MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker says the Trump administration is staging a, quote, "invasion" of his state. Pritzker says President Trump, without calling him directly, ordered 400 members of the Texas National Guard for deployments to Chicago, Portland and other U.S. cities. A federal judge late Sunday night blocked the Trump administration's use of any National Guard troops in Oregon, but that case did not involve Illinois. WBEZ reporter Araceli Gómez-Aldana has been following this story and is with us now from Chicago with the latest. Good morning.
ARACELI GÓMEZ-ALDANA, BYLINE: Good morning.
MARTIN: So this ruling came after there was some kind of confrontation between federal immigration agents and protesters in Chicago earlier this weekend. Could you just remind us how it began?
GÓMEZ-ALDANA: It all started Saturday morning in the Brighton Park neighborhood, a mostly Latino neighborhood on Chicago's southwest side. That's when a U.S. Border Patrol officer shot a woman after federal agents said they were boxed in and threatened by multiple cars. The Department of Homeland Security says Border Patrol agents were rammed by cars. First, they said 10. They later said two cars, and that they fired defensive shots. The woman shot by federal agents, 30-year-old Marimar Martinez - she's now out of the hospital and has been charged with felony assault on federal officers. We know federal prosecutors have also charged 21-year-old Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz in the same incident.
DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, quote, "we will not allow domestic terrorists to attack our law enforcement. If you lay a hand on law enforcement, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law." Residents and activists, city leaders, however - they say federal agents are increasing use of combative tactics, and they're raising tensions that lead to violence.
MARTIN: So you were out in that neighborhood over the weekend, as I understand it. What was the mood like there?
GÓMEZ-ALDANA: I felt like people were still on edge. Some things where they - in ways, a lot - things were calmer on Sunday. And I spoke to neighbors close - that were close by to the shooting. They said they hid in their homes and their cars because of the effects of the tear gas that the federal agents were deploying on the protesters. And the protest happened shortly after that shooting. There seems to be a mix of frustration and also fear. I spoke to Alderwoman Julia Ramirez, and she represents Brighton Park. She told me her ward has seen weeks of escalating immigration enforcement, and residents feel targeted. She says federal officers seem to be targeting Latino men of all ages while they wait for a bus or they walk to work. And Ramirez says she's concerned federal officers are violating people's civil rights because they're targeting people that look Hispanic or Latino.
JULIA RAMIREZ: There is, like, this sense of, like, helplessness and distress that we're all feeling because there's sort of this, like, lack of law and order. A lot of these things feel very unprecedented.
GÓMEZ-ALDANA: And Ramirez is calling for a full investigation into the shooting and more transparency from federal agencies.
MARTIN: How has Governor Pritzker been responding to all of this?
GÓMEZ-ALDANA: Well, Pritzker - well, he's a Democrat, and he says what's happening amounts to a war zone created by the Trump administration. Here's him speaking on CNN Sunday.
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JB PRITZKER: They're raiding neighborhoods where, instead of going after the bad guys, they're just picking up people who are brown and Black and then checking their credentials.
GÓMEZ-ALDANA: The governor also refused to activate Illinois National Guard troops, even after the White House gave him what he called an ultimatum, saying, call up your troops or we will. And on Sunday, after learning about Trump's move to send Texas National Guard to Chicago, Pritzker called it, quote, "madness" and asked Texas Governor Greg Abbott to refuse. In the meantime, U.S. Border Patrol agents have been seen patrolling downtown Chicago wearing tactical gear, carrying long guns and making arrests. They say their mission is to protect federal officers, personnel and property, especially where officials say there's a current threat of violence.
MARTIN: That is reporter Araceli Gómez-Aldana with member station WBEZ in Chicago. Araceli, thank you.
GÓMEZ-ALDANA: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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