A pregnant woman from Illinois, whose encounter with a federal agent was captured in a viral video, expressed her belief that she was facing a life-threatening situation.
Lesly Guevara recounted to “Prime” on Saturday, “I thought to myself, ‘This is it. This is where my life ends.’”
The incident unfolded earlier this month in Berwyn, a suburb of Chicago. Guevara explained that she was on a routine trip with her fiancé and their 10-month-old son to buy groceries when she noticed two men sprinting. As she proceeded, a Jeep attempted to block her path, prompting her to honk insistently in an effort to get it to move.
Guevara said that upon seeing what appeared to be several Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrive, she continued to sound her horn to alert those nearby. The ICE officer in the video allegedly approached her, brandishing a gun, and accused her of “impeding.”
Guevara is heard shouting at him, “You gonna shoot a pregnant woman? … Do you feel good about yourself?”
The officer lowers his gun as the woman pulls away, in the video.
Guevara said she did nothing wrong. She said she could not proceed because the agents were “blocking the road.”
“I was driving slow, I wasn’t even going fast,” she said when asked if the authorities could have perceived her as a threat.
The Department of Homeland Security disagrees.
“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 countered in a statement to Newsweek.
Confrontation could have ended badly, Chicago Ald. Lopez says Chicago Ald. Raymond Lopez said the situation could have ended badly. He said he understands why the woman is upset but adds Guevara put herself and her family in danger by speeding through the scene.
“Law enforcement is trained to believe that if you’re being boxed in, your life is in danger; if individuals are following you through the neighborhoods at high speeds, your life is in danger,” he told “ Prime.”
Lopez said he assigns the most blame to Democratic politicians who amp up the emotions of people who oppose the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
“What we just witnessed is what happens when our politicians escalate the rhetoric and ratchet up the pressure in our neighborhoods to have people feel that it is their job to try to impede law enforcement,” he said.
Lopez has supported the Chicago surge of federal agents to round up undocumented individuals who pose a public safety risk. He said he hopes the president will consider some sort of “pathway toward citizenship” for millions of migrants who have been in the U.S. for several years without breaking the law.
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