1 of 8 | Activists gather near the ICE detention center to protest against the immigration policies of the Trump administration in the Broadview neighborhood near Chicago on Friday. Photo by Tannen Maury/UPI | License Photo
Oct. 24 (UPI) — Protesters on Friday clashed again with Customs and Enforcement Agency agents and other law enforcement outside an immigration processing center in suburban Chicago.
Other ICE operations have been reported in the southwest Chicago area, where there is a sizable immigrant population.
About 12 miles from the ICE processing center in Broadview, an elementary school was on lockdown amid reports of agents in the area.
On Thursday, about 10 miles from Broadview, two Chicago Public Schools students allegedly were assaulted by federal agents on their way to school in Little Village near the Discount Mall. The area is part of Chicago’s Mexican community.
And in Gary, Ind., about 37 miles southeast of Broadview, there was an anti-ICE protest about deportation flights from an airport.
President Donald Trump has ordered National Guard personnel into Chicagoland but a federal judge has barred them before a full trial or the U.S. Supreme Court weighs in. FBI agents also have been sent to the area, along with local police and Illinois state troopers.
In Broadview, protesters have been showing up weekly at the processing center. On Friday, the protests were contained in what authorities called a safety zone.
They are demonstrating against the Trump administration’s “Operation Midway Blitz” in an immigration crackdown that began Sept. 9.
“I believe that we are creating huge wounds, not only for the people who are being detained, but for the ICE officers who are doing these horrible things. I feel terrible for everybody,” Mary Kelly, who lives in nearby Oak Park, told WLS-TV.
Last Friday, Illinois State Police arrested 14 people, including one charged with obstructing/resisting police.
Residents and activists have challenged Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson’s executive orders that limit protests to between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. and restrict access to areas near the facility.
They showed up on Monday at a Village Board meeting, saying the rules infringe on their free speech.
“I witnessed agents hitting people on the ground who were doing nothing,” protester Amanda Tovar told officials.
She noted a viral incident in which the Rev. David Black was struck in the head by pepper balls by federal agents.
“We’ve been brutalized first by ICE, now by the Illinois State Police,” one speaker said. “I mean, what happened to us on Saturday is insane. We’re peaceful protesters. It’s a National Day of Protesting and we get beat up for staying past 6 p.m.”
Chicago Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez and State Sen. Celina Villanueva have criticized “fascist” tactics by federal authorities.
Alderman Daniel La Spata told WLS-TV there have been “numerous confirmed sightings of ICE” throughout the West Town community area, including Ukrainian Village, Wicker Park and the Humboldt Park border.
School on soft lockdown
A.N. Pritzker School, an elementary school, had a soft lockdown for the second day and won’t open “unt