Armed Confrontation Between US Border Patrol and Woman During Immigration Protests in Chicago

The woman was armed with a semi-automatic gun

US Border Patrol agents shot an armed woman in Chicago on Saturday, according to the Department of Homeland Security, as numerous protesters confronted federal immigration agents in the city's southwest area.

The incident involved a group including the woman who crashed vehicles into US Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicles. According to a DHS spokesperson's statement, no law enforcement officers sustained serious injuries. The woman, identified as a US citizen though remaining unnamed, transported herself to the hospital.

Details regarding the woman's medical status were not immediately available. During the confrontation, ICE agents deployed pepper spray and prepared rubber bullets amid tense exchanges with demonstrators.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced on X that additional "special operations" personnel would be dispatched to manage the situation in Chicago's Brighton Park neighborhood. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin confirmed the woman possessed a semi-automatic firearm.

Democratic Illinois Governor JB Pritzker stated on Saturday that Republican President Donald Trump had issued an ultimatum demanding the deployment of the state's National Guard.

"It is absolutely outrageous and unAmerican to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will," Pritzker declared in a statement.

Trump authorized the deployment of 300 National Guard members to protect federal officers and assets, according to White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson's statement to Reuters.

Chicago area residents have organized multiple protests against the increased federal presence. On Friday, police clashed with hundreds of protesters outside an ICE facility in Broadview, a Chicago suburb.

Demonstrators have repeatedly sat on the ground attempting to block ICE vehicles transporting detainees into facilities, only to be repelled by heavily armed ICE agents using physical force, chemical munitions, and rubber bullets, creating scenes reminiscent of combat zones.

Protesters have condemned similar aggressive policing tactics in other Democratic-governed cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Portland, Oregon. A federal judge temporarily blocked Trump's attempt to deploy 200 Oregon National Guard troops to Portland on Saturday.