An intellectually disabled Oak Park man accused of threatening federal officers at a protest outside the Broadview immigration holding facility was ordered released on bond Wednesday after an emotional hearing that was packed with supporters and featured a glowing letter to the judge from Oak Park’s mayor describing the defendant as “joyful and courteous.”
Paul Ivery, 26, who was described by supporters as neurodivergent, broke down in tears following the nearly 90-minute hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel Fuentes, who ultimately rejected most of the restrictions prosecutors sought to impose on Ivery as he awaited trial on felony charges of assaulting a federal officer.
Ivery’s arrest came as U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered prosecutors — including those specifically from the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago — to charge anyone suspected of threatening or interfering with federal officers “with the highest provable offense available under the law.”
The U.S. attorney’s office had initially sought to have Ivery detained without bond. But after learning of his cognitive disability, prosecutors instead asked that he be placed on home detention and be forbidden from having contact with minors, calling his alleged behavior at the protest “violent and erratic” and indicative that he’s a potential danger to the community.
In his ruling, Fuentes declined to impose those restrictions, saying Ivery needed to keep his job in the cafeteria of Oak Park and River Forest High School and that the charges had nothing to do with his work around children.
“There is no way in the world I will tell him he can’t have contact with minors,” the judge said. “There is absolutely no information in this record that it has ever caused a problem.”
Fuentes did agree, however, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Caitlin Walgamuth that while on bond, Ivery should stay at least 500 feet from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview where the alleged offense occurred.
During the hearing, which was attended by dozens of Ivery’s supporters from the Oak Park community, the judge read aloud a letter from Mayor Vicki Scaman, who described Ivery as a “valued member of our community” who is “loved and respected by everyone who knows him.”
The mayor said Ivery is a recognized supporter of law enforcement, and that Oak Park police officers “know him as the kid who stops and salutes as they pass him by on the street.”
Another letter from an unidentified Oak Park and River Forest High School junior said that in addition to being a well-liked member of the cafeteria staff, Ivery works as a hall monitor at the school’s main entrance during dismissal.
Ivery was one of five people charged in U.S. District Court following protests over the weekend at the Broadview ICE facility, which has become a flashpoint for the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration crackdown and seen agents deploy tear gas and other weapons on protesters.
According to a criminal complaint, Ivery was among the protesters clashing with officers outside the facility on Saturday night when he got within 6 inches of a Customs and Border Patrol officer’s face and told him, “I’ll (expletive) kill you right now.”
The officer chased and tackled Ivery to the ground, and in the ensuing scuffle, the officer’s helmet became “askew, thereby temporarily exposing him to pepper spray in the vicinity,” the complaint alleged.
Ivery later told investigators he came to Broadview to protest because he was disappointed that ICE agents “were disrespectful toward the Broadview Police Department and veterans,” the complaint alleged.
In court Wednesday, Ivery’s court-appointed lawyer, Johanathan Brooks, argued against any bond restrictions for his client, saying he has absolutely no criminal record and was simply out exercising his First Amendment rights that night.
Brooks said the melee alleged in the complaint “happened in large part because of the oppression of the United States government,” not any instigation by Ivery.
“If he wants to go out to another protest, he should be allowed to,” Brooks said in objecting to the order to stay away from Broadview. “I do believe it’s important in this time that people express those rights.”
Meanwhile, those who know Ivery continued to support him both in and out of court. John Hayley, 47, the owner and head coach of Unbreakable Fitness in Forest Park, told the Tribune on Wednesday that when he heard Ivery had been arrested, his first thought was what could he do to help, a sentiment he said is shared across the community.
Hayley, of River Forest, met Ivery about seven years ago when Ivery came to his gym as part of Oak Park River Forest High School’s Community Integration Transition Education program, which aims to prepare students with special needs for life after high school and navigating the community.
“(Ivery is) probably the most respectful, kind person that you’ll ever meet,” Hayley said.
One of the things Hayley said he loves about Ivery is that he is a man of “law and order and his goal is always to make sure that everything is run absolutely 100% exactly the way it’s supposed to be.”
“For him to be involved in anything like this is just completely out of character,” Hayley said. He said he was relieved to hear that Ivery was released on bond, but remains aware that “this effort and this ordeal is certainly not over.”
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
