() Immigration enforcement actions continue in Chicago, along with protests, as the Trump administration continues Operation Midway Blitz.
President Donald Trump has suggested deploying troops to Chicago to address crime issues and support immigration authorities. However, he reconsidered after opposition from Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker.
Alternatively, the president has positioned troops in Memphis, Tennessee, to combat crime and plans to send them to Portland, Oregon, targeting immigration protests.
In Chicago, protests have erupted again near an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, Illinois, in suburban Chicago.
As protests persist outside the ICE facility, it’s anticipated that they will grow throughout the week. Local media report that the Broadview police department has begun investigating federal agents who allegedly used less-lethal ammunition on a CBS reporter’s car.
ICE officers reached out to the village over the weekend, saying it would be a “crap show,” though they used an expletive to describe the situation.
Clashes between federal officers and demonstrators resulted in over 11 arrests on Saturday following the use of tear gas and pepper spray balls by Border Patrol agents and federal officers.
“Weapons were present, including loaded handguns near our agents. That’s not the purpose of these gatherings,” stated U.S. Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino. “We support the First and Fourth Amendments, but joining protests with the intent to confront or harm border agents isn’t acceptable.”
The Department of Homeland Security said an object that appeared to be an explosive device was also recovered.
Commander Bovino led ICE detainees into the facility on Saturday and later assisted agents in dispersing the protesters, confiscating wooden boards from those intending to use them as barriers against officers.
In downtown Chicago, agents walked Michigan Ave. on Sunday, a popular tourist area, as marine units patrolled the Chicago River.
Multiple people were detained by federal agents, including a family, with witnesses telling the child was crying.
On Sunday, a small group of protesters returned to the Broadview facility, where multiple people were heckling and shining lights at agents. Those people were hit with less-lethal ammunition.
“It’s scary because all my family and friends, they don’t have proper documentation,” said David, a protester. “It angers me, it makes me want to cry. It’s insane, they’re all hiding. They’re all scared to go to work. It’s insane to me, I don’t get it.”
Activists describe poor conditions in the facility.
spoke to an 18-year-old man outside the facility yesterday, who said his mother was picked up by ICE and is in the facility.
He said he came to try to bring her clothes, but wasn’t allowed. Although DHS says they are going after the worst of the worst, the man said that doesn’t describe his mom, who is just someone who sells tamales on a street corner.
