National Guard troops arrive at Broadview ICE facility

Texas National Guard members were spotted Thursday morning at the Broadview ICE facility.

The village of Broadview confirmed that late Wednesday three vans with approximately 45 Texas National Guard troops arrived at the facility, 1930 Beach Street. Even with the National Guard on site, protests ended Thursday without incident.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement site has become the center of recurring protests since President Donald Trump in September launched “Operation Midway Blitz,” an aggressive deportation campaign in the Chicago area.

The facility has become a de facto detention center, though it was never intended to be one. Protesters, often while trying to block ICE vehicles from entering and leaving the facility, have been met with numerous rounds of rubber pellets and chemical agents that Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson previously said endanger nearby residents and first responders.

Meanwhile a federal judge is set to hear arguments in a high-stakes National guard hearing.

Illinois’ lawsuit over the deployment of the National Guard set up one of the biggest legal clashes yet between Republican President Donald Trump and the state’s Democratic leaders.

For weeks, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have vehemently opposed the deployment of the National Guard and squared up against Trump and his administration’s aggressive immigration sweeps, deepening a divide between Illinois leaders and the federal government.

Durbin, Duckworth condemn deployment

In Congress, Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth have condemned the actions of the federal government, with Durbin saying the decision to send the National Guard to Illinois undermines the U.S. Constitution.

“We need the federal government to stop engaging in political theater and baselessly, recklessly escalating the situation in Illinois,” Durbin said in a news release.

Durbin implored Congressional Republicans to consider if the roles were reversed and a Republican-led state was the backdrop to some of the federal government’s most stunning displays of force, including the early-morning raid of a South Shore apartment building and downtown patrol of federal agents.

“How would you react if a Democratic President deployed the National Guard… to your state, over the objections of your governor?” Durbin said. “Imagine masked Border Patrol agents in military tactical gear marching through your state’s largest city, as a top Border Patrol official bragged that agents were arresting people based on ‘how they look.’ Imagine if federal agents rappelled from a Black Hawk helicopter to swarm an apartment building in your state… breaking down doors, yanking people out of bed, zip-tying and detaining U.S. citizens — your constituents, including children — for hours.”

Duckworth announced the Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing with the Department of Defense on the deployment of troops in cities like Chicago and Portland, Oregon.

“I look forward to asking tough questions of the Trump administration about their unconstitutional National Guard deployments to American cities against state and local officials’ objections,” Duckworth said in a news release.

Protests continue against ICE, National Guard

Outside of the Broadview processing facility Thursday, Oli Juarez, 34, held a sign that read, “When tyranny becomes law, I will not comply. Rebellion must become duty.”

Juarez, who was born in Mexico City and came to the United States when she was three, says she’s been protesting outside the facility for the last month. She’s come out to Broadview to take a stand against everything that’s going on in the country right now, a moment she describes as giving “Holocaust vibes.”

“I do not support any of what’s going on [right now],” Juarez said.

She saw the National Guard troops patrolling in front of the ICE processing facility this morning.

“That’s not what they took an oath to. This is not their place to be, “ she said. “We need to come together and fight for rights, because they’re taking them from us, white, black, brown, green, purple. They’re, they’re taking our right to life.”

Diane Rapaport, a physician who was born in Chicago but lives in North Carolina, was also outside Broadview to observe how things are going.

“I’m here to make sure everybody is safe, unharmed, and should they be harmed by any actions about the federal ICE agents, I would like to be there to protect them, “ Rapaport said.

Rapaport, 42, says the fact that troops are on the ground at Broadview is reinforcing a narrative that there is chaos that needs to be controlled.

“We’re here in part to document that there is no chaos to put down. The chaos is being created by the presence of unwanted [troops],” she said.

And she says she doesn’t want to see federalized troops, particularly from Texas, here in Illinois.

“It is not their role,” she said. “It’s a criminal act, and we hope the courts see it that way.”

As Broadview’s designated protest hours ended at 6 p.m., all of the remaining protesters left without issue. About half a dozen protesters walked across the street from the designated area.