Rachel Maddow Calls Anti-ICE Rioters Peaceful Despite Videos Showing Clashes With Law Enforcement

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow claimed Thursday that anti-ICE riots in Chicago were a case of “peaceful, loud direct action” while promoting a documentary about former Democratic Mayor Andrew Young of Atlanta.

At least one United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Chicago has been the scene of multiple riots as opposition to the agency’s operations targeting illegal immigrants has intensified, with some of the rioters in Chicago calling for the ICE agents to be arrested or shot in a video posted online. Maddow praised the anti-ICE efforts in Chicago during her appearance on “Katy Tur Reports.” (RELATED: Former ICE Director Gives Dem Mayor Law Lesson After Ordering ‘ICE-Free Zones’)

“I focused a lot and I’ve tried to make sure I’ve covered pretty intensively, regular Americans responding to the things that the Trump Administration has done in this term, the protests, not just the big No Kings protests like this huge one that we’re going to see the day after tomorrow, but protests that have happened sort of everywhere,” Maddow told host Katy Tur. “And one of the really interesting evolutions of that dynamic in this second Trump term has been what we have seen in Chicago, these scrappy, sort of instant, not at all top-down, reflexive protests that are happening in neighborhoods where people recognize what’s going on with ICE.”

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“There they respond immediately,” Maddow continued. “They get out there with their neighbors, and they do something, and it’s happening all over Chicagoland. There’s been really good journalism starting to document it, but… because it’s small scale and reflexive and emotional and quick and not, you know, mass-organized, it’s something that people need to be on the ground there reporting to be able to see it. And that kind of stuff, I think, does speak to the reflexive disgust of the American people for the kind of tactics that we’re seeing from ICE, but also to our instinct to respond with peaceful, loud, direct action.”

ICE agents and law enforcement personnel clashed with rioters near the Chicago-area ICE facility on Saturday. Other ICE agents were forced to use tear gas after they were ambushed while trying to arrest an illegal immigrant in the Chicago area, according to video posted on X Sunday.

ICE agents have experienced a 1000% increase in assaults year-over-year, according to an August Department of Homeland Security (DHS) release.

During an ICE operation in Chicago, the agents were attacked by multiple assailants using as many as ten cars to ram and box in the vehicles used by ICE agents. Chicago police allegedly stood down rather than respond to assist the ICE agents during the incident.

In a Sept. 26 post on X, the DHS said that there had been multiple violent attacks on an ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois, blaming Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago for the violence.

“Illinois @GovPritzker and @ChicagosMayor Brandon Johnson’s nonstop demonization of ICE has fueled the frenzied riots at the ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois,” DHS said. “Since September 19, violent rioters have repeatedly attacked this ICE facility. DHS and law enforcement have arrested 17 of these violent rioters on multiple charges, including obstruction and assault on a federal officer.” (RELATED: ‘Violence Is Not The Answer, Period!’: Harris Faulkner Erupts At Dem Guest During Anti-ICE Riot)

Other ICE facilities across the country have been attacked as well, notably in Portland, Oregon, where violent protesters reportedly attacked conservative journalists covering the riots and planned to use lasers against aircraft used by federal law enforcement agencies.

Two people were killed during a shooting at an ICE office in Dallas on Sept. 24, with the gunman taking his own life. In Texas, there were two previous incidents where shots were fired at ICE or Border Patrol facilities on July 4, with ten people being charged with attempted murder in connection with the incident in Alvarado, Texas.

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