On Oct. 28, U.S. Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino sat before U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis, who had ordered him to appear in court after attorneys accused him of throwing tear gas into a crowd in the Little Village neighborhood. Bovino was selected by the Trump administration to lead its immigration raids in Chicago—dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz.” But the brutality with which agents have carried out these raids and responded to protesters caused Ellis to order Bovino to meet with her every weekday to discuss use-of-force issues. On Oct. 29, the Trump administration successfully appealed Ellis’ order, meaning Bovino will no longer be required to attend the daily meetings with Ellis for the sake of accountability.
My first time encountering Bovino in person was on Oct. 3 at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in Broadview, Ill., where he marched out at the head of a column of ICE and ATF agents preparing to disperse a group of protesters. I knew I was in for a spectacle. What I wasn’t expecting was to be physically assaulted by ICE agents and the Illinois State Police while peacefully protesting in my clerical collar.
As soon as Bovino stepped out of that gate, the atmosphere changed. We had gathered on the side of a road on an established line. Illinois State Police had allowed us to be on this private property for hours with no issues, but Bovino strode toward a line of protesters and told us that this was our “final warning.” After that, agents descended on the crowd. Illinois State Police pushed me with truncheons, an ICE agent grabbed my neck, and even twisted my nipple as hard as he could.
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I had bruises all over my chest, but I saw much worse than that. One elderly woman with a cane was brutally thrown to the ground. If they can do that to me, when I’m dressed in a clergy collar and not on federal property, while the whole world is watching, then what are they doing inside that facility, which immigrant rights advocates describe as a “black hole.”
It seemed as though protesters were being treated cruelly, all for a photo op. When we were pushed back from the line we had occupied for hours, ICE agents then climbed aboard a BearCat vehicle, briefly rolled toward us, and then got off. Later, I saw the video of this manufactured scene circulating on social media among right wing influencers. I also noticed that Fox News cameras were seemingly allowed unimpeded access to the street to film what was happening to us. It felt like we were cleared from the area just so that there would be footage of protesters being brutalized. It was like the set of a movie—except it was real life, and our constitutional rights were violated.
As a minister local to the Chicago area, I know I am not alone in my belief that what is happening at the Broadview Processing Center is an egregious abuse of power and a violation of human dignity. In the weeks before I was assaulted by ICE agents and Illinois State Police, many had gathered to protest outside the facility, and many of them were people of faith. In fact, the movement to shut down the facility has been happening for decades, and most of us were newcomers to the struggle.
READ MORE: Chicago Faith Communities Say ‘Joy’ Is Key to Resisting the Feds
I’m far from the only pastor to be assaulted by ICE. Rev. David Black was shot with a pepper ball gun in the face for daring to protest against this concentration camp that exists in our backyard, and other pastors have been thrown to the ground and struck for participating in protests.
Used as an immigration processing center since 2006, the facility right outside Chicago has become a flashpoint in recent months as the Trump administration has increased its immigration enforcement efforts. With the Trump administration’s full support, ICE agents regularly deploy tear gas in neighborhoods where people resist deportation efforts, assault protesters, and commit shocking acts of violence.
The facility holds those arrested by ICE for a short period of time before they are moved to other facilities in states like Kentucky or Michigan. Conditions inside the Broadview Processing Center can be best described as torturous: Detainees have reported receiving no food or one meal a day, being unable to speak with their families and legal counsel, and being denied medical treatment. No spiritual care is allowed in the facility; clergy members seeking to offer communion to those detained were turned away earlier this month.
Religious leaders have been part of the resistance at Broadview for decades, with a prayer group gathering during planned deportations, giving weekly witness. On Fridays, there is always a ritual mixed with protest. In the weeks that I have been at Broadview, I have participated in a Yom Kippur service, a communion service, and a Unitarian Universalist flower communion.
Christian leaders have an important role to play in resisting ICE. We come completely unarmed and committed to peace, carrying only the spiritual weapons and the social privilege that religious leaders enjoy in our society. It is especially important for white religious leaders—like me—to use that privilege on behalf of those facing this immense campaign of cruelty.
We have rarely witnessed such brutality erupt into public view like it has in Chicago. For me, this is a spiritual emergency, and it means putting our bodies on the line in order to stop deportations. The Trump administration has said that ICE is only deporting the “worst of the worst,” but this is a lie. Agents disrupt children’s Halloween parades, terrorize our communities, and racially profile our neighborhoods in order to arrest as many people as possible.
We have rarely witnessed such brutality erupt into public view like it has in Chicago. For me, this is a spiritual emergency, and it means putting our bodies on the line in order to stop deportations.
This whole affair has been cast as a war on Chicago, with President Donald Trump posting a meme captioned “Chipocalypse now,” referencing the movie Apocalypse Now. It is indeed a war, and Christians are told how we are to fight and which side we should take. We are not to fight with weapons or mere words, but by standing in radical solidarity with immigrants. Paul says in Ephesians 6:12 that our fight is not “against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
What weapons do we have? Our bodies, our commitment to peace, and our refusal to let dehumanization pass unchallenged. With those, we are told, amazing things can happen. The powers and principalities will not keep us safe. For all his big talk about resisting ICE, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D.) is currently allowing Illinois State Police to brutalize protesters. It is up to us to keep our communities safe from this terror, and scripture tells us that God will meet us there—at the picket line, amid the tear gas.
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