Federal immigration agents chasing a suspect who ran off after being involved in a car crash near Chicago were targeted by protesters who pelted them with snowballs.<\/p>\n
Video of the fracas<\/a> shows dozens of demonstrators shouting at the masked agents on the snowy streets of Elgin, a Windy City suburb, with the feds responding by deploying tear gas to clear the mob.<\/p>\n A chaotic scene unfolds in Elgin, Ill., a suburb about 35 miles northwest of Chicago, on Saturday between federal immigration agents and some residents. X\/@KimKatieUSA<\/p>\n The unruly protesters then start throwing icy snowballs at the agents.<\/p>\n The federal forces can be heard on the footage giving verbal warnings before lobbing their tear-gas canisters on nearby front lawns. The demonstrators quickly grab the devices and bury them in the snow to reduce their efficacy.<\/p>\n The clash began when federal agents called local police for assistance after they were involved in a traffic crash while conducting immigration enforcement activities Saturday morning.<\/p>\n Federal agents deploy tear gas to disperse the mob who surrounded them as they tried to arrest a suspect. ABC 7 Chicago<\/p>\n A subject of their investigation was involved in the crash and fled the scene, high-tailing it to a nearby residential street, Elgin Police said in a statement.<\/p>\n Cops responded to the area after receiving an emergency call reporting \u201csubjects in masks\u201d on their property saying they had a warrant. The officers cleared the area after determining there were federal law enforcement agents at the scene.<\/p>\n Fewer than two hours later, approximately 30 more calls came in, including several reporting shots had been fired.<\/p>\n Elgin police returned to the area and determined there were no shots fired but that immigration agents had used \u201cchemical irritants\u201d to disperse the mob.<\/p>\n Demonstrators bury the tear-gas canisters in the snow to try to thwart their smoke while also grabbing hunks of icy snow to throw at the agents. X\/@KimKatieUSA<\/p>\n Officers helped the local fire department provide medical treatment to seven individuals who were exposed to tear gas and released them at the scene.<\/p>\n Social-media users claimed at least one arrest was made. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to The Post\u2019s request for confirmation Sunday. <\/p>\n It was not immediately clear if authorities arrested the suspect they had been chasing.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Elgin Police Department will continue to respond to any calls for service and determine the appropriate action within the parameters of the Illinois Trust Act which prohibits Elgin officers from assisting with federal immigration enforcement operations,\u201d the local cops said in a statement on Facebook.<\/p>\n The confrontation follows months of stepped-up immigration enforcement activities in the Chicago area by the Trump administration as part of \u201cOperation Midway Blitz<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n