Confusion over charges after several arrests at protests outside ICE facility in Broadview
At least three people were arrested while protesting at the ICE facility in Broadview on Friday, accused of assaulting federal officers, but prosecutors have no criminal charges on file.
One protester who was taken into custody outside the facility on Saturday was given a written citation, but has yet to receive a court date.
"I kind of tapped on the window, and that's when I was detained, and I ended up getting severely bruised," Rogelio Huerta said. "We were just continuing the protest that happened since Friday, but it got a little ugly."
Huerta found himself behind the fence around the ICE facility parking lot, where those detained are brought in on vans and buses.
"They refused me a phone call, they refused food, they refused any kind of essentials that I needed. So if I needed a cover, a blanket, they didn't even have anything for me," he said.
Huerta said, six hours after he was detained, he walked out with a citation for assaulting a federal officer.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection chief patrol agent Gregory Bovino announced three arrests from Friday's protest, but the U.S. Attorney's office said they have no record of anyone charged with that same statute.
CBS News Chicago legal analyst Irv Miller said the statute cited by Bovino makes it illegal to assault a federal officer.
"It carries up to one year in jail. It doesn't necessarily mean there's jail time, and it's a case that's not decided by a federal district judge, which is a judge … nominated by the president and approved by the Senate. This is a judge that's basically put on the bench because the other federal judges here in the Northern District selected that particular judge," he said.
As for the citation.
"If a person is given a citation at a station or at a scene some place and eventually that citation goes to the U.S. Attorney's office, and they have the final decision throughout the course of this proceeding whether or not to drop it or proceed with it. It's totally up to the U.S. Attorney," Miller said.
A legal expert last week said they had a client with a similar case. That charge was dismissed.
Days later, a smaller group of demonstrators still gathers outside Broadview, with some officers continuing to use pepper bullets for those who get in the way.
"I think that these officers don't even want to do their job," Huerta said. "Like literally they don't wanna do their job, some of them are actually on our side."
Homeland Security and ICE did not immediately respond to questions about the alleged conditions inside the Broadview facility, or about others arrested over the weekend.
