Mexican citizen arrested after allegedly dragging and striking an ICE officer with his car in a Chicago suburb

A Mexican citizen was arrested on Wednesday after allegedly dragging a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer with his car while fleeing an arrest attempt outside Chicago, federal officials said. Jose Garnica-Naranjo, 32, was taken into custody a day after violently resisting a targeted immigration enforcement operation, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the man used his vehicle to assault an ICE officer, hospitalizing the officer, and that the officer has since been released from hospital. Mullin said officers are facing a more than 1,600 percent increase in assaults against them.

The department said ICE officers spotted Garnica leaving a home in Chicago Heights on Tuesday morning. Officers followed his car at a distance before attempting a traffic stop. When officers approached and instructed Garnica to turn off the engine, he allegedly refused to comply.

In its statement, the department said that when officers attempted to remove him from the vehicle, Garnica accelerated and fled while an ERO Chicago officer was partially inside the vehicle through the driver-side window.

Garnica then drove over a raised center median planted with trees, causing the officer to be thrown from the vehicle, according to authorities. As Garnica fled, his car struck the injured officer, who was taken to a local hospital. The officer suffered contusions, cuts and scrapes to his legs, though tests confirmed no broken bones.

ICE noted that Garnica's criminal record includes prior convictions for domestic violence and assault.

Mullin attributed violence against immigration officers to rhetoric from Democratic elected officials. He said it was the result of anti-ICE rhetoric from sanctuary politicians like Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, and called on Pritzker and other sanctuary politicians to stop the rhetoric and cooperate with ICE before more officers are injured in the line of duty.