The Department of Homeland Security said more than 200 protesters blocked a gate at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in a Chicago suburb on Friday. Another 30 people went to a different gate, allegedly trying to enter federal property illegally, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a press release.
Federal agents used tear gas and pepper balls on the protesters amid ongoing clashes related to increased immigration enforcement, several news outlets reported. One federal agent was seen firing from a nearby rooftop.
The confrontation comes just two days after a gunman shot and killed a detainee and injured two others at an ICE facility in Dallas.
“Just days after the vile terrorist attack on an ICE Dallas facility, over 200 rioters gathered outside the Broadview Processing Center in Illinois, and some began chanting ‘Shoot ICE.’ These violent threats and smears about ICE must stop. There is no place in American politics for violence,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
Protesters caught off guard by chemical agents
According to The Associated Press, a few protesters tried to block a car heading toward the ICE building. This prompted federal agents to fire tear gas and pepper bullets multiple times at a crowd of over 100 protesters, hitting people who were standing back and reportedly not involved in blocking traffic.
One protester who is also an elected member of the Skokie Board of Education, Bushra Amiwala, 27, said the chemical agents caught her and others off guard.
“We literally were just tying notes on the wall, and for a minute, I was obviously coughing. It was very hard to breathe,” Amiwala said. “I was disoriented for a second. I just didn’t understand what happened.” She added that the use of chemical agents was “fully unprovoked.”
As agents fired, protesters either fled or fell to the ground; most dispersed. Some rinsed tear gas from their eyes outside the facility, the AP stated.
The Chicago Sun-Times said one of its photographers was struck by rubber pellets. Law enforcement arrested two protesters, one of whom reportedly had a firearm, according to the Sun-Times.
Mayor calls for end to ICE presence in Broadview
Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson wrote a letter to Russell Hott, the ICE field office director, on Friday, calling for relief from ICE’s “siege of our neighborhood.”
“In effect, you are making war on my community,” she wrote, as reported by WTTW. “And it has to stop.”
The AP reported that in recent weeks, protesters have attempted to block agents’ vehicles from entering or leaving an area next to the building. On Tuesday, a fence was put up, keeping protesters farther away from the facility.
Thompson demanded that the federal government take down the “illegal” fence.
