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Border Patrol agents shoot armed woman in Chicago as protesters confront immigration personnel

DHS deploys reinforcements as ICE vehicles rammed, protesters pepper-sprayed
Published 05 Oct, 2025 08:55am
Tear gas rises during a standoff with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and federal officers in the Little Village neighbourhood of Chicago, Illinois. – Reuters
Tear gas rises during a standoff with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and federal officers in the Little Village neighbourhood of Chicago, Illinois. – Reuters

US Border Patrol personnel shot an armed woman in Chicago on Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security said, as scores of protesters faced off against federal immigration agents on the city’s southwest side.

No law enforcement officers were seriously injured in the incident in which a group that included the woman rammed cars into vehicles used by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a DHS spokesperson said in a statement.

The woman, a US citizen who was not identified, drove herself to the hospital, according to the statement.

No additional information was immediately available about the woman’s condition.

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ICE agents fired pepper spray and loaded rubber bullets as part of heated exchanges with protesters on Saturday.

US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said in a post on X that she was sending additional “special operations” to control the scene in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighbourhood.

Law enforcement officers during a standoff in the Little Village neighbourhood of Chicago, Illinois. – Reuters
Law enforcement officers during a standoff in the Little Village neighbourhood of Chicago, Illinois. – Reuters

The woman was armed with a semi-automatic gun, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, said on Saturday that he was given an ultimatum by Republican President Donald Trump to deploy the state’s National Guard.

“It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will,“ Pritzker said in a statement.

Trump authorised 300 National Guard troops to protect federal officers and assets, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Reuters in a statement.

A law enforcement officer confronts a demonstrator as another one is detained during a standoff with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and federal officers in the Little Village neighbourhood of Chicago, Illinois. – Reuters
A law enforcement officer confronts a demonstrator as another one is detained during a standoff with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and federal officers in the Little Village neighbourhood of Chicago, Illinois. – Reuters

People in the Chicago area have staged repeated protests condemning the stepped-up federal presence.

On Friday, police scuffled with hundreds of protesters outside an ICE facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview.

Law enforcement officers confront demonstrators during a standoff in the Little Village neighbourhood of Chicago, Illinois. – Reuters
Law enforcement officers confront demonstrators during a standoff in the Little Village neighbourhood of Chicago, Illinois. – Reuters

On multiple occasions, demonstrators sitting on the ground attempting to block ICE vehicles from carrying detainees into the facility have been repelled by heavily armed ICE agents using physical force, chemical munitions, and rubber bullets, evoking combat scenes.

Protesters have decried what they call similar heavy-handed policing in other Democratic-run cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and Portland, Oregon.

A federal judge on Saturday temporarily blocked Trump from deploying 200 Oregon National Guard troops to Portland.

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