Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents deployed tear gas against and detained anti-ICE protesters blocking two vehicles from exiting the agency’s detention center near Chicago on Friday.
The protesters had formed a large crowd blocking the vehicles outside the Broadview, Illinois, facility.
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Chicago is experiencing a surge in ICE agents being deployed there after the Department of Homeland Security launched “Operation Midway Blitz” earlier this month to detain illegal immigrants. The increased federal presence has been met with resistance from progressive locals.
The scene outside the Broadview ICE facility on Friday morning was no different.
Video footage showed protesters gathered outside the gate of the immigration detention center, preventing vehicles from driving off the premises. ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officers started firing non-lethal bullets and threw tear gas at the mass of people.
The situation escalated when a masked man dressed in a Captain America costume threw what appeared to be a tear gas canister or smoke grenade back toward the officers. He was promptly forced to the ground and detained. Based on videos of the incident, it appears the man and perhaps other protesters who forcibly intervened were detained.
The vehicles eventually left the facility after the protesters dispersed.
Among the crowd was Evanston mayor and 2026 House candidate Daniel Biss, who claimed he and others were protesting peacefully.
Biss denounced the escalation by the ICE agents, vowing he will not be intimidated.
“It was terrifying. It was impossible to breathe and really, really scary,” he said in a 25-second video on the ground in Broadview. “They are trying to intimidate us, to stop us from standing up and being a part of a nonviolent resistance, and we will not be intimidated.”
The Washington Examiner contacted the Evanston mayor’s office and Biss’s congressional campaign for comment, as well as DHS and ICE for confirmation on the number of detained protesters.
In a separate post on social media, Biss confirmed he protested at the same site last week. During both demonstrations, he can be seen wearing a mask.
First elected as mayor of Evanston in 2021 and comfortably reelected earlier this year, Biss is running to represent Illinois’s 9th congressional district in next year’s midterm elections. He is seeking to replace Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), who will not be running for reelection in 2026.
HUNDREDS OF ARRESTS MADE IN CHICAGO DURING DHS ‘OPERATION MIDWAY BLITZ’
ICE is continuing to crack down on illegal immigration in Chicago, the rest of Illinois, and an Indiana county neighboring Chicago as part of Operation Midway Blitz. An estimated 250 people have been arrested so far in the blue city and state since the operation began on Sept. 6, according to Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL). Two days after its supposed start date, the ICE operation was announced.
When previously asked by the Washington Examiner, DHS declined to confirm the number of arrests from Operation Midway Blitz. Instead, the department provided a press release that detailed “some of the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens” who were recently arrested in Illinois.