Chicago: Border Patrol Shoots Protester, Mass Resistance Continues

Read our editorial on mass deportations here, and the ongoing struggle against it here.

On October 4, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agent shot a protester in her car several times after she allegedly rammed a car with federal agents on the Southwest Side of Chicago.

According to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, Marimar Martinez “rammed” and “boxed in officers” with her car, along with at least ten other drivers tailing a CBP convoy following an operation, intimating a large, organized action or conspiracy. A CBP officer then shot Martinez at least five times. Martinez was able to drive away from the scene injured, and eventually arrive by ambulance to a hospital for medical attention where she was then abducted by agents.

McLaughlin asserted that Martinez carried a “semi automatic weapon,” leading the officer to shoot her in a “defensive” manner, though the original complaint did not mention this seemingly critical detail. Even if she had a weapon in her car, that is not a crime, and it has not been alleged that she fired it. Body camera footage has yet to be released.

An alleged second vehicle ramming was caught on video. In it, an SUV repeatedly and at low speed bumps into a white pickup truck with red and blue police lights flashing. The driver, Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, was arrested following the incident.

Both Martinez and Ruiz have been charged with felony assault of a federal officer. At their detention hearing on Monday, Martinez’s attorney Christopher Parente said that the CBP officer’s body camera footage contradicts the claims of the government and is being suppressed. In it, Parente says, the officer drives into Martinez’s car and then says to Martinez, “Do something, bitch”, before getting out of the vehicle and shooting Martinez.

According to Parente, Martinez was left with “seven holes” from the shooting and was bleeding profusely, leaving puddles of blood. Federal agents abducted her while still in the hospital and had to return her later due to the extent of her wounds. The judge released Martinez and Ruiz pending trial due to their lack of criminal history and substantial family and community ties.

Following the shooting, protests again erupted at the notorious Broadview ICE torture center, which has been the target of near-constant protest for weeks.

Saturday’s shooting marks at least the second time that federal agents have shot someone during Trump’s “Operation Midway Blitz” initiated last month. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) murdered 38-year-old Mexican immigrant Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez during a traffic stop on September 12 after dropping his children off at school. Body camera footage released since the murder reveals that the officer who killed Villegas-Gonzalez admitted he was fine, contrary to a previous claim of being “severely injured.”

The same day as Saturday’s shooting, ultra-reactionary President Trump announced he had authorized 300 National Guard troops to occupy Chicago to support ICE and other agencies targeting immigrants, marking an escalation in the anti-worker offensive. The terrorist mass deportation campaign along with the State’s escalating repression are part of the ruling class’s attempt to overcome its economic crisis by destroying parts of the productive forces, including the workforce, in order to drive down wages and increase profits. The escalating scale of the operation, the increased mass resistance, and the recent reports of persistent “stagflation” indicate that the imperialists are failing to overcome their crisis and that the situation will only continue to sharpen.

Photo: Video still captures protests erupting after CPB agents shoot a protester in Chicago.

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