Protesters at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview tussled with state police and sheriff’s police Friday morning, hours after a judge ordered the fence erected outside the building be taken down.
Three protesters were arrested during the fray and charged with resisting and obstruction: Mara R. Blumenstein, 28; Emmett J. Matlock, 19 and Peter M. Reimer, 31.
There were no signs of National Guard members — who were seen there for the first time on Thursday — but about 50 state police were stationed along 25th Avenue, where vehicles enter and exit the facility.
A scuffle broke out as troopers — last least two of whom were seen with pepper ball guns — pushed protesters away, and back from the street.
Traffic was disrupted earlier by several demonstrators who were in the street along 25th Avenue near the facility.
Meanwhile, at about 12:30 p.m., U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth are scheduled to visit the facility in their Congressional oversight roles.
The afternoon event “follows multiple requests for oversight on the facility’s conditions and the brutal tactics used by federal agents against protesters, journalists, and elected officials engaged in peaceful First Amendment activity outside the facility,” according to a statement.
Also Thursday, a federal judge has ordered the fence outside the ICE facility to be taken down immediately.
Abigail Warhus, 29, said the makeshift fence had “infringed upon us as protesters” and was glad it was ordered to be dismantled.
“It also infringed on us being able to get close and monitor what’s going on in the facility, which is how this whole protest began,” she said.
Friday’s protest comes in the wake of two key rulings issued Thursday. A federal judge temporarily barred the “federalization and deployment of the National Guard of the United States within Illinois” for at least 14 days. Another federal judge temporarily barred federal agents from spraying chemical agents and rubber bullets at peaceful protesters and journalists covering demonstrations.
Warhus said the rulings together show that “Chicago is fighting back.”
“Chicago is not going to sit by and let ICE terrorize our neighborhoods,” Warhus said. “We’re willing to mobilize as soon as possible to get things done.”
The ICE facility, 1930 Beach St., is the site of ongoing and often tense demonstrations, with agents deploying chemical irritants and rubber pellets, since President Donald Trump’s administration aggressively ramped up his deportation campaign in the Chicago area last month under the name “Operation Midway Blitz.”
Since then, protesters have arrived at the facility in the early morning hours, sometimes as early as 5 a.m., and have clashed with federal authorities into the late night hours.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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