She lived through the L.A. riots and now is in Chicago. She says Trump is making up urban unrest

BROADVIEW, Illinois — The streets were quiet just a block away from the ICE processing facility, where the National Guard was deployed Thursday to protect federal agents and property.

Citizens walked their dogs. The children were going to school. An Amazon delivery driver parked his van on the side of South 24th Street, turned on his hazard lights and dropped off several packages; was apparently slow or concerned about a dozen people chanting and carrying signs outside the facility on South 25th Street.

Broadview, a suburb of about 8,000 people 12 miles west of downtown Chicago, has become the focal point of President Trump’s crackdown on immigrants in Illinois. That’s where Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been hitting in the past few weeks. Peacefully protesting Presbyterian minister with a pepper ball on his head and where dozens of protesters and journalists He was tear gassed and hit with pepper balls.

Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson, 55, shook her head when asked about the military presence and said the whole situation seemed unnecessary and over-the-top.

“The city of Chicago is calm. It’s no different than most big cities. Of course they have problems. They all have them. But they don’t call in the National Guard,” he said. “I remember the last time the National Guard came to a city was with Rodney King. But this was different. People were angry. There were riots in the streets. People were looting stores and businesses. That’s not happening here.”

Thompson grew up in Inglewood and graduated from Inglewood High School in 1988. He was in Los Angeles during the 1992 riots and remembers the anger, violence and fear well.

He is adamant that what happened then cannot be compared to what is happening in Chicago now.

This week, nearly 200 Texas National Guard troops and 300 Illinois National Guard troops were deployed to the Chicago area by Trump to protect federal agents and property from protesters. About 20 California National Guard soldiers were also drawn into the political fray and deployed to provide “refresher training,” the North American Aerospace Defense Command said in a statement. “These California National Guard soldiers will not support the Federal Protective Mission in Illinois.”

On Thursday afternoon, a federal judge in Chicago issued a temporary 14-day restraining order blocking the federalization and deployment of the National Guard in Illinois. U.S. District Judge April Perry said she “saw no credible evidence that there was a danger of rioting in Illinois” and called the Trump administration’s version of events “simply unreliable.” He said National Guard troops would “only add fuel to the fire.”

People are shopping in downtown Chicago. I am going to work. The streets were nearly deserted Wednesday night after a protest broke out near the Trump International Hotel & Tower downtown. Several young men were seen entering the Elephant & Castle bar near the Chicago Chamber of Commerce building, while a happy-looking couple strolled along the Chicago Riverwalk, holding hands and giggling.

Thompson said he doesn’t want to get involved in the national political fray and is focusing on things that are important to his constituents, like making sure the streets are clean, Broadview police and firefighters have the resources and support they need and residents feel safe.

But Thompson found himself in the spotlight last week when he denied Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem access to a Broadview City Hall restroom.

Thompson said it was nothing personal, but Noem showed up unannounced with a camera crew and a videographer.

Thompson said, “He came with a group of soldiers dressed in military uniforms. I told him I wouldn’t let you in here. We work here. We don’t know what your intentions are. Do you know what professionals do if they have good intentions? They call and make an appointment. They don’t come unannounced when there are dozens of people carrying weapons.”

Thompson is also suing the federal government for erecting a fence around the ICE facility; There are fears that this fencing could prevent first responders from getting in if someone (be it a detainee, an ICE agent, or a government official) needs help.

“When we’re talking about people having strokes, every second counts,” he said. “If we cannot reach them, that person may be severely disabled for life or lose their life because a decision was made – without consulting us – that this was the way it should be.”

Outside the facility on Thursday, protesters were outnumbered roughly 4 to 1 by local, county and state law enforcement, as well as local and national media.

Kate Madrigal, 37, a housewife, said she has been to the area several times to protest. Her husband is a naturalized citizen and they have four children together.

She explained that she lived in fear of someone taking her husband or scaring her children, and that she felt compelled to testify and be there, because “if my children ask me what I did to help during this time, I want to tell them that I was here, that I did something.”

He was accompanied by two other women who drove from Aurora for occasional visits when their work schedules allowed.

Jen Monaco and Maya Willis also said they felt drawn to the area to keep an eye on the soldiers and show support for those detained. Monaco said he often cleaned up debris from the previous day and showed a reporter photos of rubber bullets, empty tear gas canisters and spent pepper balls he had cleaned up.

Media reported that until it took effect Thursday, ICE agents harassed, intimidated and shot at protesters with such crowd control devices. They said the agents also pushed and assaulted protesters.

Cook County sheriff’s police and Illinois State Police were on the scene, occasionally shouting through a bullhorn as protesters or reporters passed concrete barriers erected to create a protest zone, or box.

At one point, a white man wearing a fedora, poncho and fake mustache walked around the small group of protesters, shouting racial slurs and taunting them. He said he was there to represent “Mexicans for ICE” before taking off his shirt and challenging another protester to a fight.

The police pulled him away but allowed him to continue shouting and chanting. A man wearing a Chicago Bears T-shirt provoked him, saying the man looked like he was exercising a lot.

Around the same time, two more women in wigs appeared and shouted obscenities at ICE officers and National Guard troops on the other side of the new fence surrounding the facility.

Thompson imposed a curfew around the facility, allowing protests to occur only between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.

“We have businesses in the area and people need to go to work. We have children who need to go to school,” he said. “Let them do what they have to do, and then you can all come and protest.”

However, some protesters felt that the curfew violated their rights to free speech. Robert Held, a Chicago-based trust and estate attorney, received a citation around 7:45 a.m. for arriving at the site before the curfew was lifted.

“I’m not paying for this,” he said, claiming he had heard the breach could cost him $750. “The regulation is based on an invalid basis. It violates my 1st Amendment rights.”