Broadview, Illinois shrinks area where protests are allowed outside ICE facility
The Village of Broadview, Illinois, announced Monday morning that it is shrinking the zone where protesters are allowed to gather outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in the western Chicago suburb.
In a statement, Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson said she decided on the restriction after protests outside the facility on Saturday night "degenerated into chaos."
"There were 15 arrests, and 10 of those were around the age of my own daughter. As a mother and a mayor, I am mad at what happened," Thompson said in the statement. "Broadview didn't choose to have the ICE facility in our community. But it's here. And so are Broadview residents."
Thompson wrote that some of the protesters have been making life difficult for Broadview residents.
"There are too many protesters are raising their fists rather than their voices, creating chaos at the expense of the people who call Broadview home," she wrote. "Broadview residents lack the protestors' privilege to return to calm, quiet neighborhoods for undisturbed rest."
For that reason, Thompson said she has signed a new executive order in consultation with the Illinois State Police and the Cook County Sheriff's office, which will permit protests only in the safety zone at the ICE facility on Beach Street. Protests will no longer be allowed at 2000 S. 25th Ave. between Lexington and Fillmore streets, Thompson wrote.
"Additionally, it has been only God's grace alone that a protester has not been struck and killed by a motorist on 25th Avenue given how frequently protesters dash onto this busy, four-lane street," Thompson wrote. "This new measure will provide for both the serenity of residents and safety of protestors."
Thompson emphasized that she respects, supports, and defends everyone's right to protest, and decried the use of chemical munitions by federal agents at the site.
"Nevertheless, my first priority is to defend public safety and the residents who live here and people who work here," she wrote.
On Monday, barriers were placed on South 25th to prevent protestors from spilling into the streets.
Protester Jon Ort, one of the few demonstrators standing outside, said it seems as if the facility is being fortified.
"We are a city where we protect one another," he said.
Neighbors came out too when they realized the barriers had been put down. Some were placed on top of their plants.
James Baker lives on South 25th and says it's been almost impossible getting in and out of his home in the last few weeks.
"I went to the grocery store four days ago. Me and my son had to carry groceries from the end of that light right there to the house," Baker said.
Around the corner from where the barriers were placed, Thompson stood with other local mayors and elected leaders. She explained the barriers are meant to keep people out of the streets when protests spill over the sidewalk. A judge's order will soon take the fence outside the facility down.
"This unity is more powerful than any show of force that has come from the other side of that illegal that illegally build fence," Thompson said.
This comes after Thompson signed an earlier executive order restricting protest times to between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. daily.
Protesters have been gathering outside the Broadview ICE facility for weeks, and several have been arrested.
Meanwhile, National Guard troops arrived at the Broadview ICE facility last week, and a federal appeals court this past weekend blocked the deployment of the troops to the streets of Chicago.
Since "Operation Midway Blitz," concerns have been raised about the random way federal agents have come into the Chicagoland area, detaining people. Hundreds of people have since been taken into custody without warrants or probable cause.