Dozens of protesters clashed with federal agents outside a federal immigration facility in suburban Chicago on Friday after the protesters tried to block a government vehicle from leaving.
Tensions have been rising in the Chicago area for the last two weeks, since U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents intensified their push to arrest people in the country illegally, under an effort called Operation Midway Blitz. Demonstrators have typically gathered outside the federal detention facility in the suburb of Broadview, Ill., on Friday mornings, and their numbers have grown in recent weeks.
During the standoff with protesters on Friday, ICE deployed tear gas and pepper balls at the group, including several local officials. A spokesperson for ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Advocates for immigrants have repeatedly raised concerns about conditions at the detention facility, which is used for processing immigration arrests.
“This facility should be shut down, that’s what it comes down to,” said Byron Sigcho-Lopez, a member of the Chicago City Council, who was there during the standoff. Mr. Sigcho-Lopez, who represents a ward with many Latino residents, has been a vocal opponent of ICE’S presence in Chicago.
Mayor Daniel Biss of Evanston, Ill., after wiping tear gas from his eyes, called the actions of ICE “a performance in brutality.”
“They are trying to send a message of public violence and oppression,” he said. “Our job is to resist it as visibly, vocally and aggressively as we can while staying nonviolent.”
Before the clash, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton had stopped outside the Broadview facility and said that she and Gov. JB Pritzker, both Democrats, were monitoring ICE activities in Illinois.
Last Friday, an ICE officer fatally shot Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, a 38-year-old man whom officers were trying to arrest during a traffic stop in Franklin Park, a suburb of Chicago near O’Hare International Airport with a significant Latino population. The ICE officer “followed his training, used appropriate force and properly enforced the law,” Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement.
But immigration rights advocates and Mr. Villegas-Gonzalez’s family have questioned whether the arrest was warranted, saying that he was a father who had led a quiet life and had no violent criminal history.
Julie Bosman is the Chicago bureau chief for The Times, writing and reporting stories from around the Midwest.
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