
A Mexican town mourns father slain by ICE in Chicago
Sep 28, 2025
Mexico City [Mexico], September 28: Family and friends gathered in a small Mexican town on Friday 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.
Silverio Villegas Gonzalez left Irimbo, in Mexico's Michoacan state, for the United States 18 years ago. He returned on Thursday in a coffin after he was shot dead by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent on September 12.
On Friday afternoon, a somber procession followed his coffin to a funeral mass.
"We are in a lot of pain," Villegas' older brother Jorge Villegas told Reuters through tears.
"At least my brother is here now. We can finally give him a Christian burial."
Villegas' killing, just after dropping off his two children at a nearby elementary school and daycare, has inflamed tensions over U.S. President Donald Trump's aggressive immigration crackdown and highlighted the increasingly violent tactics of immigration agents.
"He was a good father. He didn't deserve what happened to him," brother Jorge said.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Cooperation