Jesús García calls the Silverio shooting a murder

U.S. representative for Illinois

In both cases, ICE has lied about the facts that led to these murders, just like they lied when they killed Silverio Villegas Gonzalez and shot Marimar Martinez in Chicago last year.
Read the official statement (opens in a new tab)Congressman García’s statement on ICE’s ongoing criminalityFull statement, especially the opening three sentences

Source and context

Official statement

Congressman García’s statement on ICE’s ongoing criminality (opens in a new tab)Full statement, especially the opening three sentences

About this source

Official statement addressing the killings of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Texas and Joan Sebastian Guerrero in Maine. García called both deaths murders and accused ICE of lying about the facts.

Before the quotation

García was criticizing a pattern of fatal immigration-enforcement shootings and DHS accounts of them.

After the quotation

He called ICE a rogue, lawless agency and demanded accountability and structural reform.

How this statement is classified

Condemned

Case context: Was ICE justified in fatally shooting Silverio Villegas González?

The label describes this statement’s response within the context above.

Why this label?

He categorically condemns the shooting and rejects ICE’s factual defense.

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Speakers and community members at a press conference at the Franklin Park site where an ICE agent killed Silverio Villegas González.
Credit: Paul Goyette

More from this case

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Lawrence Benito

Whether it be the apartment raids in South Shore, the shooting of Marimar Martinez in Brighton Park, or the murder of Silverio Villegas González, it’s been proven that ICE does NOT keep us safe - they are designed to intimidate communities of color and deport as many people as possible.
Read statement

Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus

For eight long months, evidence suggesting this shooting was unjustified – from body camera footage contradicting the federal agent’s claims of severe injury to lack of evidence supporting claims that an agent was dragged – has circulated in the public sphere.
Read statement

Illinois Accountability Commission

Federal agents shot and killed Villegas González without apparent justification as he drove away from them.
Read statement