CHICAGO – A vacant building in a small suburb of Chicago has become the focal point of a federal immigration crackdown, drawing growing criticism for allegedly turning into an unofficial detention center with poor conditions.

The Trump administration has intensified immigration enforcement efforts in the Chicago region, boasting of hundreds of arrests over the last three weeks.

Family members, legal representatives, and activists have raised alarms over the experiences of immigrants within the Broadview facility’s brick walls. Protests, which were once routine, have escalated, leading to federal officers employing chemical agents and physical force against protestors.

Advocates claim that as many as 200 individuals can be detained there at a time, with some held for up to five days without showers or proper dining facilities. Immigrants have reported receiving minimal food, water, and restricted access to necessary medication. Communication, even with legal counsel, is limited.

“It’s like a black hole,” expressed Erendira Rendón from The Resurrection Project, who has received around 250 requests for legal help from arrested immigrants. “You can’t call the center. You can’t talk to anybody.”

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have repeatedly left inquiries about the center unanswered recently, including on Thursday, and have denied requests for public tours. While the agency reports on detention center populations, the Broadview facility remains unlisted.

Questions loom over center

Broadview, a suburb that’s home to about 8,000 people, has also been the site of the federal immigration processing center for decades. Located along an industrial corridor, the facility has frequently prompted peaceful protests and become the scene of tearful goodbyes before people are deported.

But questions surrounding its use have grown since President Donald Trump returned to the White House promising mass deportations.

Illinois has among the nation’s strictest sanctuary laws, widely barring cooperation between local police and federal immigration agents, including for detention.

The state effectively banned immigration detention in 2021, when it ended local cooperation agreements between the federal government and county jails. Illinois barred private detention in 2019 following failed attempts to build a new detention facility and there are no federal immigration detention centers in the state.

Illinois officials have alleged for months that immigrants are held at the processing center for days and told to sleep on floors, including in the bathroom.

U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia was part of a group of Illinois Democrats who tried to tour the facility in June.

“We pointed out that this has been a processing center, but in fact people who have been in detention there for multiple days have shared with us that it in fact is a detention center,” he said. “It is not adequate to be a detention center.”

Limited food and crowded quarters

Brenda Perez said her husband was arrested this month by ICE agents on Chicago’s South Side while he heading to work as a mechanic. She eventually confirmed he was at Broadview when she saw him on a social media video shot outside the center.

In brief calls, he told her he couldn’t sleep because there were too many people to lay down. He reported going 24 hours without food and receiving one bottle of water.

“He would beg them for food and water because he was hungry and very thirsty and they would just ignore him,” she said, crying. He was later transported to a Michigan jail.

Immigrant rights advocates also claim that the Trump administration is trying to make conditions unbearable so that people agree to self-deport. Authorities are trying to expand detention space in cooperating county jails in neighboring Kentucky, Wisconsin and Indiana.

Giselle Maldonado, 23, said her two uncles were held at the Broadview facility for two days last week before they were deported to Tijuana, Mexico.

Maldonado described the conditions as “ugly,” and contributed to them signing deportation papers quickly rather than advocating for themselves.

“It was crowded,” she said. “They wouldn’t feed them right. They wouldn’t give them water when they asked for water. These bright lights were on 24/7, and they couldn’t sleep.”

Clashing with the community

The center has created headaches for village leaders. While the community about 12 miles from Chicago is small, its businesses can draw as many as 55,000 workers.

Members of Broadview’s 25-officer police force are increasingly diverted to the center to help manage protests.

Tensions have flared in recent weeks. Protesters have blocked vehicles, and federal agents have responded with aggressive tactics, including deploying chemical agents and physical force. Armed guards patrol the roof.

“We have this processing center in our town and it creates fear,” said Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson.

The Department of Homeland Security has defended its tactics, citing danger to federal officers and characterizing the arrestees as “rioters.”

Federal officials initially gave Thompson a heads up that the center would be used as the “primary processing location” for the operation. But communications have since been limited, including ignored requests to be informed if chemical agents would be used.

Federal officials have boarded up windows on the building, which prompted city reviews of building codes. After protests became tense, federal authorities erected a fence overnight that extends onto a public roadway.

Village officials demanded the “illegally built” fence be removed over security concerns from the fire department. It remained in place on Thursday.

The office of the Mexican consulate is among the few entities in communication with authorities overseeing the Broadview facility. They’ve helped Mexican nationals who are detained get medicine.

Ambassador Reyna Torres Mendivil, the consul general of Mexico in Chicago, declined to discuss specific details, citing diplomatic process. But she said that the ramped up immigration enforcement circumstances prompting fear among Mexican nationals are unprecedented.

“The suffering we are seeing is considerable,” she said.

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Associated Press reporter Christine Fernando contributed to this report.