How immigration enforcement turned sleepy Broadview into a chaotic, militarized town

Before this, Broadview, a village of 8,000 residents that stretches just over 2 miles, was all but incognito. Its quiet streets, where some neighbors say they don’t even lock their car doors, have drawn a diverse mix of middle- and working-class families, including Hispanic, Black and white people. Now, after the Department of Homeland Security launched Operation Midway Blitz, an intensive series of immigrant arrests ordered by President Donald Trump, this Chicago suburb has been dramatically transformed into the beating hot center of the resistance.

Over the last several weeks, it has drawn DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, the state’s two U.S. senators, both Democrats, Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, and a host of congressional hopefuls, including one who said she was thrown to the ground by an ICE agent.

Helicopters constantly whir overhead and the demonstrations often force traffic to come to a stop or to slow at major thoroughfares. Outsiders jam up street parking, leaving their cars there all day. Echoes of those shouting through bullhorns can be heard by those mowing their yards or working on their cars outside. Violent clashes have resulted in plumes of tear gas that send children and parents running inside even blocks away. On Saturday night over a week ago, a group of protesters blocked a nearby expressway.

That’s when Mayor Katrina Thompson issued an executive order: Protesters could only demonstrate from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“It’s just a disruption of people’s lives. We deserve a quality of life. This is our quality of life. Our people need their peace after working all day. They need to be able to rest at night,” Thompson told NBC News. “We have families that have children that have developmental disabilities. The emotional stress that they have to endure — because of the helicopters, the blaring lights from our public safety teams, whether it’s fire or police.”

Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson said federal authorities are escalating clashes with protesters.Jim Vondruska for NBC News

Thompson said the ICE facility, which was intended to operate only as a processing center, has been tucked into the same industrial park area for decades. It was hard to find any resident or business owner who knew it existed before the recent demonstrations.

Thompson placed the blame on federal authorities for the escalating clashes. She said when protesters showed up about a month ago, they were peaceful. First Amendment groups have accused federal authorities of carrying out excessive tactics, including pelting protesters and the media with tear gas and pepper balls. A federal judge in Chicago ruled that federal law enforcement could not employ such tactics unless under serious threat.

Thompson said there was a certain irony in the Trump administration announcing a peace deal with the Middle East even as clashes in his own country have accelerated.

“I heard about the peace position in Gaza — we don’t even have peace in our own nation. The hypocrisy is so evident,” she said. “How do you go and say peace somewhere else, and you can’t say peace in America?”

DHS and ICE did not respond to a request for comment. Skirmishes and arrests persisted this past weekend, leading the mayor to announce on Monday that the village would further limit the designated area for protests.

To Nash, the scene on Friday was not nearly the worst of it. Weekends before, he saw an armored truck patrolling the area, as well as a mass of federal agents.

“It looked like an army. Like an army,” he said.