Chicago-area mayor says federal agents teargassed him at a protest outside an ICE facility
By Alisha Ebrahimji, CNN
(CNN) — A Democratic mayor running for Congress in Illinois was teargassed Friday morning during a small protest outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in suburban Chicago, he said.
At least one other person, who identified herself on social media as Kat Abughazaleh, a former journalist also running for Congress, landed on the ground during the encounter after she was pushed by a federal law enforcement agent in a camouflage uniform wearing a full face covering, sunglasses and a helmet, video by CNN affiliate WBBM shows.
When Abughazaleh and others said “You can’t kidnap our neighbors,” federal agents “came out in full force, full combat gear,” she told WBBM after the incident, adding weaponless protesters carrying signs were met with federal agents firing pepper balls at the ground.
“Yeah, I’m going to have a bruise up my side, but anything that we’re dealing with out here doesn’t hold a candle to … the people that are trapped in that facility are dealing with,” she said. “They aren’t supposed to be there for more than 12 hours. They’re being held for days or weeks at a time. We need to get it shut down.”
CNN has reached out to Abughazaleh.
The facility in the small city of Broadview has drawn small protests since its leaders got word in early September “a large-scale enforcement campaign will soon be underway” as part of the sweeping immigration agenda that helped secure a second term for President Donald Trump but most Americans oppose.
“I’m back at the Broadview ICE facility where I was part of a protest just a few minutes ago,” Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss says in a video posted late Friday morning to his X account. “Not only did they come with weapons and violence, show of force and drive a van into us, but then they teargassed us, and I have to tell you, it was terrifying.
“It was impossible to breathe, and really, really scary,” he goes on. “But the point is: 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 Department of Homeland Security decried the protesters: “Desperate politicians want their 15 minutes of fame and they’re willing to do it off the backs of our law enforcement,” the agency posted to X on Friday morning atop a news broadcast video of a Chicago ICE protest. “They are putting them at further risk to get on TV, just to get a viral tweet. It’s pretty despicable.”
Protests outside the Broadview facility continued midday Friday, with a handful of demonstrators holding up signs and cellphones toward a fence topped with barbed wire, video from the scene shows. They are expected to continue through Friday evening, WBBM reported.
Evanston is a progressive stronghold and home to Northwestern University, about 15 miles north of Chicago’s Loop and some 30 miles from Broadview.
CNN has reached out to Biss’ office and to ICE.
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CNN’s Caroll Alvarado contributed to this report.
