CHICAGO (AP) — A federal immigration agent called injuries caused by being dragged by a car nothing major in body camera footage released Tuesday, showing the moments after an immigration enforcement officer fatally shot a Mexican immigrant in the Chicago area earlier this month.
Trump administration officials had previously stated the officer was seriously injured by Silverio Villegas González, a Mexican immigrant who allegedly tried to evade arrest after agents pulled over his car in suburban Franklin Park. The shooting escalated tensions amid a federal immigration crackdown in the country’s third-largest city that federal officials claim secured nearly 550 arrests.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Villegas González drove his car at officers, dragging one of them before the officer, fearing for his life, opened fire. Federal officials have said their officers were not wearing body cameras at the time.
However, footage released Tuesday by the Franklin Park Police Department shows a local officer arriving at the roadside where a car had crashed into a cargo truck.
ICE agents attempted to explain what had happened moments after an agent shot and killed Villegas González. He tried to run us over, an ICE agent stated in the footage first reported Tuesday by the Chicago Sun-Times. The released video is approximately two minutes long and includes blurred faces of the officers involved.
Another federal agent mentioned he was dragged a little bit while moving toward the local officer. Immigrant rights advocates, Illinois’ top elected officials, and Mexico’s president have called for a thorough investigation, demanding transparency and accountability.
U.S. Rep. Jesus "Chuy" Garcia expressed on Tuesday after the video's release, We want answers to questions that we have raised. The family is entitled to it. The community wants to know what is going on, and the public deserves answers as well.
Video footage also reflects the first agent stating that his partner had sustained “a left knee injury and some lacerations to his hands'' while communicating over the radio. The injured agent then downplayed the injury, saying, Nothing major.
Federal officials had previously reported that the agent suffered multiple and serious injuries. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem indicated that the agent's life was at risk, and he sustained severe injuries.
DHS officials did not respond to inquiries regarding this matter on Tuesday. ICE operations in Chicago have drawn comparisons to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Los Angeles earlier this summer when at least two individuals died while trying to evade ICE.
Villegas González, who worked as a cook, had just dropped off one of his children at daycare the day of the shooting. According to the daycare’s director, he was seen as a good father, and many Franklin Park residents gathered for vigils to remember him as a kind family man. He was from Michoacán, Mexico, and the Consulate General of Mexico in Chicago stated it will closely monitor the investigation.
