Federal law enforcement agents have since mid-September 2025 used excessive force against peaceful protesters, legal observers, volunteer street medics, 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 volunteer street medics. They detained dozens of protesters, and at least one journalist and one volunteer street medic. 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, volunteer street medics, and journalists in broad daylight. The message is clear that dissent will be punished."
Human Rights Watch interviewed 18 people who were present during the Broadview protests: 7 protesters, 4 journalists, 1 volunteer street medic, 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 volunteer street medics 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, 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."
For more details on the Broadview protests and applicable legal standards, please see below.
Operation Midway Blitz
Operation Midway Blitz resulted in the arrest of over 1,000 immigrants in the Chicago area from September 8 to October 3, 2025, according to DHS. DHS agents took many of them to the Broadview detention facility, where demonstrations have taken place since August.
In one fatal incident, an ICE officer shot at a Mexican migrant near Chicago on September 12. On September 30, federal agents raided a South Shore apartment complex using aggressive and violent tactics, detaining 37 people-many without warrants-including US citizens. On October 4, federal agents shot and injured a woman in Brighton Park during an immigration operation, claiming her vehicle hit a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) vehicle.
Excessive Use of Force
After the federal government initiated Operation Midway Blitz on September 8, protesters who had already been gathering outside the detention facility began to appear in larger groups and more often. On September 23, ICE put up a reinforced perimeter fence around the detention facility, pushing the protesters away and onto side streets, witnesses said.
A volunteer street medic present outside the detention facility every Friday since August 8 said that agents' actions against anyone standing outside the detention facility began to escalate over the course of September: "Initially you could be on the sidewalk, but if you took a step onto the driveway, agents would yell at you. Then as the days passed, it became that anyone stepping on the driveway would get shot with pepper balls. Then, anyone just on the street was getting hit by pepper balls. Then, they put up the fence, and now it's anyone who gets near the fence gets hit with pepper balls."
The medic also said that, early on, agents sometimes issued "get back" warnings on an intercom system and on occasion warned they were about to fire tear gas, but that they had completely stopped doing so by mid-September.
Reverend David Black, who began attending the protests on August 29, said agents escalated their use of force over September and that while the number of protesters increased, they remained peaceful.
Photographs and videos analyzed show DHS agents repeatedly deployed a range of what is called "less lethal force" against protesters, including tear gas, pepper balls, and foam projectile rounds, a type of kinetic impact projectile designed to some degree incapacitate or deter a target through blunt force trauma rather than penetration.
All witnesses said that agents used less-lethal force without warning and against people who posed no threat to them. Those interviewed also said they did not see protesters using force against agents. They said they saw some protesters trying to block ICE vehicles by standing in front of them.Two witnesses said that on some occasions, protesters kicked tear gas cannisters away from them, apparently to protect themselves. One video uploaded to X on September 27 shows at least two tear gas canisters being thrown back in the direction of agents. A journalist said that some protesters threw soft toys at agents. Some protesters wore gas masks and held plastic shields to protect themselves.
Law Enforcement Agencies at the Broadview Protests
According to those interviewed and the media content reviewed, almost all DHS agents at the protests had their faces covered, obscuring their identities, and many were not wearing badges or uniforms that otherwise clearly identified their positions within their agencies, undermining accountability as well as basic protections from arbitrary detention or abuse.
Based on witness accounts and analyzed footage, Human Rights Watch identified the following agencies and units from the DHS at the protests in various configurations at different times: ICE, including Enforcement and Removal Operations and Homeland Security Investigations; CBP, including the Border Patrol Tactical Unit; and the Federal Protective Service.
Agents were also often present from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, as were local and state law enforcement officials.
Senior leaders of agencies have appeared at the protest site, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and the US Border Patrol's commander-at-large Gregory K. Bovino. On October 3, Noem told a group of agents from various federal agencies: "We are going to go hard. We are going to hammer these guys … we are going to prosecute them … we are not taking this anymore … We are going to give you guys all the authority that you need to go out there and arrest these individuals who are advocating for violence against you."
After that, Bovino, a Border Patrol chief from California appointed to lead operations in Chicago, said: "That crowd there is an unsafe crowd ... we are going to roll them all the way out of here. And when they resist, what happens? They get arrested. So, it's now going to be a free arrest zone." Noem then added that the agents' role was to "make sure that these individuals aren't allowed to conduct this activity anymore."
Three witnesses said state troopers, Broadview local police, and members of the Cook County Sheriff's Office and Northern Illinois Police Alarm System were there. At times, they helped push protesters away from the area around the detention facility and made arrests, witnesses said. According to the lawyers guild, during protests on the weekend of October 10, state troopers clubbed protesters with long wooden batons, throwing people to the ground and in one instance, dragging a woman across a concrete barrier and through the street. One video uploaded to YouTube on October 5 shows state troopers pushing and arresting protesters near the detention facility.
Firing Kinetic Impact Projectiles and Tear Gas Directly at Protesters
In the cases Human Rights Watch documented outside the detention facility, agents appeared most often to have used chemical irritants, including CS (a type of tear gas), CN (mace), and OC (pepper spray), as well as foam projectile rounds. The chemical irritants were dispersed by grenades, sprayed from large cylinders, and contained in pepper balls, which are small, circular projectiles filled with a chemical irritant fired from a compressed air launcher resembling a paintball gun. Under international human rights standards, the use of less-lethal force and riot control agents such as tear gas is appropriate only when nonviolent means are not effective and even then, should be used with restraint and according to criteria of proportionality.
Ashley Vaughan, who carries a cane, said that, at around 6 p.m. on September 12, agents standing on the detention facility's roof shot them in the face and body with pepper balls while they were livestreaming. Vaughan said they briefly lost consciousness. When they came to, they saw approximately 15 to 20 agents leaving the detention facility and attempting to push protesters back.
"I was trying to get up," they said. "[The agents] were probably about a foot in front of me as they were shooting at me." Vaughan said a few protesters tried to help them up and that agents shot at all of them at least 10 more times. "I couldn't see for a few days due to the swelling. I had two black eyes. I'm lucky I didn't lose my vision," Vaughan said. Vaughan's wounds took several weeks to heal.
A video verified by researchers shows Vaughan on the ground outside the detention facility. One agent points his pepper ball launcher toward Vaughan and fires. At least six pepper ball impact points can be seen on the sidewalk. Agents continue to fire pepper balls at Vaughan and other protesters as Vaughan gets up and is helped away.
At around 6 p.m. on September 19, Reverend Black, of the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, said he was praying with his hands outstretched with a small group of protesters outside the detention facility. Agents positioned on the roof started firing pepper balls at the group. "They seemed to be targeting my head, because the first couple of rounds hit my head and face ... I was praying; there was no justification for them to open fire on us."
Human Rights Watch verified two videos uploaded to Facebook and Instagram on the same day that show Reverend Black standing with his hands outstretched, with three agents positioned directly above him on the roof of the detention facility. All three appear to shoot several projectiles in the direction of Black, with at least two hitting him, one in the torso and a second in the head.
As protesters rinsed his eyes with water, 15 to 20 agents left the detention facility and began pushing protesters into a street opposite the detention facility. Then, Black said, agents indiscriminately sprayed the protesters with mace, "soaking" him in the chemical agent. A video Human Rights Watch verified shows agents pushing Black and other protesters away from the detention facility and one of the agents spraying Black in the face with a chemical irritant from less than a meter away. Black had to leave the protests for around an hour to be treated but was not seriously injured.
Also on September 19, a protester who asked not to be named said he saw agents firing from the roof of the detention facility, and that multiple projectiles hit him in the head and left hip.
A volunteer street medic said that on September 26, he mostly helped people flush out their eyes that day, he remembered his colleague treating someone with a forehead laceration caused by a pepper ball fired at close range. The medic also treated someone who had a severe nosebleed after being hit in the face and the back of the head. Another volunteer street medic said he saw an officer yell, "Hey, bitch," at a protester before shooting at her with pepper balls.
Stuart Hall, 66, a protester and army veteran, said that on September 26 at around 8 a.m., he was standing near the detention facility when agents fired on him: "I hadn't been advancing [towards the facility], but the pepper balls hit me-two in the legs, two in the torso, and one in my arm."
Also on September 26, a volunteer street medic said an agent on the roof started firing foam projectile rounds, but that the medic himself "could not see any provoking action from the crowd." He said the agent also fired at someone playing guitar, and that the round went through the wooden body of the guitar. Another protester described the same incident.
Another volunteer street medic said that on September 26, agents fired on protesters who were reading letters of solidarity pinned to the detention facility's fence: "I treated one older woman who had just walked up to the fence to read a note and got shot with pepper balls."
Human Rights Watch analyzed a video posted to Instagram on September 26 of a protester covered in wounds consistent with being shot at close range with kinetic impact projectiles such as pepper balls.
Witnesses said that agents frequently deployed tear gas directly at protesters, rather than above their heads or in front of a crowd. One video posted to X the evening of September 27 that Human Rights Watch analyzed shows agents deploying tear gas canisters directly at protesters. Firing tear gas canisters directly at individuals, particularly if aimed at the head, rather than above their heads or in front of crowds, can prove fatal.
Hitting and Other Physical Violence
Agents also resorted to using physical violence with their hands against protesters for no justifiable reason, protesters and other witnesses said.
On September 19, a volunteer street medic said he saw an officer grab and hold someone in a headlock unprovoked.
On September 26, a protester said he was trying to ask agents a question, when they started kicking and kneeing him in the face and back. At one point, he said, agents had him pinned to the ground, with someone shoving his left cheek and jaw into the ground with their knee, while he felt pressure to his back and spine. A friend who had been standing next to him was violently tackled to the ground by multiple agents, he said. The protestor shared a video of the incident with Human Rights Watch.
A protester said that on the morning of October 3, DHS agents came out of the detention facility to disperse the crowds:
The agents seemed aggravated that people were not moving. An officer wearing a black gaiter mask and baseball cap ripped off my gas mask and upper cut my lip and nose with his palm. Soon after that, agents went from pushing to grabbing bodies. I counted four agents who grabbed onto my breasts. The same officer who tore off my gas mask grabbed and pushed my left breast so hard, it left a bruise where his thumb was under my breast.
Violence Against Journalists, Observers, Medics
Raven Geary, a journalist, said she saw agents fire in the direction of journalists on at least 12 occasions from the beginning of September to early October. She said journalists were wearing lanyards around their necks with their media affiliations, and many had "Press" markings on their bags and helmets.
She said agents firing at people followed journalists as they were dispersing and ducking for cover. In one case, she said, agents sneaked up on two journalists hiding behind a vehicle and fired a pepper spray projectile directly at one, causing a bloody nose.
On the morning of September 26, Geary said she and about six other journalists hid behind a vehicle when agents opened fire on a group of protesters without warning. Agents pursued the journalists from the gate of the detention facility, firing at them. Geary raised her head to look above the hood of the vehicle and an officer wearing a skull motif face mask fired a pepper spray projectile directly at the camera Geary was holding up to her face. "I felt a tremendous pain on the side of my face," she said. She was left with bruising and a swollen face for days. Geary said she saw patches on the officer's uniform including one indicating he worked at an ICE field office in Pheonix and one indicating an Arizona border county.
Also on September 26, Paul Goyette, a journalist who been covering the protests since August 29, said multiple agents shot pepper balls directly at his chest. Goyette said agents fired a projectile at his friend that day and his friend had to go to the hospital with a concussion. Goyette said his friend, a former marine, identified the projectile that hit him as a baton round (a type of kinetic impact projectile).
The class action lawsuit says that Charles Thrush, a journalism student and reporter for Block Club Chicago, was reporting on the protests on September 26 when agents shot him in the left hand with pepper balls with no dispersal warnings. Thrush was wearing clearly identifiable press credentials around his neck, standing apart from protesters, and videotaping federal agents as they fired pepper balls at two protesters attempting to shelter behind a collapsible umbrella. Thrush said in a sworn declaration, that on several occasions that day, agents deployed tear gas at him at close range though his press pass was visible. Thrush continued to experience chemical burning from the pepper balls and tear gas for 12 hours.
An agent targeted and shot a CBS reporter, Asal Rezaei, with pepper balls as she drove past the detention facility on September 28, when there was no protest. "A masked ICE agent pointed his weapon and shot directly at my car. He saw that my window was open," Rezaei said in a CBS News report. "I was sitting right there with my window open. A lot of it went inside my car and on my face. I immediately felt it burning, and I started throwing up." CBS news reported that the Broadview Police department is investigating the incident.
Human Rights Watch also analyzed a video posted to Instagram at 8:40 p.m. on September 27, according to the timestamp. The video shows agents firing tear gas at journalists standing on the opposite side of an intersection near the detention facility. Many start coughing. No evidence of a warning can be seen or heard in the video.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker cited other incidents of agents shooting at journalists with pepper balls and tear gas cannisters outside the detention facility.
Adriano Kalin, a photojournalist, said that on the morning of September 26, he saw agents open fire on a group of legal observers who were sitting on the ground with their backs to the detention facility, while wearing identifiable green hats. According to a lawyers guild spokesperson, on September 19, an agent shot a legal observer with a pepper ball in the neck and on September 27, an agent shot a legal observer directly in the face. The lawyers guild said that during protests on the weekend of October 10, state troopers clubbed multiple legal observers.
One of the volunteer street medics said that agents regularly impeded him and his colleagues from treating injured protesters by shooting pepper balls at them, ordering them to move, or pushing them while they treated victims. He said an agent fired directly at him, "while I was on my knees trying to help this guy who was hit."
Both volunteer street medics said on September 27, at around 8:30 p.m., agents fired chemical irritants into and then dismantled two medical tents that the medics were using to triage and treat injured protesters.
Vaughan said that agents in front of the detention facility fired projectiles at volunteer street medics, preventing the medics from evacuating Vaughan after they were injured by pepper balls on September 19. Instead, Broadview police agents later evacuated Vaughan to an ambulance, which then took them to the hospital along with other injured protesters.
Arrests
Of those arrested between September 19 and October 14, at least 20 individuals were released without charge, while about 58 were charged with offenses under federal, state, or local law, according to the lawyers guild.
One protester said that on September 26, agents assaulted and then detained him while he was trying to speak to them. DHS agents detained him for over 12 hours inside the detention facility, repeatedly interrogated him about the contents of his bag, and why he had attended the protest, and denied him medical treatment though he was in pain from being kicked, kneed, and slammed to the ground when detained. He was also denied access to his lawyer, despite his lawyer's efforts to gain access. He was eventually released without charge.
A journalist, Steve Held, was detained and held for over six hours before being released without charge, during which time his attorney was denied access to him, Geary said.
Applicable Legal Standards
International Law
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which the United States is a party, protects the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. US obligations under the covenant extend to authorities at every level of government: federal, state, and local. The Unites States is thus obliged to ensure that all law enforcement personnel respect human rights.
The ICCPR allows only for limited restrictions on the right to peaceful assembly that are "necessary in a democratic society" to protect a narrow range of important interests including public order, public safety, and the rights of others. Restrictions on the right should be carefully tailored. More specifically, they should both be necessary for and proportionate to a permissible ground for restriction. Restrictions justified on grounds of public safety require the authorities to demonstrate "a real and significant risk to the safety of persons (to life and security of person) or a similar risk of serious damage to property."
Under international human rights standards, law enforcement should only use force if other means to address a genuine threat have proved ineffective or have no likelihood of achieving the intended result. When using force, law enforcement should provide clear warnings, exercise restraint, and act proportionately, taking into account both the seriousness of the offense and the legitimate objective to be achieved.
Federal Law
The First Amendment of the US Constitution guarantees the right to free speech and peaceful assembly. These rights are a core pillar of the country's system of governance. US courts have evolved a deep jurisprudence governing permissible regulation of, and limitations on, the exercise of these rights. The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable search and seizures by law enforcement, including the use of excessive force during an arrest or other seizure.
DHS Use of Force Policies
Events at the detention facility demonstrate that DHS agencies have not followed their own written policies, which are substantially aligned with international human rights standards on the use of force by law enforcement.
DHS written policy allows law enforcement agents to use force only when no reasonably effective, safe, and feasible alternative exists, and only the level of force that is objectively reasonable under the circumstances. An updated 2023 DHS policy prohibits the use of deadly force against individuals who pose a threat only to themselves or property, and bans chokeholds unless deadly force is otherwise authorized.
Within DHS, ICE has written standards that authorize force only after all reasonable efforts to resolve a situation have failed. ICE agents must use only the amount of force necessary to gain control of a detainee, protect safety, prevent serious property damage, or maintain facility order. Force must never be used as punishment, and restraints must not be applied to the neck or in ways that restrict breathing or cause pain. While ICE does not have a protest-specific policy document, its enforcement actions during protests are subject to DHS oversight.
CBP has its own use-of-force policy, which outlines strict guidelines for the use of less-lethal force by agents, including that such force must be both objectively reasonable and necessary based on the totality of circumstances. Less-lethal devices and techniques-such as batons, chemical agents, and electronic control weapons-may be used to gain control of a subject, protect safety, or prevent serious property damage, but only when lesser means are ineffective or pose greater risk.
Agents are required to issue verbal warnings when feasible and must discontinue force once resistance ceases or the situation is under control. The policy mandates de-escalation tactics and prohibits firing weapons in response to thrown objects unless there is an imminent threat of serious injury or death. The National Use of Force Review Board, which includes representatives from the Department of Justice, DHS, and CBP, provides CBP oversight.
