Two Chicago residents have been charged with using their cars to “assault, impede, and interfere with the work of federal agents” in a confrontation that caused an agent to fire on one of the drivers.
A criminal complaint filed Sunday says the incident took place on the Southwest Side of Chicago on Saturday morning as three Border Patrol officers conducted an operation in the Oak Lawn area.
Officers say they were followed by two motorists, Marimar Martinez, 30, and Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, 21, who ran red lights during the pursuit.
Martinez reportedly shouted the phrase “la migra” during the chase, the Spanish name for immigration officials, before she and Ruiz allegedly drove into one of the official’s cars, causing its driver to temporarily lose control.
When the vehicle was subsequently brought to a stop and its passengers disembarked, Martinez allegedly drove directly at one of the agents, prompting them to fire five shots at her. Martinez is said to have then driven herself to hospital for treatment.
Christopher Parente, a lawyer representing Martinez, told The New York Times he is currently gathering information about precisely what happened and is working to secure her release.
The complaint filed makes no mention of Martinez being “armed with a semiautomatic weapon,” a detail that was included in a statement about the clash issued by the Department of Homeland Security Saturday, in which the DHS said the agents had been “boxed in by 10 cars” during the episode.
Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in the statement: “The armed woman was named in a CBP intelligence bulletin last week for doxing agents online. Thankfully, no law enforcement officers were seriously injured in this attack.”
McLaughlin added: “Comparing ICE day-in and day-out to the Nazi Gestapo, the Secret Police, and slave patrols has consequences. The men and women of ICE and CBP are fathers and mothers, sons and daughters. They get up every morning to try and make our communities safer.
“Like everyone else, they just want to go home to their families at night. The violence and dehumanization of these men and women who are simply enforcing the law must stop.”
The Independent has contacted the department for comment.
Elizabeth Ruiz, the mother of Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, told The NYT her son had called her about the incident and said: “Mom, they hit me, they hit me.”
“‘I said, ‘What do you mean?’ And he said ‘ICE,’” she continued. “I told him to get himself situated and then I started hearing boom, boom, boom, and he yelled, ‘Mom, they’re shooting.’”
Ruiz said she hung up and raced to the scene in time to see her son being arrested. She said he remains in custody.
