Tear gas fills the air in Broadview, Illinois, on October 4. Scott Olson/Getty Images
Federal officers are firing so much tear gas at protesters outside an ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois, that some nearby community members who aren’t even protesting are struggling to breathe when they leave their homes to run errands.
That’s according to a lawsuit filed this week by journalists and demonstrators who accuse the Department of Homeland Security of using “extreme brutality” to “intimidate and silence” them while they protest or report on protests outside the facility, about 12 miles west of downtown Chicago.
“Snipers with guns loaded with pepper balls, paintballs, and rubber bullets are stationed on the roof of the Broadview ICE facility with their weapons trained on the press and civilians,” the lawsuit states. “Federal agents have tackled and slammed people to the ground; they have lobbed flash grenades and tear gas canisters indiscriminately into the crowd.”
It continues: “No legitimate purpose exists for this brutality or for these arrests. The officers are not physically threatened. No government property is threatened.”
Broadview’s ICE facility is the main processing center for immigrants who are arrested throughout the Chicago area, and protests sprang up over the summer amid reports that it was holding people for longer than allowed in cramped and uncomfortable conditions; some protesters tried to block federal vehicles from driving out of the facility with detained immigrants.
In September, after the Trump administration expanded immigration enforcement in the Chicago area with “Operation Midway Blitz”—an operation that has since led to hundreds of arrests and a militarized overnight raid of an entire apartment building, terrorizing residents—protests intensified. The lawsuit is filled with examples of people who injured by federal officers outside the Broadview facility. Here are a few from last month:
The Reverend David Black, a protester and pastor with the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, was struck repeatedly by chemical pellets after he extended his arms, palms outstretched, toward ICE officers in a posture of prayer, he said: “It was clear to me that the officers were aiming for my head, which they struck twice.”
Raven Geary, a co-founder of Unraveled Press, a local media outlet covering the protests, was wearing press credentials and a helmet that said “PRESS” while standing in a public parking lot and photographing an ICE officer 30 feet away. The officer shot her in the face with a pepper ball.
Leigh Giancreco, a freelance reporter working for Block Club Chicago, was also shot in the head with pepper balls despite her helmet labeled PRESS and her neon yellow vest.
Stephen Held, another co-founder of Unraveled Press, was “tackled, thrown to the ground, handcuffed, and brought inside the Broadview facility,” according to the lawsuit, after he tried to film officers on a public parkway. He was then released without charges.
Federal officers “are acting to intimidate and silence the press and civilians engaged in protected First Amendment activities,” the plaintiffs argue in the suit. Their attorneys are also seeking a temporary restraining order against officers.
On October 2, Illinois State Police used concrete barriers to demarcate a “First Amendment zone” outside the facility, asking protesters to remain inside the area to avoid violence from officers. Many protesters ignored the zone and protested on the other side of the facility. The next day, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was visiting, commended officers for their “professionalism” and urged them to “hammer” protesters.
“We’re not taking this anymore,” she said. “The president’s sick of it. I’m sick of it. And we’re going to give you guys all the authority that you need to go out there and arrest these individuals who are advocating for violence against you.”
In Broadview, federal immigration officers have also harmed individuals who came to the ICE facility for business, according to the lawsuit:
In late September, officers armed with pepper balls shot a 16-year-old boy who was trying to drop off possessions for his immigrant dad, who was detained inside the building.
Broadview’s own police chief says federal agents “verbally abused” his officers.
“The relentless deployment of tear gas, pepper spray, and mace at the ICE facility is endangering nearby village residents, harming police officers, harming firefighters and American citizens exercising their First Amendment rights,” Mayor Katrina Thompson said in September.
The tear gas has a 200- to 700-foot radius when it’s deployed, but wind carries it farther, the mayor said. The lawsuit cites several Broadview residents who have struggled to breathe because of the noxious fumes, including Jose Juan Alvarado and his wife, who were “sickened and reduced to tears” when they went to the grocery store.
Dimeko Harden, who lives a block from the ICE facility, has been unable to retrieve mail or “engage in normal activities without experiencing pain and difficulty breathing,” the lawsuit adds. “She has been forced to keep her teenage son at home, because he suffers from asthma.”
On Monday, Thompson announced an order limiting protests at the facility from 9 am to 6 pm, citing the “escalation of violence by ICE” and the effect on residents. “People have to go to work, they have to get their children ready for school, our businesses have to serve their customers, and our residents with developmental disabilities, who have sensory issues, have suffered emotional meltdowns because of the chaotic environment when protests get disruptive,” she said.
As the so-called Operation Midway Blitz continues, protesters elsewhere have also been met with harsh tactics. Last week, when federal agents approached a Hispanic grocery store in Chicago, people started yelling at them and recording with their phones. According to the lawsuit, ICE officers called one protester a “faggot” and, after someone blocked their SUV, fired tear gas into the crowd without warning. Children at a nearby elementary school had to move inside for recess.
