A pregnant Illinois woman has told Newsweek she thought her life was about to end when a federal agent pointed his gun through her car window earlier this week.
Lesly Guevara shared videos on TikTok of her encounter with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers chasing two suspects in Berwyn after she appeared to block them and began beeping her car horn to alert those nearby to the officers’ presence on Monday.
“I kept beeping at them because I know that they say that once you see ICE agents or any of the sort like that, to make a lot of noise, let people know that they’re around,” Guevara told Newsweek on Wednesday.
After the federal agents’ car moved, Guevara, who said she is due to give birth next month, and had her fiancé and 10-month-old son in the car with her, said she noticed an agent walking toward her with his gun raised, telling her she had been impeding officers.
“I started going off on him,” she said. “’You're really gonna shoot a pregnant woman? You're really gonna do that right now?’
“I feared for my life and their life, but I felt like I am sick and tired of people taking advantage of my people going through all of this, so I had to do something.”
Guevara then said she got out of the vehicle to continue filming the agents and to get the license plates on their cars. She told Newsweek she was shaking, worried about her unborn child, as she is considered a high-risk pregnancy.
The mother, who lives in nearby Cicero in the west of Chicago, felt she chose fight over flight when confronted by the agents because of what she had heard and seen them doing in her local community.
“They do the most illegal stuff they can. They beat on people. They hit people. They do the worst things possible to people,” Guevara said. “So, in the back of my head, I'm like, 'Crap, I'm going to leave my babies without a mother.'”
The wider Chicago area has been a focus for DHS efforts in recent months, with frequent clashes between protesters, alleged illegal immigrants, and federal agents tasked with carrying out enforcement operations.
DHS has insisted that its agents are carrying out their duties with the necessary level of force, at a time when agents are facing increased assaults against them. That line has sparked criticism from those who say agents are using excessive force against both immigrants and U.S. citizens, in ways other law enforcement would not.
"The user’s video clearly shows she is aggressively barreling toward law enforcement while speeding and honking her horn— a clearly threatening and aggressive act toward law enforcement," a DHS spokesperson responded Thursday evening.
"The passenger in her vehicle even asked her to stop to which she responds 'I don’t give a f**k.' The agent acted to protect his life and safety of others around him and showed great restraint."
Guevara said she believed the agent who confronted her knew he had overstepped.
“I was so glad I was recording at the time, because I got his face,” she said. “They usually cover their face, and then he noticed that he messed up and he ended up covering his face again.”
It was not immediately clear what happened to the two suspects the agents were chasing at the time.
While shaken up, Guevara felt it was necessary to share her experience on social media.
“I made these videos public to bring awareness. To tell people to stop being scared, to go out there and do something for the community, to be united as one, to be out there and help each other out in any way possible,” Guevara said.
“Even if it's just me exercising my 1st Amendment [rights], just blaring my horn and trying to do what's right by me being out there and helping everybody else know that they're out there…I'm not scared to speak up. I'm not scared to go out there and do what's right because I am not going to stand for that. I'm really not.”
