This browser does not support the Video element.
Suburban Chicago official detained at anti-ICE protest in Broadview
The Oak Park Township Trustee who was arrested in Broadview said he was held for 12 hours and wasn’t allowed to contact a lawyer. He was released without charges.
BROADVIEW, Ill. - The Oak Park Township Trustee who was arrested in Broadview said he was held for 12 hours and wasn’t allowed to contact a lawyer.
He was released without charges.
What we know:
Trustee Juan Muñoz and others described a rapid escalation and the use of force when the Border Patrol chief showed up.
Muñoz said he was protesting peacefully when he came face to face with Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino, who said to him, "You’re under arrest."
Bovino was seen tackling multiple protesters.
"I was pulled down to the ground and ordered detained by federal agent Greg Bovino," said Muñoz.
Muñoz said what was worse, was seeing inside the processing center, how detainees are treated.
"What I witnessed inside that detention center was alarming. Detainees were kept in unsanitary group cells with poor ventilation and limited access to restrooms ," he said.
Oak Park Township trustees have been joining the protests at the Broadview ICE facility, witnessing the clashes between protesters and federal agents. They say they’ve been shoved, tear gassed, pepper sprayed and shot with rubber bullets. They saw elderly protesters pushed down.
"The presence of ICE in Illinois destroys our peace," said Oak Park Twp. Trustee Derrick Eder. "It is a violent, untrained, unidentified, unaccountable agency sent by a tyrannical administration to terrorize and silence us."
They said they were shocked and traumatized but will return to protest again.
"You want to create a spectacle? Turn our lives and neighborhoods into political theater? Well, we see you. We know what this is," said Annie Wilkinson, an Oak Park Library Board trustee. "Retaliation for Illinois refusing to support a regime of bullies for billionaires."
Muñoz said he and other detainees were put on display for Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem. He said he saw they were shooting what appeared to be a promotional video.
He said Gov. JB Pritzker and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin’s office helped get him released.