Latino leaders condemn ICE over incidents in Chicago, including driver’s fatal shooting
Chicago – Latin-American leaders expressed his dismay on Saturday in the face of recent immigration operations in Chicago who led to a deadly shooting during a traffic stop, the arrest of an immigrant in a hairdressing salon and a tense confrontation between demonstrators and agents in an immigration treatment installation.
An immigration, customs and law enforcement agent killed a man who tried to escape his arrest on Friday by leading his car to the officers and dragging one of them, officials said. The man, Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, was declared dead in a hospital.
The same day, Willian Gimenez was arrested by leading to the district of Little Village of Chicago and owned by ice agents. Kevin Herrera, Gimenez’s lawyer, said that he thought it was reprisals for his involvement in a trial against the leaders of Chicago, Home Depot and a police officer on leave for their workers.
Herrera said Gimenez had a work permit and went through the process of continuing an asylum.
In a statement on Saturday, the immigration authorities said that Gimenez had been arrested to be illegally in the country.
“No one is above the law. Gimenez Gonzalez is an illegal foreigner with accusations for criminal intrusion and a story not to appear before the court, including when he did not appear before the immigration court in April of last year, after which an immigration judge ordered him the dismissal of the country,” the press release said.
At a morning press conference outside an ICE installation in the suburbs of Chicago de BroadView, representative Chuy Garcia, a democrat, said the incidents were disturbing.
“These incidents make us all ask if the ice can kill one of our neighbors in broad daylight … if they can stop someone to have joined a trial or simply to be Latin, what should prevent them from obtaining one of us?” Said Garcia.
A 12 -hour demonstration on Friday outside the establishment included several clashes between participants and officers wearing facial covers, helmets and subsequent gas masks. The installation has experienced regular demonstrations in response to an increase in the application of immigration.
Representative Delia Ramirez, also a democrat, said that she demanded an in-depth investigation into the stop of traffic which led to the deadly Villegas-Gonzalez shooting and called for community unit.
The campaign of the Ministry of Internal Security, labeled “Operation Midway Blitz”, targets the so-called sanctuary laws in the state.
“This ice operation will target criminal illegal foreigners who faded towards Chicago and Illinois because they knew Governor Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to walk freely in the American streets,” DHS said in a statement.
Democratic Governor JB Pritzker was one of the most vocal opponents of the Trump administration’s immigration operations in Chicago.
Recent incidents have also raised fears of immigrant districts on Mexican independence day celebrations on September 16.
