Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has drawn a direct line between the recent fatal shooting of a man by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Minneapolis and what he describes as a troubling pattern of similar incidents involving federal agents in the Chicago area. The governor's sharp critique highlights a series of violent encounters where official accounts have been challenged by evidence and witness testimony.
A Pattern of Questionable Shootings in Chicago
During a Sunday interview on CNN's "State of the Union" with Jake Tapper, Governor Pritzker pointed to two specific cases. In September, ICE agents shot and killed Silverio Gonzalez Villegas. Authorities from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claimed Villegas tried to run over the agents. However, Villegas was reportedly unarmed and had no criminal record beyond traffic offenses. A subsequent analysis by The New York Times contradicted the official version of events.
The second incident occurred in October, when Border Patrol agent Charles Exum shot Marimar Martinez five times. Martinez survived. DHS accused Martinez and Anthony Santos Ruiz of being part of a group attempting to "ambush" agents, alleging Martinez tried to run Exum over and was "armed with a semi-automatic weapon."
Martinez's defense attorney, Christopher Parente, presented a starkly different account. He stated the agent hit Martinez's car, and that Martinez, who possessed a license for a concealed handgun, never removed the weapon from her purse during the altercation. In a significant ruling, a federal judge dismissed all charges against Martinez and Ruiz with prejudice in mid-November.
Pritzker Condemns Federal Leadership and Protocol Failures
Governor Pritzker used these cases to frame the recent killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis. "Now we're seeing it in Minneapolis. We're seeing the shooting in Portland and elsewhere," Pritzker told Tapper. "They are ― ICE and CBP are breaking their own protocols, and not only roughing people up, but literally shooting at people and killing them, when, in some cases, they're U.S. citizens, and they're doing nothing wrong."
The governor placed blame squarely on federal leadership. He criticized DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin for their rapid public statements following such incidents, which he implied were often misleading. "She's a pathological liar," Pritzker said of McLaughlin. His demands were unequivocal: the President is "not following the law," Secretary Noem must resign or be impeached, and McLaughlin is unfit for her position.
Broader Implications for Accountability
Pritzker's comments underscore a growing tension between state officials and federal immigration enforcement agencies over transparency and accountability. The governor noted that in the Chicago-area cases, the initial lack of camera footage obscured the truth, which only emerged later through witness accounts. His linkage of disparate events across states suggests a systemic issue within ICE and CBP practices, raising urgent questions about oversight and the use of lethal force by federal agents within American communities.
