Noem visits Chicago area ICE facility as agents detain multiple protesters outside

Noem, whose visit to Chicago was confirmed by Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, also accompanied agents Friday on a raid near a local Walmart store.

Some protesters have aimed to block vehicles from going in or out of the area in recent weeks, part of growing pushback to a surge of immigration enforcement that begin in early September. Federal agents have repeatedly fired tear gas, pepper balls and other projectiles toward crowds in response and at least five people have faced federal charges after being arrested in those clashes.

Local law enforcement stepped up its own presence Friday at the facility about 12 miles (19 kilometers) west of Chicago. Several streets around the site were closed, patrolled by Illinois State Police officers wearing riot helmets and holding batons on patrol. The state police set up concrete barriers Thursday night to segregate protesters and designate spaces to demonstrate.

It was unclear how many people were detained Friday. One man was seen struggling on the ground with agents after he appeared to break through a line into the roadway and in front of a vehicle.

“Every week, ICE escalates its violence against us,” said Demi Palecek, a military veteran and candidate for Congress. “With this level of escalation, it’s only a matter of time before someone is killed.”

Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker lashed out at the Trump administration for the way federal agents, many of them masked to hide their faces, are treating protesters over the past month, castigating their “inhumane” tactics including slamming protesters to the ground, arresting a reporter and firing chemical agents into the crowds.

Pritzker said the newly established “unified command” of the Illinois State Police, Cook County Sheriff’s Department and others on Broadview's streets will control crowds while ensuring protesters their First Amendment right to free speech.

“They show their faces, they have proper identification, and they are accountable to the people of Illinois,” Pritzker said. “It is clear federal agents cannot be trusted to act to protect the safety and constitutional rights of the public.”

On Thursday, Pritzker demanded Noem face the public by answering reporters’ questions and divulging details about the ongoing operation.

Noem, alongside Gregory Bovino, chief patrol agent of the U.S. Border Patrol’s El Centro Sector, appeared on the Broadview building's roof, surrounded by armed agents and a camera crew while standing beside a sniper's post, according to footage shared online by conservative media personality Benny Johnson. Johnson also posted video outside a Walmart store where he said agents, accompanied by Noem, had conducted a raid.

A video Johnson later posted showed a handful of protesters being detained in a parking lot while Noem noted “consequences for breaking the law and jeopardizing our law enforcement."

Several demonstrators were frustrated by the designated protest zone in Broadview, saying keeping them off public streets violated their First Amendment right to free speech. Most ignored the zone to protest on the other side of the facility.

Others were angered by local and state officers standing shoulder-to-shoulder with federal agents, including Homeland Security Investigations, ICE, the Bureau of Prisons and others. At one point, Illinois State Police joined Border Patrol in pushing back a crowd.

Jonny Bishop, a 28-year-old former teacher from Palatine, Illinois and from a Mexican immigrant family, said local agencies teaming up with federal counterparts, unlike at past protests, concerned him.

“ICE acts with impunity," said Bishop, who's previously encountered tear gas and pepper balls. “They know that they can shoot at us. They can tear gas us. And Broadview Police Department is not going to do anything.”

Associated Press journalists Erin Hooley and Laura Bargfeld and Joey Cappelletti contributed from Washington, D.C. O'Connor reported from Springfield, Ill.