PULSE POINTS
❓WHAT HAPPENED: Chicago police officers were reportedly instructed not to assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents surrounded by violent rioters who had rammed their vehicles.
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👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), Illinois State FOP, Chicago Police Department (CPD), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, and violent rioters.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The attack occurred on a Saturday morning in Chicago, with new details emerging on Monday, October 6, 2025.
💬KEY QUOTE: “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.” – National FOP President Patrick Yoes
🎯IMPACT: The incident has sparked condemnation from police unions and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and raised concerns about cooperation between local and federal law enforcement.
The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is facing mounting scrutiny over a dispatch order telling officers to stand down and not report to the scene of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who were surrounded by violent rioters after having their vehicles rammed. Patrick Yoes, president of the National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), and Chris Southwood, president of the Illinois State FOP, slammed the alleged order as a “shocking” violation of law enforcement duties, especially for officers to aid each other in danger.
“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,” Yoes said, slamming Chicago police leadership for their lack of action.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said he is investigating the matter of the dispatch call and made it clear to rioters that federal, state, and local law enforcement are allowed and will defend themselves if attacked. “If you box them in with vehicles… it is reasonable for them to believe that they are being ambushed,” Superintendent Snelling said. “It’s reasonable for them to use force.”
Regarding the Saturday morning attack, Snelling attributed the called-off assistance to a miscommunication but said he would have more answers about the involvement of Chief of Patrol Jon Hein. Despite Snelling’s assertion that the failure to respond to the ambush was a miscommunication, transcripts of the dispatch call tell a different story.
“Younger male Hispanic wearing all black … wanted for the hit-and-run, this guy fled from the scene,” a female dispatcher can be heard saying after the ICE agents requested assistance, adding: “When the offending vehicle crashed, they ran the federal agent off the road, they fled on foot westbound.”
An unidentified Chicago police officer then instructed the dispatcher to tell units to respond, but hold several blocks away. Moments later, that same officer informed dispatch: “Per the Chief of Patrol: Clear everybody out, we’re not responding over there.” The dispatcher repeats the order to patrol units en route: “Per the Chief of Patrol, all units clear out from there, we’re not sending anybody out to that location.”
After a few more minutes, a male patrol officer can be heard replying, “We’re going to clear out as soon as we can, we’re like blocked in over here so we’re going to do the best we can to get out of here as soon as we can.”
The order not to respond was backed by an internal written dispatch which reads: “PLEASE [sic] CHIEF OF PATROL NO UNITS WILL RESPOND TO THIS AS RELATED FROM 04-Oc5-2025/12:34:44… CALLER IS 1 OF APPROX 30 ARMED PATROL AGENTS (ICE) WHO ARE BEING SURROUNDED BY A LARGE CROWD OF PEOPLE REQUESTING CPD.”
Forty-one minutes after the call for assistance and subsequent stand-down order, Chicago police units finally arrived to aid the ICE agents who had already dispersed much of the crowd using tear gas and pepper spray. At least one of the attackers, armed with a semi-automatic weapon, was shot by federal law enforcement.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reports that she was “named in a [Customs and Border Protection] intelligence bulletin last week for doxing agents and posting online ‘Hey to all my gang let’s fuck those mother fuckers up, don’t let them take anyone.’”
Image via Chicago Police.
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