At least three Evanston residents were among 21 people arrested Friday at the Immigration & Customs (ICE) Enforcement facility in west suburban Broadview. They were part of a clergy-led protest against ICE. Many had worked for days to prepare for and set up their civil disobedience action.
Rev. Michael Woolf, senior pastor of Lake Street Church, was one of dozens of demonstrators who walked onto Beach Street about one block north of the ICE facility. The short street is hemmed by barricades. Demonstrators are supposed to stay off the street in what is called a “free speech zone.”
When Woolf and the others got to the street, they were met by Illinois State Police troopers, Cook County sheriff’s police and Broadview police. The first wave of police responders wore regular uniforms. Police in later waves were in tactical gear: helmets, face shields, and were armed with batons and other weapons.
The Cook County Sheriff’s office released a statement that said: “Four officers sustained injuries trying to redirect them back to the jersey barriers.” About 50 protesters walked onto Beach Street, the office said. Those arrested—including Wolff, Rev. Luke Harris-Ferree, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church of Evanston; and Eric Haar, a member of Grace, were taken to nearby jails. They face charges of obstruction, disorderly conduct and walking onto a highway, according to the sheriff’s office.
Prior to the demonstration, two Evanston clergy members—Rev. Eileen Wiviott, senior minister of the Unitarian Church of Evanston, and Rabbi Brant Rosen—took part in a prayer vigil in the freedom-of-speech area.
“Our siblings are locked inside these walls just a few feet away, without basic necessities, without universal human rights, without hope,” said Wiviott. “Bovino [Gregory Bovino, U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr.] and his CBP agents may have left this area, but our siblings are not free. They are not liberated. They are not able to leave that building, and the abuses against them continue wherever we build walls and dividing lines, wherever we cage human beings.”
Rosen was more specific. “Our neighbors, locked inside these walls, have been denied toilet paper, a basic need that we all need and take for granted. According to the Torah, we learn that every human being is created with “B’tselem Elohim,” in the divine image. That means each and every one of us is of infinite worth and deserving of human dignity. When those in power denies basic human needs to others, we diminish God’s presence in the world. . . . God stands with the oppressed. God demands freedom.”
Eric Haar, released Friday afternoon, said the protest was worthwhile because it gathered attention. “We can’t turn a blind eye on this anymore,” he said after his release. “The more of us that show up the more pressure we are going to put on the government to stop these terroristic abductions of our neighbors.”
Haar returned to the scene after his release to look for his glasses that went missing. It was the first time he joined a civil disobedience protest.
“This is our duty as Americans to stand up and criticize and fight back against injustice when our government is being unjust to us as citizens,” he said.
Late on Friday, Luke Harris-Farree said: “I’m doing okay. My body is sore. I’m tired, but I’m just processing what happened.”
Harris-Farree, who had also never before been arrested at a protest, said he was immediately surrounded by police on the street. “I was standing there with my hands up telling the officers we just want to pray with the people inside. We’re here nonviolently,” he said.”There was a cop with his wooden baton pushing it into my ribs, telling me to get back. There was really nowhere to go.”
The scene got violent quickly, he said, because officers did not expect the number of people at the protest or the street action. “I could see it in their eyes. They were scared.”
Harris-Farree suffered a slight injury when pushed to the ground. “What they did to me was very small in comparison to what they are doing to other people in our country right now,” he said.
Video of Rev. Michael Woolf’s arrest was filmed by Rachel Weiss.
