Mayor of suburb in Illinois sees no need to send troops

The streets were quiet just a block from the ICE processing facility where the National Guard deployed last week to protect federal agents and property.

- BY SUSANNE RUST

BROADVIEW Mayor Katrina Thompson near an ICE processing facility in the Chicago suburb, where National Guard troops have been deployed, on Friday.

(ADAM GRAY Bloomberg)

Residents walked their dogs. Kids went to and from school. An Amazon delivery driver parked his van on the side of South 24th Street, turned on his hazard lights and dropped off a few packages seemingly unhurried or concerned about the dozen people chanting and carrying signs outside the facility on South 25th Street.

Broadview, a suburb of roughly 8,000 people 12 miles west of downtown Chicago, has become a focal point in President Trump’s immigration crackdown in Illinois. It’s where in the last several weeks Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents shot a peacefully protesting Presbyterian pastor in the head with a pepper ball, and where dozens of protesters and journalists have been teargassed and hit with pepper balls.

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

“It’s calm in the city of Chicago. It’s no different than most major cities. Sure, it has issues. They all do. But they don’t call for the National Guard,” she said. “The last time I remember a National Guard coming in to a city was with Rodney King. But that was different. People were enraged. There were riots in the streets. People were looting shops and businesses. There is nothing like that happening here.”