Woman shot by agents amid Noem’s ‘war zone’ attack on Chicago

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News websites
5 Oct 2025 22:59

Federal deployments in Chicago reignite clashes between Washington and Illinois as leaders trade blame over violence, policing, and states’ rights.

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People march during the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights' "Chicago Says No Trump No Troops" protest Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, in Chicago (AP)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem described Chicago as “a war zone” on Sunday, following an incident in which federal agents shot and injured a woman, sparking renewed tensions between Washington and Illinois officials.

Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Noem criticized the city’s mayor, Brandon Johnson, who has long opposed the Trump administration’s immigration raids and the deployment of National Guard troops across Illinois, measures he previously labeled “unhinged and unhealthy.”

“It’s wrong, there should be consequences for that and for leaders that stand up and knowingly lie about the situation on the ground,” Noem said. “His city is a war zone, and he’s lying so that criminals can go in there and destroy people’s lives.”

Federal deployment escalates

Noem’s comments came after US President Donald Trump authorized the deployment of 300 members of the Illinois National Guard to Chicago, ordering them to protect federal officers and property. The move followed similar deployments to Washington, where the president federalized the city’s police force in what he called a “crackdown” on crime, a pattern that has since expanded to other major US cities.

“We’re going to be doing Chicago probably next,” Trump had said earlier.

Defending the administration’s decision, Noem insisted that residents supported the intervention. “They understand that where we have gone we have made it much more free,” she said. “People are much safer, we have got a thousand criminals that are off the streets of Chicago, just because we’ve been there.”

Illinois governor: ‘They are the ones making it a war zone’

Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union with Jake Tapper, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker condemned the federal actions, accusing the Trump administration of worsening the crisis rather than resolving it.

“They are the ones who are making it a war zone,” Pritzker said. “They need to get out of Chicago. If they’re not going to focus on the worst of the worst, which is what the president said they are going to do, they need to get the heck out.”

The latest flashpoint came on Saturday, when Border Patrol agents shot and injured a woman after firing at a suspect who allegedly tried to run them over. The injured woman, a US citizen, was armed with a semi-automatic weapon, according to DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.

McLaughlin said the woman had been named in a US Customs and Border Protection intelligence bulletin last week, accused of doxing federal agents.

Pritzker further denounced the deployment on social media, writing on X: “The Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will.” He called the decision “absolutely outrageous and un-American,” adding that it had been made “against our will.”