Protesters on Chicago’s South Side were tear gassed after high-speed Border Patrol chase ended in arrest

CHICAGO (AP) — A high-speed chase involving Border Patrol agents led to the arrest of the pursued person Tuesday afternoon on a residential street on Chicago’s South Side, authorities said, and footage from the scene shows protesters gathering before agents deployed tear gas to disperse them.

While federal agents were conducting an immigration enforcement operation, a driver suspected of being in the country illegally rammed a border patrol car before fleeing, Department of Homeland Security officials said. The agents chased the car until the driver stopped and tried to escape, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

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When agents arrested the person, a crowd of people began to form and “crowd control techniques were used,” Department of Homeland Security officials said. The Chicago Police Department confirmed that federal agents deployed tear gas in the street. Federal agents have deployed tear gas on other residential streets in recent weeks.

Footage from ABC 7 shows dozens of protesters waving flags as several federal agents and local police officers move them off the street. Border Patrol agents can be seen throwing tear gas canisters into the crowd, shrouding the street in a white mist as protesters cough and flee the area.

CPD officers arrived around 11 a.m. after a 911 call about a car accident involving federal authorities, the agency said. A few members of the crowd that formed began throwing objects at federal agents, according to CPD.

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The agency said 13 Chicago police officers were exposed to tear gas.

Illinois Go. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday called federal agents’ treatment of protesters “abhorrent,” saying they were beaten with tear gas, pepper balls and rubber bullets “only when they were holding signs and expressing themselves.”

“I have never seen anything like this in the United States of America,” he said.

Over the weekend, federal agents also deployed tear gas in the Albany Park neighborhood north of Chicago, and earlier this month, agents threw tear gas canisters from a car near a grocery store on the city’s West Side.

Andrew Denton told The Associated Press that he was hit by tear gas when he arrived at the grocery store for lunch. About 20 people were in the area, including elderly people and families with children, he said, adding that students at a nearby primary school were also out during their vacation.

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“It is sad that this is the truth, and that the current administration is treating Chicago communities this way,” he said at the time.

Protests against the federal crackdown on immigration have erupted across Chicago, mostly outside a federal immigration facility in the west Chicago suburb of Broadview, but also spilling into neighborhood streets.

Some of these demonstrations included following federal agents’ vehicles.

More recently, federal prosecutors last week obtained a grand jury indictment against a woman and a man accused of using their vehicles to ram a Border Patrol agent’s car and then lock it up. The agent then got out of his car and fired five bullets at the woman, wounding her. They were released on Monday to await trial.

Meanwhile, immigration activists rallied Tuesday in Springfield to demand an expansion of what are commonly known as “sanctuary city” protections under the state’s Trust Law, which prohibits state and local law enforcement from cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.