September 26, 5:30 AM: My goggles and respirator clinked together in the passenger seat as I drove to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Broadview detention facility. Since September 8, federal agents have arrested more than a thousand immigrants in the Chicago area; many have been taken to Broadview.
What I witnessed that morning—and what my colleagues and I later documented—was not crowd control. It was the deliberate use of excessive force against peaceful protesters, volunteer street medics, legal observers, and journalists. It was a show of power and intentional brutality.
As the sun rose, neighbors, faith leaders, and advocates gathered outside the fence surrounding the facility. They held flags, signs, and crosses, bound by a shared passion to speak out against ICE—the killing of Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, the violent arrests across the Chicago area, and reports on the cruelty of detention conditions that echo those from other ICE facilities…