‘Rioter’ allegedly carrying firearm arrested outside Illinois ICE facility

Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations at the Broadview, Illinois, detention facility were interrupted by protests outside the fencing. Blaze News correspondent Julio Rosas captured video footage of the scene, which escalated to a fever pitch when protesters could be heard shouting, “Arrest ICE!” “Shoot ICE!” and “Shoot the f**kers!” Shortly thereafter, some arrests were made.

‘These riots outside the ICE Broadview Processing Center and attacks on ICE officers come after Democrat politicians, including Governor Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson, have villainized and demonized ICE law enforcement.’

According to a Department of Homeland Security press release, one of the protesters who was apprehended was carrying a firearm, which was quickly confiscated by law enforcement.

“Just days after the vile terrorist attack on an ICE Dallas Facility, over 200 rioters gathered outside the Broadview Processing Center in Illinois, and some began chanting ‘shoot ICE.’ These violent threats and smears about ICE must stop. There is no place in American politics for violence,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in the press release.

As noted by McLaughlin, the increased tension outside ICE facilities in recent months comes after Democrat politicians repeatedly and recklessly used scare tactics to apparently convince constituents that law enforcement posed an existential threat to the United States.

RELATED: ‘Shoot the f**kers!’ Anti-ICE agitators caught on video apparently calling for violence in wake of deadly Dallas shooting

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

“These riots outside the ICE Broadview Processing Center and attacks on ICE officers come after Democrat politicians, including Governor Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson, have villainized and demonized ICE law enforcement,” McLaughlin added.

“We are calling on Governor Pritzker and Mayor Johnson to condemn these riots and tone down their rhetoric about ICE,” she continued.

The statement described the preparedness of the “rioters,” who “arrived with boxes of fireworks, N-95 masks, gas masks, goggles, knee and elbow protection, and large quantities of food and water.”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!