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A tense confrontation unfolded outside a Chicago immigration processing center on Thursday, as anti-ICE demonstrators clashed with law enforcement officials. This altercation led to the arrest of nearly two dozen individuals and resulted in injuries to several officers.
According to reports from FOX 32 Chicago, 21 protesters were detained. The group, comprising 12 men and 9 women, was charged with obstructing traffic and ignoring dispersal orders issued by the police.
The Cook County Sheriff’s Office reported that four officers sustained injuries during the skirmish. Among the injured were two Broadview police officers, a Cook County sheriff’s deputy, and an Illinois state trooper. Fortunately, none of the injuries were deemed life-threatening.
Footage from the scene captured the chaotic interactions between federal agents and Illinois State Police as they engaged with the demonstrators. The video shows the tumultuous moments when several protesters were apprehended.
The protest against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement took place outside a federal building in Chicago, underscoring the ongoing tensions surrounding immigration policies. The event highlighted the sharp divisions and intense emotions that continue to characterize the national debate on immigration enforcement.
The facility is located in Broadview, a western suburb of Chicago about 12 miles from downtown, and has been a longstanding protest site for years.
A large crowd of protesters had gathered outside the facility, some waving placards reading “God Demands Freedom” and “Protest Is Patriotic,” while others held colorful signs shaped like butterflies.
A group then tried to move beyond concrete barriers and walk down the street toward the ICE facility, a move police considered a major violation, according to sources. Last week, a group known as the “Suburban Moms” staged a peaceful sit-in on the same street.
Police officers detain a protester as demonstrators rally outside the ICE processing facility in Broadview, Illinois, on Thursday. (Fox)
The scene appeared to calm later in the afternoon, with no additional arrests reported.
Those detained were taken to the Broadview ICE Processing Facility, officials said.
The incident comes after a federal judge ordered 13 detainees released and said hundreds more could qualify for home confinement, marking another setback for the Trump administration’s Operation Midway Blitz.
The operation was launched on Sept. 8 by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE targeting criminal illegal aliens in the Chicago area.
WATCH: Anti-immigration protesters clash with law enforcement in Chicago; multiple arrests made
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings ruled this week that more than 600 detainees being held at the Broadview ICE center must be released “on bond and into ICE’s Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program” by Nov. 21, citing what he called a “pattern of unlawful arrests and confinement.”
The order stems from Margarito Castañon Nava v. DHS, a class-action lawsuit claiming federal agents unlawfully detained hundreds of migrants who were not subject to mandatory detention or final removal orders, a direct violation of a 2021 Biden-era decree inherited by the Trump administration.
In the ruling, Cummings accused DHS of holding migrants in “unsafe and unsanitary” conditions, saying detainees had been kept in overcrowded buildings “next to overflowing toilets.” The judge further said the department’s recent reversal on detention authority represented a “180-degree change” from previous legal interpretations.
The decision could force the largest single-day release of ICE detainees in Illinois in years.