Tear gas used on protesters at Chicago-area ICE site as immigration crackdown escalates

Protests against the Trump administration's stepped-up immigration enforcement exploded Friday in the Chicago area, with federal officers in camouflage and riot gear using tear gas against the demonstrators.

Footage by NBC 5 Chicago shows federal agents deploying tear gas as protesters blocked a vehicle trying to exit the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, a Chicago suburb.

An NBC 5 Chicago reporter at the scene said the tear gas made breathing difficult and stung her eyes.

“Protesters were sprayed with those canisters, and then another canister was placed by our media trucks right on the grass there. So there was a huge disbursement of people," said reporter Jenn Schanz.

Bushra Amiwala, a candidate for Congress and former school board member who was at the site, said in a statement that her "eyes were full of pepper spray" and that agents "created chaos."

"There was no justification for using such violence against peaceful demonstrators," Amiwala said. "What happened in Broadview today is an affront to our democracy.”

The Department of Homeland Security said the protesters — whom it labeled rioters — were to blame for the clash at Broadview.

In a statement, DHS said over 100 rioters "surrounded" the facility, "assaulted law enforcement, threw tear gas cans, slashed tires of cars, blocked the entrance of the building and trespassed on private property." DHS said local police "refused to answer multiple calls for assistance."

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Federal law enforcement arrested at least three people, according to DHS.

"Throughout the morning, vans have shown up to pick up and drop off rioters. This is an organized effort to obstruct ICE law enforcement," DHS said in its statement.

Under the orders of the Trump administration, ICE agents have been conducting a wide sweep in the Chicago area, an operation opposed by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, and others.

Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary, blamed Gov. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson for "villainizing" and "demonizing" ICE officers.

ICE operations in Illinois turned deadly last week when an immigration enforcement officer fatally shot Silverio Villegas González during a traffic stop near Chicago. DHS officials have said Villegas González had dragged an ICE officer a significant distance with his car and injured him. Villegas González's family members and officials in the state are asking for more transparency around the investigation of his death.

A few weeks ago, in Los Angeles, immigration enforcement operations led to days of violent clashes; tensions further intensified after President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard and Marines.

The Los Angeles immigration sweep was led by Gregory Bovino, Customs and Border Protection El Centro sector chief. He was captured on video by NBC 5 Chicago at the Broadview ICE facility.

Bovino is seen standing at the Broadview facility, flanked by officers, some with gas masks, NBC 5 Chicago reported.

Bovino had announced his presence in Chicago and that of other immigration officers on social media.

“Well Chicago, we’ve arrived!” he wrote in a social media post that included a video of Border Patrol agents combing the city and suburbs.

“Operation At Large is here to continue the mission we started in Los Angeles—to make the city safer by targeting and arresting criminal illegal aliens,” he wrote in the post referring to the national ICE immigrant enforcement operation.

Bovino has faced criticism in the past for tactics used in an immigration enforcement operation in predominantly Latino Kern County, California. Immigrants and their attorneys alleged people were dragged from their cars and targeted by race and skin color, and there were complaints of slashed tires and physically abusive agents.

Border Patrol agents were temporarily barred from conducting raids in California’s Central Valley and attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union have said the agency has violated that order.

However, the Supreme Court on Sept. 8 allowed immigration officers to resume roving patrols target people of Latino origin, granting without explanation an emergency request from the Trump administration.