An account given in court by the attorney of a woman who was shot several times by a Border Patrol agent “really makes it sounds like” the agent “tried to murder an anti-ICE protester in Chicago and DHS lied to cover for him,” said one researcher, referring to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security whose agents have descended on the Chicago area in recent weeks and have violently raided homes and assaulted community members there.
Christopher Parente, an attorney for Marimar Martinez, spoke at a hearing Monday at a federal courthouse two days after federal officers accused her of driving toward them in the Brighton Park neighborhood of Chicago.
Parente said body camera footage called the account of federal prosecutors and Border Patrol into question, as it showed a Border Patrol agent saying to Martinez, “Do something, b----h” before pulling over and shooting her at least five times.
“We need a zero tolerance policy for lying by law enforcement,” said Jonathan Cohn, political director of Progressive Mass.
Martinez and another driver, Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, were charged Sunday with felony assault of a federal officer, with prosecutors saying they were “aggressively” driving in a “convoy” including several vehicles. The Chicago Sun-Timesnoted that a statement by DHS after the incident referenced a loaded gun in Martinez’s car, which was not mentioned in the charges filed.
In court on Monday, Assistant US Attorney Sean Hennessy told U.S. District Judge Heather McShain that Martinez had a gun in her car but did not brandish it, while Parente said she has a concealed-carry license and a valid firearm.
A video captured by a security camera at a nearby tire shop showed Martinez’s Nissan Rogue pulling alongside a Chevy Tahoe driven by Border Patrol agents, who had just conducted an operation in nearby Oak Lawn. A GMC Envoy driven by Ruiz is seen following closely behind the authorities’ car. The shooting is not captured on the video.
McShain acknowledged the danger of Martinez and Ruiz’s actions but denied a request by the federal government to detain them, pending trial, citing the two US citizens’ lack of criminal history and extensive community ties. Martinez works for a school and had several character witnesses write letters to the court on her behalf.
“I think there’s a danger to the community, but I don’t think it’s Ms. Martinez,” said Parente at the hearing.
Roughly 100 community members responded to the shooting Saturday by holding a protest in the area where federal agents fired pepper balls and tear gas at the demonstrators.
The shooting in Brighton Park was one of several recent incidents in which federal agents have violently confronted community members in the Chicago area, following President Donald Trump’s deployment of immigration officers as part of what he calls “Operation Midway Blitz.” Over the weekend, Trump announced he was deploying hundreds of members of the National Guard—both from Illinois and other states—to Chicago to support the effort over the objections of rights groups and Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
The president and his allies have repeatedly claimed that a federal law enforcement response is necessary in cities including Chicago, Portland, and Washington, DC, even as statistics have shown violent crime is down in the cities and as local authorities have denied that protesters against Trump’s mass deportation campaign are causing havoc.
On Monday, officials in Chicago and Illinois sued the Trump administration over its invasion of the city, and a group of protesters and journalists filed a separate suit arguing that federal agents have “shot, gassed, and detained individuals” for exercising their First Amendment rights.