On September 12, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents fatally shot Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, a 38-year-old father of two, during a traffic stop in Franklin Park, a suburb just outside of Chicago. From the start, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) painted a picture of a dangerous man who put federal officers’ lives at risk — but new bodycam footage from a local police officer is telling a different story.
And it’s not a good one for DHS.
In its original statement, the agency claimed Villegas-Gonzalez “refused to follow law enforcement’s commands and drove his car at law enforcement officers. One of the ICE officers was hit by the car and dragged a significant distance. Fearing for his own life, the officer fired his weapon.”
That wording left little room for interpretation: Villegas-Gonzalez was framed as the aggressor, and the agent as the victim acting out of necessity.
But security camera footage from nearby businesses had already poked holes in that narrative — showing that rather than accelerating toward the agents, Villegas-Gonzalez was attempting to reverse his car when one of the agents reached into his open window and held on. That alone contradicted the DHS’s claim that he had “drove his car at” officers.
Now, with the release of bodycam footage from a Franklin Park police officer who responded to the shooting, the federal version of events looks even more questionable.
The video, obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times, shows the ICE agent who was reportedly “seriously injured” sitting on the curb with a visible hole in his jeans and a scraped knee.
Over the radio, his partner reports “a left knee injury and some lacerations to his hands.” The “seriously injured” agent? He downplays it himself: “Nothing major.” His partner repeats the same: “Nothing major.”
Later, after the supposedly life-threatening injury led the agent to be taken to the hospital, his partner is overheard telling another officer, “I think we’re good, man. Just shooken up a little.”
That’s not the language of agents barely surviving a vehicular assault. It’s not consistent with DHS’s statement that the officer was “dragged a significant distance” and suffered “multiple injuries.”
So why the gap between what the public was told and what actually happened?
For starters, the ICE agents weren’t wearing body cameras. That’s not an accident — it’s policy. Under the Trump administration, the requirement for ICE agents to wear bodycams was scrapped. So now, the clearest footage comes not from the agency that fired the weapon, but from local police — long after the fatal shot was fired.
Human Rights Watch has been pushing for answers. Belkis Wille, associate director for the group’s crisis, conflict, and arms division, made the stakes clear last week: “Law enforcement officers can only use lethal force when an individual poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or another person.”
If the bodycam footage is any indication, that standard may not have been met.
And elected officials are starting to speak up. Rep. Delia Ramirez, a Chicago Democrat, pulled no punches on social media: “An ICE agent shot Silverio dead. DHS lied about what happened.”
She called for a full investigation and for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to testify before Congress: “All camera footage must be released. And Noem must come to the committee and account for ICE’s unlawfulness and lies.”
Even Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has weighed in, backing calls for an independent investigation into the shooting. With ICE keeping tight control over its own narrative — and refusing to release any bodycam footage (because there isn’t any) — local and federal leaders are demanding transparency that’s long overdue.
The shooting of Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez didn’t happen in a vacuum. It’s part of a broader pattern of federal immigration enforcement operating in the shadows — without cameras, without accountability, and too often, without consequences.
Watch the clip below via The Chicago Sun-Times
