At least two high school students were detained during intense clashes between protesters and federal agents in Chicago, where President Donald Trump has surged officers to beat back demonstrations against his anti-immigration agenda.
The students were arrested Thursday after they were “beat up” and “assaulted” by officers at the scene, according to protesters and Chicago officials. One student was released at the scene, and another student was released hours later, they said.
“This is not even about immigration,” alderman Sigcho-Lopez said during a press conference outside Benito Juarez High School Thursday. “This is about crushing dissent.”
The streets of the Little Village neighborhood filled up with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents for a second day in a row Thursday, with protesters seeking to block officers from targeting residents and businesses without a warrant.
“These kids were en route to school. They saw the horrific scenes when you see masked individuals coming for your neighbors,” Sigcho-Lopez said. “They were unfortunately detained. One had blood on his face.”
Liz Winfield, a teacher at Benito Juarez and a member of the Chicago Teachers Union, said she noticed one of her students was missing while taking attendance.
“I marked a junior student absent, not because that student was sick or his bus was late. It was because ICE snatched him up on his way to school,” she said.
“I am so angry and frustrated that these students have to add this worry to their school day,” she added. “They should be worrying about college acceptance or if they’re going to get a date for the school dance. It is outrageous and unacceptable.”
Federal agents detained at least seven people in Little Village, and suburban Cicero, on Wednesday. Two staff members of alderman Michael Rodriguez were arrested and released the next morning, according to his office.
Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino, who is leading the push in Chicago, was captured on video Thursday appearing to toss tear gas canisters at the crowds in Little Village, which lawyers argue violates a court order against indiscriminate use of riot weapons during protests.
Lawyers for a group of protesters, reporters and faith leaders who attended demonstrations warned a federal judge that Bovino “was simply ignoring your order.”
They called on Judge Sara Ellis “to conduct an inquiry into this incident and order relief that the court deems proper,” given the “flagrancy of the apparent violation.”
In a statement to The Independent, Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin accused “rioters” in a crowd of 75 to 100 people of shooting fireworks at agents during an enforcement operation Thursday.
A Border Patrol van carrying detainees was “attacked” by a mob that “grew more hostile and violent, advancing toward agents and began throwing rocks and other objects at agents, including one that struck Chief Greg Bovino in the head,” according to McLaughlin.
She said agents repeated “multiple warnings” to leave before firing tear gas at demonstrators.
“The use of chemical munitions was conducted in full accordance with CBP policy and was necessary to ensure the safety of both law enforcement and the public,” McLaughlin said.
Sigcho-Lopez called the officers’ actions “illegal.”
“They detained them over what? There’s no charges,” he said. “We want to understand why they were detained to begin with.”
Thursday’s volatile scenes and arrests took place as members of Chicago’s school board called on the city’s public school system to hold virtual classes to avoid the same scenario. Chicago Public Schools said it cannot order those changes without a state of emergency declaration from Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker.
Federal agents — which have historically been prohibited from enforcement actions in sensitive areas like schools — are intensifying raids and arrests in the Chicago area, which has emerged as a flashpoint for protest against the president’s mass deportation agenda.
A lawsuit accuses federal agents there of “indiscriminately” tossing flash grenades and tear gas and firing guns loaded with chemical irritants and rubber bullets against demonstrators.
Protesters and reporters have faced “serious injuries” and “some are being randomly singled out for arrest” and detained inside an ICE facility, where they “are detained incommunicado for hours,” according to the complaint.
Trump has deployed hundreds of National Guard members to the state, which a federal judge has temporarily blocked, as a multi-state legal challenge against the administration’s federalized troops plays out.
“I’m mad as hell,” Illinois state Sen. Celina Villanueva said Thursday. “What I saw today is a continuation of fascism that Donald Trump and his cronies are trying to instill throughout our entire country.”
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