Following weeks of increasingly tense protests at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in suburban Broadview, village officials on Saturday said ICE was retaliating against the suburb and its residents because the mayor asked the federal agency to stop “making war on my community.”
In a statement released Saturday morning, village officials urged residents to stay out of harm’s way and “take all necessary precautions to protect themselves and their families” from ICE.
The statement followed a letter sent Friday by Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson to a Department of Homeland Security field office director that said ICE was endangering residents, police officers, firefighters and “American citizens exercising” their First Amendment rights as ICE repeatedly deployed tear gas, pepper spray and baton rounds during protests outside the ICE facility on Beach Street.
“In retaliation for the village of Broadview yesterday calling on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency to ‘stop making war on our community,’ ICE agents this morning informed the Broadview Police Department that there will be ‘a sh*t show’ in Broadview today,” the statement on Saturday said. “ICE agents told the BFD that they will be launching enforcement action throughout all of Broadview throughout the day.”
The National Lawyers Guild of Chicago confirmed at least 11 people were arrested Saturday, including a journalist. As of Sunday morning, five people remained in federal custody, according to an NLG statement. The organization said the Saturday arrests brought the total number of people detained at protests outside the suburban facility to 28 since Sept. 19.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said on social media that she would deploy federal agents to ICE facilities throughout the country, including Broadview, and that if you “so much as touch one of our federal officers, you will go to prison.”
Amid the “escalating language and actions by ICE and DHS,” a group of elected officials urged protestors not to show up to the facility Saturday night and, if they did, to show extra caution.
“There are also significant physical safety risks to protesters. ICE has escalated their use of tear gas, pepper rounds and rubber bullets, shooting protesters and members of the press in the face without provocation on numerous occasions,” said Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, State Sen. Robert Peters and Ald. Andre Vasquez in a joint statement.
Gov. JB Pritzker also released a statement saying the Trump administration was “intentionally creating chaos to threaten sending military troops to American cities and suburbs.” He said the indiscriminate use of tear gas and pepper spray is “unacceptable.”
“Illinois will always defend Americans’ right to peacefully protest and make their voices heard. We denounce any violence against the general public, members of the media, and law enforcement or first responders,” he said. “Even when the Trump Administration does not follow the law, we will.”
Protesters have held near-daily demonstrations at the ICE facility since DHS announced earlier this month it was launching “Operation Midway Blitz” to ramp up enforcement actions targeting immigrants lacking permanent legal status. On Friday, federal agents fired tear gas and baton rounds at protesters, continuing a trend of events that have become increasingly physical between officials and demonstrators.
Tensions have also risen between Broadview officials and ICE. Within the last week, federal officials denied reports that ICE was planning to vacate the two-story brick building and instead installed fencing that blocks part of the road outside of the facility. While DHS has argued the fence is for public safety, village officials have said it was “illegally built” because it was installed without a permit and that the fencing prevents emergency personnel from accessing parts of the suburb.
“You have to dismantle the fence,” Thompson wrote in the Friday letter to DHS Field Office Director Russell Hott, who is based in Virginia. “You have to stop putting our residents, our police officers, our firefighters, and our citizens in harm’s way. As mayor, my governing approach is to deploy love and kindness to achieve Broadview’s objectives. You should try it. It cannot hurt. It might help.”
Village officials said in response to the letter, ICE made the comments to the Broadview police about launching more enforcement actions throughout the suburb, according to the Saturday statement. Agents also plan to deploy chemical arms again Saturday, including tear gas and pepper spray, ICE warned the Fire Department, the village officials said in the statement.
“Let’s be clear. ICE is seeking to intimidate the village of Broadview because we dared exercise our 1st Amendment constitutional rights calling for an end to their war on Broadview,” the statement said. “We will not be intimidated. We are Broadview strong.”
Rebecca Johnson contributed to this report.
