Ice agents use teargas, pepper balls to remove protesters & lawmakers from its facility in Chicago

The US federal law enforcement agents on Friday used teargas and pepper balls to disperse a group of about 100 protesters, including two Democratic candidates of the US Congress, during clashes outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) building in Chicago.

Protesters in the city attempted to block SUVs from entering and exiting the Ice facility, which has been notoriously active in the immigration crackdown imposed by US President Donald Trump. In the city of Chicago, the operation entailed the detention of presumed illegal immigrants, which is being dubbed “ Operation Midway Blitz”.

Amid the clashes, at least three protesters were arrested by the authorities as masked homeland security agents, dressed in riot gear, fired pepper balls at demonstrators from the rooftop of the Ice building. According to The Guardian, the facility in Chicago is also lined with razor wire, and its windows are boarded with plywood.

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Members of the US Congress also join the protests

Among the protesters was Kat Abughazaleh, a progressive candidate for Illinois’s ninth congressional district, who had sat at an entrance to the facility, alongside dozens of other protesters, before teargas was launched into the crowd. Earlier in the morning, she was shoved to the ground by a masked agent as a group of vehicles entered the facility.

While speaking to the reporters at the site of the protest, Abughazaleh described the incident as a “violent abuse of power”. In a later post on X, formerly known as Twitter, she added: “It’s still nothing compared to what they’re doing to immigrant communities.”

Videos of the incident were later shared by the Department of Homeland Security on its official account on X, with the caption: “Individuals and groups impeding Ice operations are siding with vicious cartels, human traffickers, and violent criminals.”

Illinois’s lieutenant governor, Juliana Stratton, a frontrunner in the race for US Senate next year, was also present at the protest and left before the law enforcement officers deployed teargas.

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“Protesters showed up today with handmade signs and cellphones. They were singing, chanting, praying, and linking arms to stand up for their neighbours and to speak out against the cruelty happening inside Ice’s Broadview facility and across Illinois,” Stratton said in a statement.

“The fact that DHS responded with tear gas and by throwing protesters on the pavement tells you everything you need to know – this isn’t about safety. This is about fear, control, and the Trump administration’s attempt to intimidate Illinoisans into silence. We will never be silent," she added.

Bushra Amiwala, another candidate for Illinois’s ninth congressional district, was also present when agents fired teargas. “There was no justification for using such violence against peaceful demonstrators,” she said. “What happened in Broadview today is an affront to our democracy.”

The latest protest in the city came as immigration enforcement in Chicago ramped up after the city was targeted by the Trump administration’s latest crackdown on Democratic cities. However, Trump has not yet sent the national guard to Chicago, as he has to Washington, DC and Los Angeles. But the city has seen a surge of Ice raids in several neighbourhoods.