As a court battle continued over whether President Trump can legally deploy the National Guard in Illinois, a brawl broke out Saturday night between protesters and state police at an immigration detention facility near Chicago.
The protest, which had largely been a peaceful gathering of a few hundred people at the facility in Broadview, quickly turned chaotic as protesters jumped a line of concrete barriers, stopping traffic and violating police orders to stay off the street.
By 8 p.m., 15 people had been arrested, according to Matthew Waldberg, a spokesperson for the Cook County Sheriff’s Office and the unified command for the protests, which includes local and state police. Eight of the arrests occurred during the evening chaos, while seven were made earlier that day.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility has been a flashpoint for weeks as protesters have expressed their anger and frustration at Trump’s immigration crackdown with chants, signs and fist shaking. In the last two weeks, law enforcement officers have responded with tear gas and rubber pellets on several occasions. Last week, officers pelted a pastor in the head with a rubber pepper ball.
Tensions increased last week as Trump announced his intention to deploy federalized National Guard troops from Illinois and Texas to protect ICE and its facility.
On Saturday, an appeals court paused a lower court’s ruling that halted any deployment of the National Guard within Illinois for two weeks. The new ruling says the troops — 300 from Illinois and 200 from Texas — can remain under federal control but cannot be deployed.
White House officials cited “ongoing violent riots and lawlessness,” which they claimed local law enforcement was unable to quell, as a justification for deploying the troops. Twenty troops from California were also sent to Illinois to provide “refresher training.”
At the ICE facility in Broadview on Saturday night, police pulled out wooden batons and pushed the crowd down the street, threatening to deploy tear gas if people didn’t disperse and go home. The protesters largely retreated, but a few threw objects at the police line, and skirmishes ensued.
One woman was knocked to the ground by police, her head hitting the cement curb. A man wearing all black and a gas mask was tackled and pushed to the ground by police before he was handcuffed and taken away.
The conflicts in the Chicago area come as Trump has ramped up immigration enforcement and deployed federal troops in several Democratic-run cities, beginning with Los Angeles this summer. The National Guard was patrolling alongside local police in Memphis last week, while in Portland, troop deployments are on hold after the state of Oregon challenged the move. The administration claims the city has become lawless, while Oregon officials argue Trump is manufacturing a crisis to justify calling in the National Guard.
Across the Chicago region, more than 1,000 people have been arrested by federal immigration agents since the Trump administration ramped up its “Midway Blitz” to deport immigrants last month. On Friday, a Chicago TV news producer was pushed to the ground and arrested at an ICE raid. Two women were arrested by ICE agents in front of an elementary school. In the weeks before, an ICE-operated Blackhawk helicopter hovered over a Southside apartment building in an operation that resulted in dozens — including children and elderly people — being zip-tied and temporarily detained. Thirty-seven were arrested.
The mayor of Broadview issued a city-wide order banning protests before 9 a.m. and after 6 p.m., which has been enforced.
“It’s been intense and a lot,” said Dominique Dandridge, who lives across the street from the detention center and has watched as vans arrive and depart at all hours of the night.
In between the conflicts with law enforcement, there has been plenty of down time, with social media influencers looking to make their mark. Selfie sticks have been as prevalent at the Broadview protests as gas masks, balaclavas, safety goggles and flags.
Don Lemon, a former CNN journalist and now YouTuber, roamed through the small crowd Friday and Saturday, closely followed by a videographer, two crew members and a security guard.
Then there was Cam Higby, a conservative social media influencer from Seattle who is on a tour of college campuses, where he invites students to debate with him. His presence has angered some protesters, who chanted “Temu Charlie Kirk,” suggesting that he was a cheap version of the conservative influencer fatally shot in September while speaking at a college campus in Utah.
Also present was Nick Shirley, a 23-year-old conservative influencer. On Friday, he was escorted into the ICE facility by armed agents. Protesters jeered as he walked by, following him with their phone cameras as he pointed his own camera back at them.
He told a reporter that he went into the facility for training — he was going to livestream an ICE raid that weekend.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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