Federal Agents Say They Were Shot at in Little Village; Chemical Agents Used to Disperse Crowd
Senior U.S. Border Patrol official Greg Bovino speaks to Associated Press reporters during an interview Monday, Nov. 3, 2025, in Rosemont, Ill. (AP Photo / Erin Hooley)
Department of Homeland Security officials accused an unidentified person of firing shots at agents conducting an aggressive immigration raid led by Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino through Little Village on Saturday morning.
No one was injured in the shooting reported by federal agents, according to a spokesperson for the Chicago Police Department.
Masked U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, clad in camouflage uniforms and armed with military-style weapons, fired chemical agents at the crowd that flocked to the scene to protest agents’ attempts to detain at least three people, Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th Ward) told WTTW News.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to questions from WTTW News about what kind of chemicals federal agents used to disperse the crowd in the heart of Chicago’s Mexican American community approximately 48 hours after U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis ordered federal agents to stop using “riot control weapons,” including “chemical irritants” to disperse crowds if they could injure anyone “who is not causing an immediate threat of physical harm to another person.”
A 1-year-old baby was exposed to chemical irritants fired by federal agents from their convoy into the car she was riding in with members of her family near 26th Street and Ogden Avenue in Cicero, just outside the city limits. A video taken by a passenger in the family’s car and released by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights on Sunday morning shows the distinctive orange mist of pepper spray enveloping the car’s driver and the baby.
The driver pulls over into the parking lot at Sam’s Club to frantically wipe away the irritant from his eyes and comforts the baby, Arinna, who cries as a woman attempts to wipe away the irritant from her face.
“This is what ICE does,” an unidentified man says, from off-screen. “This is what those terrorists do to babies.”
It is unclear how a family driving in the opposite direction as the convoy of vehicles driven by federal agents on a major thoroughfare could pose an immediate threat to agents to merit the use of crowd control weapons.
Rafael Veraza, 25, said at a news conference organized by the coalition Sunday afternoon that he and his wife, Evelyn, were on the way to do their weekly grocery shopping at Sam’s Club when they heard sirens and the whistles that have become the common signal of the presence of federal agents in the area.
When they realized that the big box store was at the center of the raid led by Bovino, they decided to turn around and leave the area, Veraza said.
As they were attempting to leave the area, Veraza said federal agents pepper-sprayed his car without warning. Since his window was rolled down, Veraza said he was hit straight in the face with the chemical agent.
“We’re not protestors,” Veraza said. “We were not even attacking them.”
Veraza said he did not realize that his daughter was also exposed until his wife told him to pull over.
Veraza said his daughter couldn’t open her eyes and appeared to be struggling to breathe. The whole family went to get medical treatment, he said. Veraza had an elevated heartbeat and his face was numb for hours, he said.
“We were trying to leave,” Veraza said. “I was minding my own business.”
While directing traffic, a Chicago police officer “was accidentally struck” by a GMC pick-up truck driven by a 20-year-old woman, a CPD spokesperson told WTTW News. The officer sustained “minor injuries and was transported to an area hospital, where he is listed in good condition.” The driver was given two citations, and the investigation is continuing.
No one was in custody in connection with shooting reported by federal agents, according to a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security.
Federal immigration agents in Little Village on Nov. 8, 2025. (Courtesy of Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez)
“An unknown male driving a black Jeep fired shots at agents and fled the scene,” according to a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security. “An unknown number of agitators also threw a paint can and bricks at Border Patrol’s vehicles.”
Federal officials posted two pictures of vehicles officials said were damaged during Saturday’s raid in Little Village were damaged.
A Black Jeep Wagoneer SUV appeared to have had its back window shattered, while a tan minivan’s rear panel and bumper appeared to have been damaged. The cause of the damage was not clear.
At least nine people were detained by federal agents, according to the Chicago chapter of the National Lawyers Guild.
“Trump’s federal agents turned what would have been a quiet Saturday afternoon on the Southwest Side of Chicago into a dangerous and unsafe environment due to their repeated and unnecessary escalations,” according to a statement from the lawyers’ guild.
Ald. Mike Rodriguez, whose 22nd Ward includes Little Village, said he took his son to a chess tournament and then went to stand with his neighbors recording federal agents while objecting to their presence.
Bovino detonated a flash-bang grenade less than a foot away from Rodriguez, who was near a 6-year-old, the alderperson said.
Rodriguez said he heard no warning, and did not see anyone attack agents.
Saturday marked the third time that Bovino has led federal agents on an aggressive raid through Little Village in the past three weeks, only to be met with enraged residents determined to chase the agents out of their community with whistles and loud protests.
Dozens of Chicago police officers attempted to separate residents and federal agents Saturday morning, including Director of Community Policing Glen Brooks, one of the department’s highest-ranking officials. Eventually officers cleared the streets of protestors, allowing the convoy of federal agents that drove through Little Village for nearly three hours to leave the area.
That served to infuriate many Little Village residents, who demanded that the officers stop preventing them from disrupting the immigration enforcement operation.
Sigcho-Lopez said Chicago officers helped federal agents Saturday in Little Village, in violation of the city’s Welcoming City ordinance.
Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement Sunday evening that he “unequivocally condemn(ed) violence directed” at federal agents, but blasted their actions in Little Village on Saturday.
“The recent escalation of violent federal immigration enforcement activity threatens the safety of all Chicagoans,” Johnson said on social media. “Their reckless behavior and indiscriminate use of chemical agents have caused chaos and fear in our communities.”
Johnson said he had asked Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling “for a detailed report-out concerning CPD’s presence and activities during immigration enforcement to ensure that we remain in full compliance with our Welcoming City ordinance.”
State law and city ordinance prohibit Chicago police officers from assisting federal agents carrying out immigration enforcement actions,
If agents deployed chemical irritants without a warning, that would violate an order issued by Ellis on Thursday. Sigcho-Lopez said he heard no warning but was not injured because he was wearing a mask.
Two federal judges in the Northern District of Illinois, including Ellis, have found that federal agents have presented unreliable testimony about their actions and the actions of Chicagoans in response to President Donald Trump’s mass deportation effort.
Ellis singled out the conduct of Bovino, whose brash social-media presence and frequent appearances in the media have come to define what the Trump administration calls “Operation Midway Blitz.”
Bovino fired at least two canisters of tear gas at a crowd in Little Village on Oct. 23 during a confrontation sparked by agents’ decision to detain a man at a bus stop near 26th and Whipple streets, prompting a crowd of angry residents to rush to the scene.
“Defendant Bovino admitted that he lied about whether a rock hit him before he deployed tear gas in Little Village,” Ellis said.
In fact, he was not hit by a rock before lobbing a tear gas canister, without warning, at the crowd, Ellis said, pite watching this video (in his deposition) says that he never used force,” Ellis said.
