Rep. Gutierrez Demands Civil Rights Investigation Into ICE Shooting
By Stephen Gossett in News on Mar 29, 2017 10:38PM
Getty Images / Photo: John Moore
Rep. Luis Gutierrez on Wednesday called for a broader, transparent investigation into the shooting of a 53-year-old legal resident at the hands of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Chicago earlier this week.
Gutierrez called for an investigation that includes the Department of Homeland Security's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. On Monday, ICE said that a review would be undertaken by the agency's Office of Professional Responsibility. An ICE spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment on Wednesday afternoon.
Gutierrez said that ICE has not been forthcoming with details about the shooting thus far. “It has been hard to get information on this case. Both ICE in Washington, DC and ICE in Chicago are not talking,” Gutierrez said in a statement.
Gutierrez said his office helped the victim with his green card processing several years ago. He said it is unclear if ICE had the correct address given the man's apparent status as a legal resident. Family members perviously told reporters that no one in the family at the raided residence, in Belmont Central, is undocumented. The agency admitted earlier this week that the shooting victim was the intended target of the raid.
“The investigation should be conducted with the cooperation of the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties to assess whether all rules of engagement were strictly followed and to determine if the shooting was an appropriate use of force. What we know is that the man who got shot had a green card because our office helped him with that process more than a decade ago. We also know that the Trump deportation force thinks it can raid someone’s home with weapons drawn at any hour of the day or night with very little oversight or accountability and that is just not right. That should not be the way ICE operates in the City of Chicago or anywhere else,” the Congressman said.
ICE agents went to arrest a person in the 6100 block of West Grand Avenue on Monday morning, the agency said. An agent shot a second person after he pointed a weapon at them, according to ICE's account. Family disputes that the man, identified as Felix Torres Sr., was armed. Torres’ son, Felix Jr., a U.S. citizen, on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to gun charges stemming from an arrest in February. But ICE has not publicly stated who the target of the raid was.
Activists and aldermen on Tuesday evening called for transparency in the investigation of the shooting. Ald. Milly Santiago (Ward 31) said, “We don’t know exactly the details of the investigation. I know that there are more questions than answers.”