Chicago Police Officers Allegedly Ordered to Abandon ICE Agents Under Attack — FOP Slams “Dangerous Precedent”

In a stunning incident that has ignited outrage across the law enforcement community, Chicago police officers were reportedly instructed not to respond to a distress call from Border Patrol agents who came under attack during a patrol on Saturday.

According to a Department of Homeland Security report, the confrontation took place near the intersection of 39th Place and South Kedzie Avenue, where Border Patrol agents were rammed and boxed in by as many as 10 vehicles. The chaos escalated when agents were forced to fire on an armed civilian to protect themselves.

“Border Patrol agents were conducting a routine patrol, near the intersection of 39th Place and S. Kedzie Avenue, when they were attacked and rammed by vehicles and boxed in by 10 cars,”
— Department of Homeland Security news release

Radio transmissions obtained from the scene revealed that Chicago police dispatchers instructed officers not to intervene, even as the situation turned violent.

“All units clear out from there. We’re not sending anybody over to the location,”
— Police dispatcher, via recorded radio traffic

The directive triggered fierce condemnation from law enforcement unions, including the National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) and the Illinois State FOP, both of which described the order as a betrayal of fundamental police duty.

“Details are still emerging, but it appears that officers from the Chicago Police Department were ordered not to assist a group of ICE agents while they were physically threatened by what appeared to be an angry mob,”
— Patrick Yoes, National FOP President

“Let me be clear, both the National FOP and the Illinois FOP believe that when an officer calls for assistance, you answer, no matter what,”
— Patrick Yoes

Yoes added that the union “condemns these actions” and called on city leaders to reaffirm that no officer — federal or local — should ever be denied assistance when facing danger.

Illinois State FOP President Chris Southwood echoed the warning, calling the order a violation of “the cardinal rule of law enforcement” and a “dangerous precedent that puts lives at risk.”

In response to the backlash, the Chicago Police Department attempted to walk back the reports, claiming its officers did, in fact, respond to the scene.

“To clarify misinformation currently circulating, CPD officers did in fact respond to the shooting scene involving federal authorities on Saturday to maintain public safety and traffic control,”
— Chicago Police Department statement

But DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin sharply disputed that account, stating in the agency’s official release that Chicago officers abandoned the scene, leaving federal agents to fend for themselves.

“Unfortunately, JB Pritzker’s Chicago Police Department is leaving the shooting scene and refuses to assist us in securing the area. There is a crowd growing, and we are deploying special operations to control a growing crowd,”
— Tricia McLaughlin, DHS Assistant Secretary

McLaughlin also criticized the demonization of ICE and Border Patrol officers, arguing that the constant portrayal of them as villains has fueled hostility and violence.

“Comparing ICE day-in and day-out to the Nazi Gestapo, the Secret Police, and slave patrols has consequences. The men and women of ICE and CBP are fathers and mothers, sons and daughters. They get up every morning to try and make our communities safer.
Like everyone else, they just want to go home to their families at night. The violence and dehumanization of these men and women who are simply enforcing the law must stop. We are praying for our law enforcement and their families.”

This incident underscores the widening rift between federal law enforcement and Democrat-controlled city administrations like Chicago’s, which have embraced sanctuary policies that obstruct immigration enforcement — even when officers’ lives are on the line.