Newly-obtained 911 recordings from west suburban Broadview are providing more insight into the day that the ICE processing center there first became the focus of weeks of immigration enforcement and protests.
For the village of Broadview’s emergency operators, the first sign of Operation Midway Blitz came on September 12th, when demonstrators outside the ICE processing facility, 1930 Beach Street, started calling 911.
"Ma’am, we were just shot at by ICE agents at 1930 Broadview (sic), and they got a handicapped woman," said one caller.
"A disabled girl got pepper-sprayed by the ICE agents … they shot her like 30 times," said another.
Before the day was over, operators would be flooded with calls from people demonstrating, and getting pepper-sprayed, outside the ICE facility ... with recordings picking up the sound of people coughing and getting sick from pepper spray or tear gas.
The village of Broadview released recordings of some 911 calls in response to a public records request from WBBM Newsradio.
One of the officers on the scene was the village's police chief, Thomas Mills, who said a masked ICE agent confronted him in the middle of the unfolding chaos.
"He screamed some vulgarities at me, basically stating that I needed to do my job, that I’m a piece of … not a good word," Chief Mills told WBBM during an extensive interview at Broadview Village Hall.
He said the events of September 12th told him his officers would need more help: "We actually created a new plan, seeing what we went through on September 12th. We realized we didn’t have enough personnel to sustain this type of operation."
Chief Mills said his department – which is budgeted for 31 sworn officers and two civilians -- has done what he called a "phenomenal" job under difficult circumstances.