By News Editor 
Police records and witness testimony from a fatal immigration enforcement shooting in suburban Chicago are challenging the official narrative provided by federal authorities, raising questions about the circumstances that led to a Mexican immigrant’s death earlier this month.
Silverio Villegas Gonzalez, 38, was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Franklin Park, Illinois on September 12, shortly after dropping his two children at school. The Department of Homeland Security initially described the incident as self-defense, claiming the agent fired his weapon after Villegas Gonzalez drove his vehicle toward officers and dragged an agent “a significant distance.”
However, body camera footage obtained by Reuters and other news outlets shows the ICE agent involved describing his injuries as “nothing major” to responding Franklin Park police officers. The footage reveals an agent with torn jeans and a bloodied knee telling officers he was “dragged a little bit” and suffered only “a left knee injury and some lacerations to his hands.”
The discrepancy between DHS’s initial statement about the agent being “seriously injured” and the body camera evidence has intensified scrutiny of the shooting. Witness accounts also complicate the federal narrative. The driver of a delivery truck that Villegas Gonzalez crashed into told police the victim was “trying to escape” when ICE agents cut him off and attempted to arrest him.
The incident occurred during an expanded ICE operation in the Chicago area, where approximately 300 federal agents have been deployed. Villegas Gonzalez, who worked as a cook and had lived in the U.S. for 18 years, was described by DHS as having a history of reckless driving, though the agency has not provided specifics about any criminal convictions.
The shooting has drawn criticism from Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, both calling for investigations. “We don’t know all the circumstances because ICE won’t give it to us,” Pritzker said Tuesday.
Unlike local police departments, ICE agents involved in the shooting were not wearing body cameras, limiting transparency. Franklin Park Police Chief Michael Witz confirmed his department would not investigate federal officers, raising questions about oversight of ICE operations.
The case highlights broader concerns about accountability in federal immigration enforcement as the Trump administration expands deportation activities in jurisdictions with sanctuary policies that limit local cooperation with federal authorities.