Politics
Broadview Mayor Issues Civil Emergency Order Amid Threats, Escalating Protests Outside ICE Facility
Cook County Sheriff Police guard as Illinois State police detain a protester outside an ICE processing facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview, Ill., Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Broadview’s mayor has declared a civil emergency following a series of “serious and credible” threats made against village officials and increasing protests outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the western suburb.
Mayor Katrina Thompson on Monday issued the declaration after she said a group of “out-of-town protesters” and “non-Broadview residents” allegedly attempted to storm Broadview’s village hall on Saturday.
“I will not allow threats of violence or intimidation to disrupt the essential functions of our government,” she said in a statement, “and I will not allow other elected officials, Village Hall staff or residents to be placed in harm’s way, which is why I signed a Civil Emergency Executive Order to ensure we can conduct the public’s business securely and without fear of violence.”
According to the village, a specific death threat was also made against Thompson on Oct. 13 and a bomb threat targeting the village hall was phoned in on Sept. 4.
Tensions in the suburban village have been rising for months as protesters have flocked to demonstrations held at ICE’s immigration center, where thousands of detainees have been held and processed amid the Trump administration’s ongoing “Midway Blitz” immigration enforcement operation.
Thompson last month signed an executive order shrinking a designated protest area outside the ICE after she said previous demonstrations “degenerated into chaos.”
Twenty-one protesters were arrested outside the facility last Friday and multiple law enforcement personnel were injured, including two Broadview police officers, an Illinois State Police trooper and a Cook County sheriff’s deputy.
“Since ICE’s Midway Blitz and the subsequent, intensifying protests began,” Thompson said, “the serious and credible bomb and death threats and the threat to disrupt village government has left me with no alternative but to declare a civil emergency in Broadview.”
The order “will allow for the flexibility necessary for conducting essential in-person meetings,” according to the statement.
