Since mid-September, federal law enforcement agents in the US state of Illinois have used excessive force against peaceful protesters, legal observers, volunteer street medics, and journalists during demonstrations outside a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in suburban Chicago.
Protests at the Broadview, Illinois facility escalated following the start of ICE’s “Operation Midway Blitz” on September 8 and an increase in immigration raids and seizures throughout the Chicago area.
A new HRW report based on witness testimony and analysis of video footage details how agents used tear gas and fired projectiles directly into groups of protesters, including from the detention facility roof, often without warning, and without protesters appearing to pose any risk to agents. They detained dozens of protesters.
The violent response comes on the heels of law enforcement’s use of excessive force against protesters opposing immigration raids in Los Angeles in June.
“The federal government is not just violating the human rights of protestors here,” said HRW’s Belkis Wille. “These violent abuses are part of a broader assault on US democratic norms and institutions.”
Indeed, federal agents using chemical irritants and firing projectiles at peaceful protesters is not just crowd control; it’s a campaign of intimidation.
And the message is clear: dissent will be punished.
