How Broadview, a sleepy Chicago suburb, became a hot-spot for ICE immigration protests

An intensive immigration operation ordered by President Donald Trump has quickly transformed Broadview, Illinois, into the beating hot center of the resistance.

BROADVIEW, Ill. — Derrick Nash stood on his front porch, lit a cigarette and shook his head.

It was a drizzly Friday afternoon and a now familiar chaos spilled out just feet before him. Beside his home on 25th Avenue, a main traffic artery in this small town, demonstrators shouted profanities through bullhorns, antagonizing local police officers positioned outside the federal facility where Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been bringing newly arrested immigrants.

Law enforcement officers wearing bulletproof vests stood in the street. Others were positioned in SUVs, blocking intersections and keeping people on the sidewalks. TV cameras set up steps away and reporters delivered their live shots.

The ICE facility is across the street from Nash’s house, and a throng of people were protesting there until some broke through a barricade. Illinois State Police troopers rushed in, batons in hand, and held back the crowd. A pair of officers re-emerged, now directing two new arrestees.

“It’s been a month,” Nash said. “This isn’t going to stop.”