Former D.C. homicide detective and Fox News contributor Ted Williams went on air to excoriate Chicago officials for what he called a dangerous pattern of failing to protect law enforcement and ordinary citizens amid anti-ICE protests. Williams, who has repeatedly warned that sanctuary policies and soft-on-crime leadership invite chaos, told Fox News Live that the city’s response has been alarmingly lax while violence escalates.
New reporting shows exactly why Williams is furious: video and internal dispatches indicate Border Patrol agents were surrounded by an angry crowd while Chicago Police were allegedly ordered not to respond, leaving federal officers exposed. Local and national outlets captured a disturbing picture of commanders apparently prioritizing optics over officer safety, a decision that should horrify every American who believes in law and order.
The stakes are real and rising — Reuters confirmed that a Border Patrol agent shot an armed woman during one confrontation, and federal officials moved to bolster security as protests continued to spiral. Homeland Security officials and others have responded by deploying additional forces and tightening security at ICE facilities after repeated clashes, a predictable consequence of city leaders refusing to rein in disorder.
This is not an abstract policy debate; it’s the predictable outcome of sanctuary-city illusions that Ted Williams and other law-enforcement veterans have been warning about for years. On Fox News and Fox Business he’s laid out how political posturing and the defunding narrative have tied officers’ hands and emboldened radical activists who see consequences as optional.
Chicago’s elected leaders and top brass must be held accountable for choosing political theater over public safety — dozens of arrests and felony charges tied to recent anti-ICE demonstrations show that criminality is part of this campaign, not mere civil disobedience. It’s time for prosecutors to stop treating violent agitators like victims and start enforcing the law so that neighborhoods and federal officers aren’t left to fend for themselves.
Hardworking Americans deserve a government that protects them, not one that negotiates with mobs while officers and federal agents get ambushed. Conservatives should stand with law enforcement, demand transparency about who ordered officers to stand down, and insist on swift accountability from Chicago’s mayor and police leaders before more Americans pay the price for political cowardice.
