson said the woman, a U.S. citizen, was part of a group that rammed cars into vehicles used by ICE, Reuters reports. She drove herself to a hospital, and no federal officers were seriously injured. Officials said she was carrying a semi-automatic weapon but did not release her name or condition.
The confrontation took place in the Brighton Park neighborhood, where ICE agents fired pepper spray and rubber bullets during tense standoffs with demonstrators. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she was sending additional “special operations” forces to control the scene.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said President Donald Trump demanded that he deploy the state’s National Guard — a move he called “absolutely outrageous and un-American.” The White House said Trump authorized 300 Guard troops to protect federal officers and property.
The incident followed days of protests condemning Trump’s expanded federal presence in major cities. In suburban Broadview on Friday, heavily armed ICE agents used chemical munitions and physical force against demonstrators blocking detention vans. Similar protests have erupted in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, and Portland, where a federal judge on Saturday temporarily blocked Trump’s deployment of 200 Oregon National Guard troops.
