Protesters in Chicago Mount Resistance Against ICE as “Operation Midway Blitz” Continues

Read our editorial on mass deportations here, and the ongoing struggle against it here.

Protesters in the Chicago suburb of Broadview demonstrated outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility on September 19 following a series of violent disappearances and a murder by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as part of its “Operation Midway Blitz”.

The anti-ICE protest began around 5 a.m. and saw a crowd of at least 100 assemble outside of the Broadview ICE facility. The protest lasted into the night, with confrontations erupting each time an ICE vehicle attempted to enter or exit the complex. As protesters lined up to block a vehicle, ICE and police responded with increasing violence, employing tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, smoke grenades, and carrying out arrests.

Four protesters in total were detained at various points, but this did not deter the fighting spirit of the demonstration. As they came under attack, protesters responded by throwing back tear gas canisters, setting off firecrackers, tending to each other’s injuries, and slashing tires.

One protester who was blocking an SUV from leaving in the afternoon was struck by a “less-than-lethal” munition from ICE before being knocked to the ground and taken inside the facility. She was soon released, though in a disoriented state and missing a shoe. Protesters then confronted the agents about her abduction, before ICE re-arrested her and took her back into the facility.

ICE also attacked Democrat mafia hopeful Kat Abughazaleh, throwing her to the ground. After the protest, Abughazaleh promoted her run for Congress and solicited donations on social media, taking advantage of the opportunity to traffic in the people’s struggle. Other Democrat mafia members including Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton, Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, and U.S. Representative Robin Kelly also attended. Stratton, at the start of protest, stated to monopoly media that “People are here to peacefully protest,” in an attempt to preemptively separate “good” protesters from “bad” protesters and render the action totally ineffective.

The protests are in response to “Operation Midway Blitz”, an intensified federal terror campaign mainly against Latino workers in Illinois, particularly Chicago and its suburbs. The campaign was announced early September after Trump reversed his decision to deploy the National Guards to Chicago amid massive anti-Trump protests. The operation aims to mitigate the imperialist economic crisis by destroying sections of the working class, forcing increased competition among workers for lower paying and more precarious jobs.

The Broadview torture site targeted by protesters is serving as the “primary processing location” for the terror campaign and “is scheduled to operate seven days a week for approximately 45 continuous days,” the mayor of Broadview said in a letter based on information provided by federal officials.

According to protesters, the concentration camp lacks beds, showers, and kitchens that a detention center would normally have, and detainees are held for extended periods of time despite being categorized as a processing center. The windows of the building have been boarded up, keeping abducted workers in suffocating conditions and separated from the protests happening outside.

Protests outside the facility have become a regular and increasingly militant occurrence, showing that mass resistance escalates in the face of state terror.

Photo: Federal agents deploy chemical weapons against protesters, who respond with launching fireworks at the agents outside the Broadview ICE concentration camp.

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