On Friday, Dare to Struggle – Chicago went to the ICE detention and processing center in Broadview, IL to support the rebels who’ve been protesting outside the gestapo facility for several months, demanding the release of the people inside who have been ripped from their families and demanding that ICE cease operations altogether. On Friday morning and into the night, ICE amped up their brutal repression at protestors: punching, tear gassing, shooting pepper balls, and arresting 10 people in total that day. Yesterday, there was talk of the Department of Homeland Security shifting their operations at Broadview to elsewhere, which was debunked nearly as fast as it was supposedly announced. ICE in Broadview or not, what still remains is a militant enemy dead set on kidnapping, torturing, and killing immigrants who come to the united states to escape from the us-made horrors in their country of origin. As ICE raids continue across the Chicago area, it is necessary to reflect on the errors and mistakes at Broadview, learn from them, and and chart the way forward if we are op kick ICE out of Chicago and off our streets nationally.
There is a lack of clear leadership and strategic coordination at Broadview to effectively achieve one of the rebels’ main objectives: to stop ICE vehicles from leaving the facility. Throughout the evening, ICE agents would group up in lines behind the gate, open the gate, unleash hell, and consolidate behind the gate. Protesters on the outside were not united enough to effectively respond to the first wave of theatrics. As agents were preparing for their second wave of attack, we called on demonstrators to stack up and mirror the ICE’s formation [at the very least]. By forming a wall of shields, we were able to hold our line down against the attacks, even if only for a few moments, but it was a few moments longer than it would’ve been if we were to remain scattered like deer in headlights.
Lack of leadership also opened up the night to opportunists. Toward the end of the night, Illinois Senator Graciela Guzman came on site to ask for the release of two of her 20th District constituents. Guzman used a megaphone to appeal to the consciences of faceless, suited up agents on top of the building who by this time had already brutalized the crowd without uttering a single word. When ICE agents were once again preparing behind the gate to step out, Guzman continued babbling, stripping us of the chance to prepare as a strategic whole again. ICE took this opportunity of a distracted crowd to traffic a couple vehicles in and out of the gate, all without a fight. If politicians want to help rebels and detainees, they need to be arresting ICE thugs en masse, not calling for civil conversations that amount to begging the enemy to be nice.
The bottom line is, without a large mass presence, especially bringing forward those directly at risk of deportation and under the gun of ICE, we have yet to show the masses their full potential in smashing this nightmare machine.
As Dare to Struggle we say: it is right to rebel against the mass deportation machine! We commend the rebels in Broadview who have been taking the fight to ICE’s front door. But to sharpen our approach and become real threats to the deportation machine, we must learn from what happened on Friday or else be doomed to repeat our mistakes. That means no more giving eyes and ears to toothless politicians who divert the focus away from the enemy at the cost of advancing the resistance against that enemy (in this case, literally right in front of us). It also means building up the organizational infrastructure necessary to coordinate, deploy units and sum up actions to continue to develop and sharpen our struggle.
More than anything, this struggle must be taken up by those who are under attack from the mass deportation system. That means connecting with families whose loved ones are detained and facing deportation as well as connecting with people facing deportation themselves. We must look to the people directly facing the threat of ICE, put forth their demands, and have a strategic direction to see them through together. What we are seeking to build is by no means an easy task. We understand the grave risk in asking people vulnerable to deportation to take up this fight. But these are the very struggles we must work through, that is why we are called Dare to Struggle. We do not have all the answers, but what we do know for sure is that no amount of directionless fighting on behalf of people oppressed is ever going to get us out of this nightmare.
Stand with the people facing the American nightmare! ICE out of Broadview and out of existence! Smash the mass deportation machine!
Dare to Struggle 