A group of moms from the western suburbs were arrested Friday morning during a protest against the separation of families outside of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview.
Fourteen mothers jumped over the barricades and sat in a circle on Beach Street to “demand an end” to the immigration raids that have swept through the Chicago area since the Trump administration launched “Operation Midway Blitz” in September.
Less than a minute later, the women were arrested by Cook County sheriff’s deputies. The sheriff’s office confirmed the arrests and said charges were pending.
Cook County Sheriff’s deputies arrest a group of mothers after they staged a sit-in protest outside the Broadview ICE facility at 1930 Beach St.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
“We want to encourage other people who feel strongly about ICE’s actions to step off the sidelines and take our cities back,” said Teresa Shattuck, a mother from Oak Park. “We want to use our collective power and our white privilege in the way it should be used.”
A sheriff’s deputy leads away one of the protesters in Friday’s sit-in at the Broadview ICE facility.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Meghan Carter, another mother from Oak Park, said the women who were arrested understood the risks when they chose to take a stand, adding their experiences paled in comparison to what the detained immigrants inside the facility were enduring.
Carter said the suburban moms were a group of parents “fed up” with seeing immigration agents “terrorizing” their communities.
Protesters chant and wave signs Friday at the ICE detention center in Broadview.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
About 40 protesters, including the suburban moms, gathered outside the facility Friday morning chanting for an end to the immigration raids.
At the same time, a caravan of about 10 vehicles drove around the facility honking their horns and waving anti-Donald Trump flags. A passenger in one vehicle was seen holding a sign that read, “We are human first.”
A protester displays a sign out of the passenger window of a truck on Friday morning near the Broadview ICE facility.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
