Mexican town mourns father slain by ICE in Chicago

Bangkok Post Group

Family and friends gathered in a small Mexican town on Friday (26 September) to mourn and demand justice for a 38-year-old father-of-two who was killed by an immigration agent during an arrest attempt in a Chicago suburb earlier this month. - REUTERS

Transcript

00:00A small Mexican town david on Friday to mourn a 38-year-old man who was killed

00:06by a U.S. immigration agent in a Chicago suburb.

00:10Silverio Villegas Gonzalez was shot dead during an arrest attempt on September 12,

00:16shortly after dropping off his two children at elementary school and daycare.

00:21Villegas left Irimbal, in Mexico's Michalacán state, for the United States 18 years ago.

00:28His return came on Thursday in a coffin.

00:31On Friday afternoon, a sombre procession followed his coffin to a funeral mass.

00:36Bianca Avila was a chanted friend of Villegas.

00:43We are demanding justice for our friend and neighbour Silverio,

00:47for him and especially for his family, for his children who are now left alone.

00:58He was a great friend, a wonderful person, very simple and humble, because he never bothered anyone.

01:07He was always minding his own business. He was never a bad friend.

01:11Villegas's killing has inflamed tensions over U.S. President Donald Trump's aggressive immigration

01:21crackdown and highlighted the increasingly violent tactics of U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement agents.

01:28The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said an agent fired his weapon at Villegas in self-defence

01:35after the man drove his vehicle toward agents. Body cam footage and documents reviewed by Reuters

01:42showed a more complex version of events.

01:44Both Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum have called for further

01:51investigations into the ICE agents' tactics. It was unclear whether the ICE agents would be subject

01:58to an internal review process.

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