Chicago police ordered to ignore Border Patrol agents’ plea for help while surrounded by angry mob of protesters
Chicago cops were told over police radio to stand down instead of responding to a call for help from federal agents besieged by anti-ICE protesters. Getty Images
Shocking dispatch recordings and internal messages reveal that Chicago police officers were seemingly ordered to hold back while federal agents were surrounded and threatened by an angry mob of ICE protesters on Saturday.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, the agents were conducting a routine patrol on the city’s South Side when they were rammed by vehicles and boxed in by roughly 10 cars, about 15 miles from anti-ICE demonstrations that had been ongoing near the ICE processing center in Broadview. When the agents attempted to exit their trapped vehicle, a woman carrying a semi-automatic weapon reportedly tried to run them down and was shot by police.
Dispatch audio shared by ExxAlerts suggests local officers were prepared to assist but were told not to. In the recordings, a female dispatcher alerts responding units about the hit-and-run suspect. A male voice then instructs her to have officers “stay put” a few blocks away. Moments later, the voice returns: “Per the chief of patrol: Clear everybody out, we’re not responding over there.”
The dispatcher relays the order to officers on the scene, who reply they are blocked in but will “do the best we can to get out of here as soon as we can.” An internal memo obtained by Fox News echoed the directive, noting that roughly 30 ICE agents were being surrounded by a large crowd while CPD units were instructed not to respond.
The Chicago Police Department disputed claims that officers ignored the incident. In a statement to Fox News, the department said, “CPD officers did in fact respond to the shooting scene involving federal authorities on Saturday to maintain public safety and traffic control…For incidents involving federal immigration enforcement, CPD supervisors will respond and determine the appropriate course of action in accordance with City law.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, citing the attack, said, “Today in Chicago, members of our brave law enforcement were attacked — rammed and boxed in by ten vehicles, including an attacker with a semi-automatic weapon,” and pledged additional federal resources.
Protesters had gathered near 39th Place and South Kedzie Avenue following the shooting of the armed woman, and federal agents deployed tear gas to disperse the crowd, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
The incident is the latest in a wave of violence targeting ICE agents in the Chicago area. DHS said agents were assaulted by vehicles twice earlier in the week. More than a dozen protesters have been arrested near the Broadview ICE facility since Friday. No officers were injured in Saturday’s attack, and the woman shot drove herself to the hospital for treatment.
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