A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent shot Felix Torres, a 53-year-old Chicago man, on Monday morning in his home that he has lived in for 30 years. Officials alleged in a statement that ICE was at Torres’ home in an attempt to make an arrest when someone pointed a weapon at agents, leading to the shooting, according to NBC Chicago.
Felix’s daughter Carmen told DNAinfo she was sleeping with her 1-year-old daughter when agents burst through the front door.
“They didn’t say anything. They just came in and pointed pistols in our faces and dragged us out,” Carmen Torres said. “We didn’t even have time to dress or grab milk for the baby.”
Standing outside the home in sweatpants and slippers Monday morning, Carmen Torres denied that her father had pointed a gun at the agent before being shot.
“It’s a lie when they say he was holding a gun. He doesn’t even own a gun,” Carmen Torres said. “They shot my dad. They shot him, and I don’t know why.”
Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) was also highly critical of the raid.
“ICE’s guns blazing raid on a northwest side home filled with sleeping kids is exactly why the City of Chicago should refuse to collaborate with ICE. ICE routinely violates the American people’s constitutional rights,” Ramirez-Rosa said in a statement. “This guns blazing ICE raid deepens my resolve to organize my community so we can keep each other safe from the threat posed by ICE.
A City Council committee last week unanimously approved a resolution to renew Chicago’s status as a sanctuary city, meaning that city police would not help federal officials find and deport undocumented immigrants.
