(NewsNation) — An Illinois congressman is pushing back on the Trump administration’s claims that a federal officer fatally shot a migrant because the undocumented man drove his car at officers.
The shooting occurred Friday in west suburban Franklin Park as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer tried to arrest a man who had entered the country illegally, the Department of Homeland Security said in a news release. The driver refused to obey orders and drove his car at law enforcement, prompting an ICE officer to open fire, officials said.
Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez was pronounced dead at a local hospital, where the officer also was taken.
Chicago braces for added ICE agents as standoff with Trump continues
“The videos that I’ve seen do not corroborate that story,” Rep. Chuy Garcia, a Chicago Democrat, said of the shooting. “It seems that DHS was quick to put something out that essentially accuses and convicts a person, portrays him as somebody who was a very bad person. And that’s why we’ve called for a real investigation, a complete investigation and the release of all evidence that will tell us exactly what happened.”
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has likewise called for “a full, factual accounting” of the death, which comes amid an ICE surge in Chicago, a so-called sanctuary city.
Ensenada-San Diego ferry could begin service by end of year
Garcia and other leaders in the Hispanic community on Saturday gathered outside an ICE facility in suburban Broadview to decry federal tactics. The congressman accused immigration officers of “severe racial profiling.”
DHS stood by its mission, saying in a statement that the “ICE operation will target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois because they knew Governor Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
