Clashes Erupt as Federal Agents Deploy Tear Gas Against Immigration Protesters in Broadview

Tue Oct 21 2025 17:28:26 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

Tensions flare near an immigration enforcement building in Broadview, Illinois, where federal agents used tear gas and pepper balls to disperse demonstrators opposing increased immigration enforcement. Activists claim the response is disproportionate and unprovoked.

On Friday, federal agents clashed with protesters outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, Illinois. As demonstrators protested the recent surge in immigration enforcement, agents employed tear gas and pepper balls to disperse the crowd. Activists reported that the federal response was excessive, leading to instances of injury among protesters, including a local elected official.

BROADVIEW, Ill. (AP) — Federal agents fired pepper balls and tear gas at protesters near an immigration enforcement building in suburban Chicago on Friday.

The conflict over several hours is the latest pushback by federal authorities against protesters focused on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Broadview, about 12 miles (19 kilometers) west of Chicago, amid a surge of immigration enforcement that began early this month.

Agents repeatedly fired chemical agents toward protesters after some of the group attempted to block a car from driving down a street toward the ICE building. The pepper bullets and tear gas canisters went into the entire crowd, most of them standing far back from the fence and not blocking any traffic.

Protesters fell to the ground and ran as agents repeatedly fired, dispersing most of the crowd of dozens.

In previous weeks, protesters had also tried to block agents’ vehicles from moving in or out of a yard next to the building. A fence installed Tuesday pushed Friday’s demonstrators farther away.

Earlier in the morning, a handful of protesters yelled and rang bells at a section of the fence closer to the building. Agents shot the first round of pepper bullets Friday morning toward protesters using ribbons to tie handwritten messages of support for detainees onto the fence, including “No human is illegal,” and “We stand with you! You are not illegal!”

Protesters and agents exchanged heated words when federal authorities removed signs and flags off the fence surrounding the building. Bushra Amiwala, a 27-year-old board member and a protester, recounted being shot by a pepper bullet while tying notes to the wall: “They caught us so incredibly off guard. We literally were just tying notes on the wall.”

Amiwala called the use of chemical agents “fully unprovoked.” Local officials expressed concerns over the “illegally built” fence and its implications on community safety.

It remains unclear if any protesters were arrested during the incident, although federal officials have previously labeled demonstrators from earlier protests as “rioters.”