Protests Lead Trump Administration To Evacuate ICE Facility Outside Chicago

The Trump administration plans to evacuate an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility outside Chicago that has become the site of protests over the president’s immigration crackdown in the city, according to Department of Homeland Security communications viewed by HuffPost.

ICE officials are expected to take detainees and equipment out of the facility in suburban Broadview, where demonstrators said they were tear-gassed and arrested on Friday, and move them to a different ICE location. It isn’t clear how many detainees are held in Broadview, or when operations would resume there.

The decision to abruptly relocate staff underscores the impromptu nature of ICE’s surge in cities where it may not have the necessary infrastructure in place to safely hold detainees or handle protests. Chicago is one of several Democratic strongholds where Donald Trump has promised to boost deportations and take a hard line on crime.

Dozens of protesters arrived at the facility early Friday morning, when they believed detainees were being removed for deportation. Kat Abughazaleh, a journalist who’s declared a run for Congress, said she was thrown to the ground and hit with pepper balls after blocking a van.

“This facility is committing crimes against humanity,” Abughazaleh alleged to HuffPost in an interview Friday. “It is a processing facility, so people are not supposed to be held for more than 12 hours at a time. They are being held for days or even weeks at a time. It’s horrific.”