There are signs of growing antagonism between ICE agents and local law enforcement in cities like Chicago and Portland
The rhetorical battle between Donald Trump and his Democratic Party opponents over the use of troops on the streets of American cities runs the imminent risk of turning into real, physical conflict, and potential civil war between federal agents who report to Washington and local law enforcement.
Unless restraint is exercised over the next few days, or the White House starts adhering to court orders, tempers on the streets of Chicago and Portland are likely to rise into the danger zone.
Already, there are deeply worrying signs about growing antagonism between the masked agents of Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and local police and other emergency services.
In Chicago over the weekend, ICE agents tear-gassed members of the Chicago Police Department amid clashes with protesters. The move appears to have been accidental, but it is a sign of the chaos, confusion and risk that now exists as demonstrators try to stem the tide of Trump’s mass deportation drive.
With ICE using tear gas, pepper spray and occasionally rubber bullets, at least half a dozen Chicago police officers were left coughing, rubbing their eyes and seeking treatment for the effects of the chemical agent during Saturday’s protests outside the Broadview Detention Centre.
Broadview is rapidly becoming ground zero for attempts by demonstrators to undermine the efforts of ICE agents to sweep people off the streets without warrants or reasonable grounds for suspicion.
On Sunday, the city’s police department accused ICE agents of wasting its officers’ time by making a series of fake calls to the city’s emergency services and reporting that the Broadview facility was coming under attack, when it was not.
The local CBS television station started investigating the calls after one of their cameramen – the only person present outside the building at the time – was approached by police responding to a 911 call.
Thomas Mills, the local police chief, called the ICE agents’ behaviour “disturbing” and “ridiculous”, and is threatening to bring criminal charges against the agents who placed the calls.
He said police are being goaded into attending the building unnecessarily, as protestors argue ICE agents are deliberately trying to foment confrontations there.
“The relentless deployment of tear gas, pepper spray and mace at the ICE facility is endangering nearby village residents”, said Mayor Katrina Thompson of Broadview. She argued that the brutality of the federal agency’s operations in her Chicago suburb was “harming police officers, harming firefighters and American citizens exercising their First Amendment rights”.
Three criminal investigations are already under way into ICE conduct in Chicago.
Meanwhile, in some parts of the city, residents protesting against ICE operations have driven their vehicles at the agency’s personnel, in an effort to disrupt the apprehension of possible illegal immigrants. “Thankfully, none of our law enforcement was killed because of these deranged criminals’ attacks,” said Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security.
Trump officials are doubling down on rhetoric that intensifies the risk of violence. Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller called attacks on ICE agents “an organised campaign of domestic terrorism targeting the core operations of the federal government”.
For their part, senior Democrats are warning that Trump is taking the country further down the path to full-blown authoritarianism.
“This is about consolidating power in Donald Trump’s hands”, said Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, who opposes the federalisation of his own National Guard troops to police Chicago.
Pritzker added: “What he plans to do with that power now, or during the 2026 [midterm] elections, should worry all of us… you cannot call this anything but an attack on the Constitution of the United States.”
In Portland, the President is now assailing a judge who temporarily halted his deployment of National Guard troops to the city.
Despite having nominated Judge Karin Immergut during his first term in office, Trump said Immergut “ought to be ashamed of herself because Portland is burning to the ground”. The judge, however, disagrees, ruling there is no emergency that requires any kind of military response in the city.
On Sunday night Immergut also accused Trump of “direct contravention” of her first ruling, as the President continued to flood the area with troops, raising the spectre of further violence on the streets of America.
