United States: Federal Agents Use Excessive Force in Illinois

Protesters, Journalists, Medics Targeted Outside Immigration Detention Facility

• Federal law enforcement agents have since mid-September used excessive force against peaceful protesters, legal observers, people providing medical care, and journalists during demonstrations outside a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in suburban Chicago.
• This is not crowd control but a campaign of intimidation and a clear message that dissent will be punished. It comes on the heels of a similar use of excessive force against protesters in Los Angeles.
• The congressional Department of Human Services oversight committees should hold public hearings to examine agents’ excessive use of force. They should consider legislative remedies to strengthen oversight and accountability of immigration enforcement operations.

(Chicago, October 23, 2025) – Federal law enforcement agents have since mid-September 2025 used excessive force against peaceful protesters, legal observers, people providing medical care to protesters, and journalists during demonstrations outside a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in suburban Chicago, Human Rights Watch said today. Protests at the Broadview, Illinois facility escalated following the start of ICE’s “Operation Midway Blitz” on September 8 and an increase in immigration raids and seizures throughout the Chicago area.

Based on accounts by witnesses and videos that Human Rights Watch analyzed, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents—sometimes in the presence of state and local police, and other federal agents—repeatedly used excessive force against small groups of protesters who appeared to pose no threat to the agents or to public security, and against clearly identifiable journalists, legal observers, and people providing medical care. They detained dozens of protesters, and at least one journalist and one individual providing emergency medical services. The violent response comes on the heels of law enforcement’s use of excessive force against protesters opposing immigration raids in June in Los Angeles.

“This is not crowd control, but a campaign of intimidation,” said Belkis Wille, associate crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch. “Federal agents are using chemical irritants and firing projectiles at peaceful protesters, people providing medical care, and journalists in broad daylight. The message is clear that dissent will be punished.”

Human Rights Watch interviewed 17 people who were present during the Broadview protests: 7 protesters, 4 journalists, 3 volunteer medics, 2 immigration rights advocates, and a religious leader. Researchers also analyzed 17 videos recorded during the protests that were posted to social media or provided to researchers. On October 17, Human Rights Watch sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem summarizing these findings, posing questions, and offering the opportunity to comment but has not received a response.

Witnesses and video confirm that DHS agents used tear gas and fired projectiles directly into groups of protesters, including from the detention facility roof, often without warning and without protesters appearing to pose any risk to agents. Witnesses and verified footage show there were sometimes as few as 10 protesters and never more than 250.

Raven Geary, a journalist who attended over two dozen protests at the detention facility and was shot in the face with a pepper spray projectile on September 26, said she has been to many protests over the years but that, “I have never seen anything like this response in my life. There is no rhyme or reason to the violence agents are resorting to.”

Two people with emergency medical training described attending to dozens of people, most of whom needed treatment for exposure to chemical irritants, and some for projectile impact injuries.

Ashley Vaughan, a protester who uses a cane, said that on September 12, agents shot them with pepper balls, causing them to momentarily “black out.” On September 19, agents shot Reverend David Black in the head with a pepper ball while he was peacefully praying near the facility, in an incident captured on video. According to the National Lawyers Guild of Chicago, at least 10 legal observers have been injured.

The lawyers guild said that from September 19 to October 14, federal agents and state and local officers detained at least 78 people at the protests. Two people interviewed, and the colleague of a third, said they were held for 6 to 12 hours and denied access to their attorneys despite numerous requests.

DHS issued a statement on September 19 saying, “rioters assaulted law enforcement, threw tear gas cans, slashed tires of cars, blocked the entrance of the building, and trespassed on private property.” It also posted photographs on X of what it said were two “pyrotechnic smoke bombs,” two guns, and two pen knives that it had confiscated from protesters. Human Rights Watch could not independently confirm these claims. All those interviewed said they never saw protesters attack law enforcement in any way, or attempt to damage property, consistent with the content Human Rights Watch reviewed.

A coalition of media organizations and individual plaintiffs, including journalists and protesters, have filed a class action lawsuit in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against President Donald Trump and senior officials from DHS, ICE, Customs and Border Protection, the Department of Justice, and other federal agencies, citing the use of excessive force, suppression of free speech and religious expression, and unlawful arrests. In response, on October 9, a US district court issued a temporary restraining order, placing limits on protest policing tactics by federal law enforcement deployed throughout northern Illinois. Photographs apparently show federal agents on October 14 deploying chemical irritants against protesters on the south side of Chicago in an incident that could potentially violate the restraining order.

During the protests, federal agents have repeatedly used excessive and unnecessary force, and in many cases have simply attacked protestors and others without provocation. These findings also implicate civil rights protections under the US Constitution, as well as DHS policies, which include restrictions on when and how law enforcement agents may use force to disperse protests.

The congressional DHS oversight committees should hold public hearings to examine agents’ excessive use of force in the Chicago area, Human Rights Watch said. They should subpoena internal ICE records related to enforcement planning, as well as arrest and use-of-force protocols. Committees should engage independent civil and human rights organizations to provide testimony and evidence and consider legislative remedies to strengthen oversight and accountability of immigration enforcement operations.

“The federal government is not just violating the human rights of protestors here,” Wille said. “These violent abuses are part of a broader assault on US democratic norms and institutions.”