The global watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) has published a new report that details reportedly widespread and alarming abuses that have marked the federal law enforcement deployment in Chicago, Illinois, since mid-September.
In the report, HRW notes that federal law enforcement agents have used “excessive force” against peaceful protesters, media workers, volunteer medics, and legal observers, among others, during rallies at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in the city’s suburbs. “This is not crowd control but a campaign of intimidation and a clear message that dissent will be punished,” the report says.
The federal crackdown in Chicago comes just months after the Trump administration deployed the National Guard and active-duty Marines to Los Angeles during demonstrations against ICE raids in June. Like in Chicago, HRW accused federal agents in Los Angeles of “brutal, excessive, and unnecessary force.”
In Chicago, agents from the Department of Homeland Security “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 volunteer street medics,” the new report explains.
“There is no rhyme or reason to the violence agents are resorting to.” – Raven Geary
Drawing on interviews with 18 people and analysis of video footage, the report details federal agents’ “firing of projects” and their use of “chemical irritants” during the demonstrations.
On Sept. 26, for instance, journalist Raven Geary was struck in the face by a pepper-spray projectile outside the detention facility. “I have never seen anything like this response in my life,” she told HRW. “There is no rhyme or reason to the violence agents are resorting to.”
Agents also fired pepper balls at a protester named Ashley Vaughn, who relies on the use of a cane, on Sept. 12, an incident the demonstrator said caused them to black out. A week later, in an incident that gained national media attention, a federal agent fired a pepper ball that hit Reverend David Black in the skull while he was conducting a prayer outside the ICE facility.
For its part, DHS has defended its agents’ conduct during the protests. In a Sept. 19 statement, DHS claimed that “rioters assaulted law enforcement, threw tear gas cans, slashed tires of cars, blocked the entrance of the building, and trespassed on private property,” though demonstrators who spoke with HRW denied those allegations.
In response to the crackdown, media groups, reporters, and demonstrators have filed a class action lawsuit “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.”
HRW has called on congressional DHS oversight committees to host public hearings in order to investigate federal agents’ conduct in Chicago. The watchdog also pointed to the need for stronger legislation to protect against federal abuses and increased accountability for immigration authorities.
“The federal government is not just violating the human rights of protestors here,” said Belkis Wille, HRW’s associate crisis and conflict director. “These violent abuses are part of a broader assault on US democratic norms and institutions.”
