Chicago's chaotic weekend with federal clashes
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A masked U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent in Brighton Park Saturday. Photo: Octavio Jones/AFP via Getty Images
Chicago experienced a chaotic — and violent — weekend of clashes between federal law enforcement and protesters, prompting President Trump to call up hundreds of National Guard members in Illinois on Saturday.
The big picture: Gov. JB Pritzker said the Trump administration's War Department presented him with an ultimatum earlier in the day: "'call up your troops, or we will.'"
The latest: Pritzker posted on X Sunday night that Trump "is ordering 400 members of the Texas National Guard for deployments to Illinois, Oregon, and other locations within the United States. No officials from the federal government called me directly to discuss or coordinate."
Driving the news: A man and woman allegedly used their vehicles Saturday morning to strike a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent's car and box in other agents' vehicles near 39th Street and South Kedzie Avenue, according to a complaint by the U.S. Department of Justice.
- One of the agents then fired shots and struck one of the drivers, Marimar Martinez, who was later taken to a hospital and released.
- The feds charged Martinez and Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz on Sunday with forcibly assaulting, impeding, and interfering with a federal law enforcement officer. Both remain in custody pending federal court appearances.
Zoom out: The clash in Brighton Park capped a week that included a raid at an apartment building in South Shore and a federal agent handcuffing Ald. Jessie Fuentes.
Catch up quick: Federal agents cuffed Fuentes on Friday after the alder demanded that agents show her a warrant for a hospital patient they were trying to detain. Mayor Brandon Johnson joined 37 alders in condemning that incident.
- After a raid on a South Shore apartment building on Tuesday night, photos of trashed rooms and allegations of agents tying residents' hands, including children, with zip ties led Pritzker to call on state agencies to investigate the incidents.
- Department of Homeland Security told ABC News the building was targeted because it's "frequented" by members of a Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua. "Some of the targeted subjects are believed to be involved in drug trafficking and distribution, weapons crimes, and immigration violators."
What they're saying: "They're raiding neighborhoods where, instead of going after the bad guys, they're just picking up people who are brown and Black and then checking their credentials, 'Are you a U.S. citizen?' I don't know about you, but I don't carry around papers that say I'm a U.S. citizen," Pritzker said Sunday on "State of the Union."
- "They are the ones that are making it a war zone. They need to get out of Chicago if they're not going to focus on the worst of the worst, which is what the president said they were going to do. They need to get the heck out."
The other side: "Amidst ongoing violent riots and lawlessness, that local leaders like Pritzker have refused to step in to quell, President Trump has authorized 300 national guardsmen to protect federal officers and assets," White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Axios in a statement.
- "President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities."
What we're watching: Immigrant rights advocates, such as the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) and Southwest Rapid Response, offer a hotline where neighbors can report sightings of ICE and distribute text alerts and social media messages about ICE and Border Protection officers' whereabouts.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with the latest comments on Sunday night from Gov. JB Pritzker.