Chicago’s police chief delivered a blunt warning amid rising confrontations with federal immigration officers, reminding residents in October that ICE and HSI personnel are “law enforcement officers” and that attacking or obstructing them is a criminal act. He cautioned that emotional disagreement with federal operations does not give anyone license to interfere, adding that Chicago police “do not interfere with the duties and responsibilities of federal agents” and are committed to keeping them safe.
The Chicago police chief’s comments came during an October 2025 press conference that followed leftist anti-ICE activists attacking federal agents and blocking their vehicles.
“Let me make this CLEAR! Federal agents, ICE, HSI, are officers,” Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said. “They are agents of law enforcement.”
“We need to be clear about these laws,” he continued. “We cannot become a society where we just decide to take everything in our own hands and start to commit crimes against law enforcement!”
The comment stands in stark contrast to comments made Saturday night by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who strongly stated that federal agents are not law enforcement.
“Quit referring to these folks as law enforcement,” Walz told reporters. “They are not law enforcement.” About a minute later, Minnesota DPS Commissioner Bob Jacobson contradicted Walz by saying his agency was working with “federal law enforcement.”
After praising Minnesotans for their “peaceful protests,” Jacobson moved on to say that state and local police were not able to hold the crime scene to conduct their investigation into Saturday’s shooting incident.
In a similar fashion to Governor Walz, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said she also does not consider Immigration and Customs officers to be “real law enforcement.”
Breitbart News’ AWR Hawkins reported the Arizona AG said she referred to officers in quotation marks. She added, “I put that in air quotes because I don’t think they are real law enforcement.” She went on to say that Arizona citizens could shoot masked federal officers under the state’s Stand Your Ground laws.
On Saturday, President Donald Trump said that Governor Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey are “inciting insurrection” with their demeaning comments toward federal law enforcement, Breitbart Texas reported. “The Mayor and the Governor are inciting Insurrection, with their pompous, dangerous, and arrogant rhetoric!” the president wrote on Truth Social.
” LET OUR ICE PATRIOTS DO THEIR JOB!” the president continued. “12,000 Illegal Alien Criminals, many of them violent, have been arrested and taken out of Minnesota. If they were still there, you would see something far worse than you are witnessing today!”
Perhaps Democrat elected officials should listen again to the comments of Chicago Police Superintendent Snelling when he told reporters:
We cannot become a society where we just decide to take everything in our own hands and start to commit crimes against law enforcement!
It is a crime. You may not like what they’re doing. I can understand that there’s a lot of emotions out there, but that does NOT mean that you get to commit a crime, especially one that could lead to deadly force.
We need to keep everyone safe. Our responsibilities when it comes to federal agents, and I’ve been asked these questions, we do not interfere with the duties and responsibilities of federal agents.
As clashes over federal immigration enforcement continue to ripple through major cities, Snelling’s remarks highlight a widening divide among Democratic officials over how to characterize the role of federal agents.
While leaders in Minnesota and Arizona publicly question whether ICE and HSI officers should be treated as law enforcement, Chicago’s top cop offered the opposite message, urging the public to recognize federal authority and the legal consequences of interfering with it. His warning underscored a simple point at the center of the debate: regardless of political rhetoric, obstructing federal officers remains a crime, and the responsibility to keep both the public and federal personnel safe remains unchanged.
Bob Price is the Breitbart Texas-Border team’s associate editor and senior news contributor. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday morning talk show. He also serves as president of Blue Wonder Gun Care Products.
