BROADVIEW (WBBM Newsradio) - The mayor of west suburban Broadview said the people living in the village have endured enough of ICE agents' efforts to disperse protesters outside and near their detainee processing center, and she's called on them to stop.
"They are making war on my community," Mayor Katrina Thompson told reporters Tuesday morning at the village municipal building, 2350 S. 25th Avenue, describing actions including firing rubber bullets and chemical irritants at demonstrators, first responders and reporters.
She called on ICE to end its actions toward people outside the agency’s processing center, and for the government to take down the fence it put up blocking Beach Street near the facility, which she said was put up illegally.
Broadview police chief Thomas Mills said his officers have been affected by exposure to tear gas and pepper spray while trying to assist people outside the ICE center, and described an incident during which an agent called him a "fascist."
Police have also asked ICE to cooperate with the investigation of two hit-and-runs outside the center – and the chemical irritant incident involving CBS News Chicago reporter Asal Rezaei.
"Where I sit, ICE has generated criminal activity in Broadview," the mayor said.
The city has not given a deadline for removal of the fence.