The police chief of Broadview, a suburb of Chicago, has threatened to remove fencing around an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility that was erected to control protesters outside the site.
Chief Thomas Mills and other village officials argued that ICE, not the demonstrators, is creating risks for nearby residents.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Mayor Katrina Thompson, Mills, and Acting Fire Chief Matt Martin criticized federal enforcement activity at the Broadview facility and accused ICE of endangering the community through its operations.
“The relentless deployment of tear gas, pepper spray and mace at the ICE facility is endangering nearby village residents, harming police officers, harming firefighters and American citizens exercising their First Amendment rights,” Thompson claimed.
Mills said ICE agents have been short-tempered in their interactions with Broadview police officers, though he failed to provide any details or context. He further accused the agency of violating the law by installing protective fencing around the federal facility and warned that local authorities might use “heavy machinery” to remove the barriers.
“We are experiencing an immediate public safety crisis,” the anti-ICE chief said. “The deployment of tear gas, pepper spray, mace, and rubber bullets by ICE near the processing center in the village of Broadview is creating a dangerous situation for the community.”
“This is not Putin’s Russia,” Thompson added. “This is America.”
Trump has responded by instructing ICE and other federal officers to use the “full force” of their capabilities in carrying out their duties, as violence and attacks against them have escalated more than 800 percent.
Broadview officials also said they are opening “criminal” investigations into ICE. Chief Mills alleged that ICE officers fired pepper balls at a reporter, struck protesters with federal vehicles, and caused property damage, placing responsibility for recent confrontations on federal agents rather than on the demonstrators.
At the same time, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, expressed support for the protesters, who have continued to stage demonstrations outside the facility. Local officials have noted that the protests have at times grown confrontational and disruptive to federal operations.
Meanwhile, ICE and federal law enforcement officials have announced that they have taken more than 800 dangerous criminals off Chicago’s streets since Operation Midway Blitz was launched.
Last month, federal agents arrested a suburban Chicago man on charges of making violent threats against Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and “well-known political figures,” according to court records reviewed by ABC7’s I-Team.
Michael Stover, 33, appeared in U.S. District Court, shackled, and was charged with a felony count of making a true threat against immigration and public officials.
Prosecutors said federal agents arrested Stover shortly after 10 a.m. in a Downers Grove apartment parking lot. The FBI’s Chicago office later posted photos of the Joint Terrorism Task Force at the scene, the local outlet reported.
A criminal complaint unsealed Friday accuses Stover of posting multiple threats on social media, including threats to kill ICE agents earlier this year and threats against the U.S. president.
“The us president just said he wants to purpose build concentration camps for his political enemies,” Stover allegedly wrote online back in April. “Its war right here and now against this attacker or we die in slavery. Put down your posters and selfie sticks and pick up a weapon!”
Prosecutors say Stover posted a photo in February showing five rifle bullets labeled with the first names of prominent U.S. political figures, placed atop two hunting knives.
The FBI’s National Threat Operations Center had monitored his online activity for months and alerted the U.S. Secret Service, which opened an investigation in May.
