Recently, federal immigration enforcement agents have been condemned for their high-handed approach often involving violence, alarming immigrant and pro-immigrant activists. Shootings and deadly aggressive encounters during enforcement operations has become alarmingly common, from LA to Chicago to Philadelphia. In part because of this, the use of these tactics by agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has come under heightened scrutiny.
In a more recent case, border patrol agents shot an unarmed woman in Chicago. According to reports, she survived that encounter and now she is being charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding federal officers. This case serves, again, as a reminder of the growing tension between the enforcement of immigration as activists argue these hyper-aggressive maneuvers are becoming the norm.
Tricia McLaughlin, a current assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), shared a jarring experience. A man’s vehicle escape attempt failed when he rammed his vehicle into cars belonging to federal agents. Along with providing more context to what has become a narrative of rising violence around immigration enforcement, she highlighted how these confrontations are increasing.
In the first case, in San Bernardino, California just outside of Los Angeles, a federal agent shot at a moving car. This followed the driver’s refusal to roll down the window, constituting an illegal search during an immigration stop. This event exemplifies the growing fear within communities. They are especially concerned about the safety and tactics used by federal agents during these operations.
The recent shootings’ headlines focus is aligned with a larger, national dialogue on the appropriateness of ICE raids and arrests. President Donald Trump emphasized this issue in an executive memo, noting a staggering “more than 1,000% increase in attacks on US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers since January 21, 2025, compared to the same period last year.” He attributed some of this violence to “the consequences of conduct and rhetoric by sanctuary politicians and activists who urge illegal aliens to resist arrest,” according to McLaughlin.
Worries increased recently when a deputy US marshal was shot. On May 30, a ricochet bullet struck his hand while he was providing protection to an immigration enforcement operation in South Los Angeles. This tragic event is consistent with a long history of violence exacerbated by harsh immigration enforcement. Last August, a 52-year-old Guatemalan man died while fleeing police custody. Sadly, he paid the ultimate price when a car hit him. In July, a California farmworker named Jaime Alanis died tragically in the midst of an ICE raid when he fell off the roof of his employer’s workplace.
McLaughlin reassured all that the injuries sustained during these operations “were not life-threatening.” In his own admission, he can’t stop the fact that investigations continue even after federal agents shot a perpetrator in the elbow.
As the discussion concerning the appropriate scope and tactics employed by immigration enforcement agencies continues, this case is a troubling reminder. Local advocates and public leaders are pushing for more accountability and transparency from these industries.