11 arrested at Broadview ICE facility during latest protests

At least 11 people, including a faith leader, were arrested at a protest Friday morning at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in Broadview.

The west suburban building has been the site of frequent demonstrations against President Donald Trump’s deportation campaign over the last several weeks. Federal agents have often responded with aggressive tactics, including the firing of projectiles and chemical irritants against protesters — measures that a federal judge is trying to curtail.

The latest protest at 1930 Beach Street began Friday about an hour ahead of the fixed 9 a.m. start time that Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson established for protesters earlier this month — a move she said was aimed at limiting some of the tense scenes and their effects on neighbors.

Chants of “Who do you protect?” could be heard amid back-and-forth shoving between protesters and Illinois State Police as Friday’s arrests were made.

The scene had quieted down by 9:20 a.m., and about 50 protesters and approximately 12 state police troopers remained.

Though the feds took down a fence late Tuesday night that had been erected last month to keep protesters from getting near the facility, demonstrators are now restricted to the “designated protest areas” on Beach Street.

Thompson signed a new executive order this week shrinking the designated “free speech zones” for demonstrations outside the facility, citing protests that devolved into “chaos” last weekend. The Beach Street protest areas are about 4,000 square feet, based on satellite imagery.

Protesters have consistently shown up to protest ICE’s actions since the Trump administration launched “Operation Midway Blitz” in the Chicago area. But in recent weeks, demonstrators have mostly been confronted by Broadview police and state police troopers.

Heidi Rodriguez, who was seen holding up a U.S. flag while wearing a poncho with the Mexican flag emblem on it, has also been regularly present at the protests.

The 79-year-old said she has been caught up in confrontations with law enforcement, including being shoved to the ground early this month. She said she hit her head and had to be taken to a hospital for a scan.

“I got knocked down two weeks ago,” Rodriguez said. “They jumped out of cars with sticks. That’s what I’m against. They’re the ones that are causing the problems, because we didn’t have sticks, we didn’t have guns. They’re the ones that are rioting against us.”

But Rodriguez said she has continued to show up because ICE’s actions have spread fear in her suburban La Grange community: “I have friends that won’t come out of their house because they’re afraid to go outside, and rightly so.”

Rodriguez said her father crossed the border from Mexico to the United States in 1957 with seven kids in tow. She said immigrant families like hers consider the United States to be home, and they deserve to live in peace.

“I’m here for my people and for our country, to try to keep this country safe,” she said.

Federal agents’ repeated use of chemical irritants and rubber pellets against protesters at Broadview has died down in the last week since state troopers and other local law enforcement assumed crowd control responsibilities.

But the feds’ aggressive tactics have continued elsewhere across the Chicago area despite a federal judge’s order to limit those measures. The judge this week ordered a top ICE official to court to explain “why I am seeing images of tear gas … [with] no warnings given.”

Immigrant advocates held a news event Friday at Christ Lutheran Church, 3253 W. Wilson Ave., in Albany Park, down the block from an attempted immigration arrest and tear-gassing Sunday.

The church’s pastor, Tom Terrell, said agents “tried to snatch our brothers on this very block, just as our church was letting out.”

No one was arrested, he said. But a group of neighbors confronted the agents and blocked their vehicles, according to one video online. The agents then released tear gas into the crowd, he said.