Protesters arrested outside Broadview ICE facility as DHS Secretary Noem watches from the roof

By Bill Kirkos, Alisha Ebrahimji, CNN

Broadview, Illinois (CNN) — A crowd of protesters is beginning to thin out after clashes with an assortment of law enforcement agencies came to a head outside the Broadview Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility near Chicago.

Earlier Friday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was perched on the rooftop of the controversial facility, surrounded by armed agents and a camera crew, according to CNN affiliate WLS.

At least five people have been arrested for aggravated battery to a police officer and resisting and obstruction, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office told CNN.

Broadview police officers and Cook County sheriff’s deputies holding a line near the large group of protesters were instructed at one point to put on gas masks.

The facility, about 10 miles west of Chicago, has been the site of demonstrations against ramped-up ICE enforcement and aggressive tactics for several weeks. Similar protests have flared across the country, including this week in Portland, Oregon, as the White House has aimed to crack down on crime more broadly in Democratic-led cities, often citing the need to protect ICE sites.

The protests near Chicago began after local leaders got word in early September that “a large-scale enforcement campaign” would soon be underway in the Windy City as part of the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration agenda.

The Midway Blitz Operation has resulted in more than 800 arrests, according to a Wednesday news release from the Department of Homeland Security.

“Federal agents reporting to Secretary Noem have spent weeks snatching up families, scaring law-abiding residents, violating due process rights, and even detaining U.S. citizens,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker wrote on Facebook on Friday.

Federal agents are also “acting with impunity,” the governor said in a statement provided to CNN.

“In addition to their inhumane tactics on immigration enforcement, they have grossly mishandled and incited tensions at the Broadview facility. This includes firing chemical agents at protesters and media, arresting a reporter, slamming people to the ground, and wreaking havoc on Broadview residents and nearby businesses,” the statement said in part.

Local, state and federal agencies have a large presence at the facility, and have closed multiple streets, including 25th Avenue, a major street in Broadview.

Protesters outside the facility Friday morning held signs and chanted. One sign read, “ICE melts under resistance,” meanwhile another said, “Hate has no home here.”

Protester Nicole Bandyk lives in a nearby suburb and decided to join the demonstrators after watching coverage of the protests in news reports and online.

“I’m not gonna look back and say I sat at home and did nothing,” Bandyk told CNN. “It’s wrong … It’s just wrong what they’re doing. We are becoming a fascist authoritarian state and it’s wrong.”

El Centro Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory Bovino accompanied Noem on the roof, according to WLS, and was later seen on the ground directing protesters and media away from the area.

Protests have been building for weeks

The latest round of arrests come two weeks after a Democratic Chicago-area mayor running for Congress in Illinois said federal agents teargassed him outside the same facility.

Daniel Biss, the mayor of Evanston, Illinois, spoke about the incident in a video on his X account, saying: “Not only did they come with weapons and violence, show of force and drive a van into us, but then they teargassed us, and I have to tell you, it was terrifying.”

At least one other person, who identified herself on social media as Kat Abughazaleh, a former journalist also running for Congress, landed on the ground during that same protest after she was pushed by a federal law enforcement agent in a camouflage uniform wearing a full face covering, sunglasses and a helmet, video by CNN affiliate WBBM showed.

“We stood in front of the van and they (an officer) came out and picked me up and threw me on the ground,” Abughazaleh told CNN at the time, adding that federal agents fired pepper balls at her and weaponless protesters carrying signs.

Sidney Wright IV and Kara Devlin contributed to this report.

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