BROADVIEW — Gatherings Saturday outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in suburban Broadview began with a somber Mass for All Saints Day, continued with a lively costumed protest and ended with clashes with local and state police. During the morning Mass, a delegation of local faith leaders including longtime activist Sister JoAnn Persch once again requested to enter the Broadview processing facility to make contact with detainees and allow them to take Communion if desired. The request was made to Illinois State troopers, Sarah Rand, a spokesperson for the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership, said Saturday. The troopers called federal immigration agents within the facility, who denied the coalition’s request for access. The Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership hosts a Mass at the Broadview Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in Broadview on November 1, 2025. Credit: Arthur Maiorella for Block Club This was the second such attempt the group has made, the first made at an Oct. 11 event, as they try to reopen the facility to the kind of pastoral care that Persch and others delivered to immigrants in the processing center for nearly two decades. Persch and the late Sister Pat Murphy, both of Sisters of Mercy, were allowed to access the facility to pray over and with immigrants and their families. Circumstances changed in the last few years, however, and now no one is allowed to enter, raising concerns about conditions within the processing center, the Rev. Juan Vargas, associate pastor of Our Lady of the Rosary Parish said after the Mass Saturday morning. The coalition emailed and hand-delivered letters requesting to enter the facility on Oct. 24 and Oct. 30, according to a news release. Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson also sent a letter on the group’s behalf and neither party has received a response. “Unfortunately we were denied entrance,” Vargas said. “But we still had our moment of spiritual communion with everyone who’s been detained and who showed up in this moment.” A man holding an American flag and wearing in an oversized rosary participates in an All Saints Day Mass outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in Broadview on November 1, 2025. Credit: Arthur Maiorella / Block Club Chicago Members of the coalition have been told they need to follow “protocols” to enter and are being denied access for their own safety, Vargas said. In a statement to the Sun-Times, a Homeland Security spokesperson said Secretary Kristi Noem must personally approve entry into the facility. “But what about the safety of the people who are there? They’re human as well,” he said. “We’re trying to follow all the procedures, sending emails, but then there’s no letting us know well what is the next step?” The coalition estimated more than 2,000 people attended the 10 a.m. Mass and about 800 people were given the Eucharist, according to Vargas and Rand. The “people’s Mass,” as some called it, began with liturgical dancers and then attendees gathered around a few tents set up in one of the designated “free speech zones” erected by local and state police on either side of the street leading into the facility at 1930 Beach St. Speakers from Catholic and other Christian churches from across the area read liturgies and gave a blessing for those affected by federal immigration raids conducted under President Donald Trump’s Operation Midway Blitz across the Chicago area. During the Mass, an attendee was arrested by local police after they refused to leave the roadway when asked, said an attendee named Reina, who declined to share her last name for safety reasons. Around noon, the crowd shifted as Mass attendees began to leave and people in Halloween costumes took their place for a noon costume party and protest. Later-arriving attendees were younger and more lively, but many signs held by the two groups carried the same sentiment: “ICE out of Chicago.” ## State Police Use Pepper Balls On Protesters Many people came dressed up in costumes or inflatable suits for Halloween including a Jeff Koons-inspired balloon animal, a unicorn, skeletons and a Chicago-style hot dog. Both groups also set up ofrendas for Día de Los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, encouraging people to bring photos of loved ones who died while crossing the border or during clashes with ICE, Vargas said. Photos of Silverio Villegas Gonzalez, a Franklin Park man who was shot and killed by immigration agents after trying to flee arrest in September, were added to the displays. Protesters began what they called a “Jericho walk,” walking back and forth in a continuous line across the crosswalk set up by local authorities to allow protesters to cross between the two sides of the protest zone. The action is meant to recall the Biblical story in which the Israelites conquered Jericho when the city’s walls fell after the Israelites marched around the city for six days, organizer Rachel Cohen said. Some of those who participated in an All Saints Day Mass outside the Broadview ICE detention center leave flowers meant to call attention to those inside the facility who were denied access to the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Credit: Arthur Maiorella / Block Club Chicago This summer and into the fall, protesters have sought to block the road leading into the Beach Street facility as a way to stop or disrupt immigration agents’ ability to take people in and out of the processing center. The walk was an extension of that disruption, which has morphed as local authorities seek to contain protesters to the sidewalk and grass area on either side of the road, Cohen said. “Every ICE agent that leaves this facility is going out into our community to disappear our neighbors off the streets,” Cohen said. “The point of protests like this one is to interrupt, it’s not just to express displeasure. It is to slow down the operations of this facility because every minute that we do that is a minute well spent protecting our neighbors.” As protesters were walking, state troopers and Sheriff’s officers wearing face shields and holding batons approached protesters, with a few giving orders to move. The crowd parted on one side and some protesters lined up along the curb on one side of the street, linking arms. Police pushed the group back, arrested one person and later detained another person farther back in the crowd. Police hold a man as he is arrested during a “costume party” at the Broadview Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in Broadview on November 1, 2025. Credit: Arthur Maiorella for Block Club Cook County Sheriff’s police said in a statement Saturday that four people had been arrested during the protests, with all of them being charged with disorderly conduct. A spokesperson for Illinois State Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the use of pepper balls. Protesters later gathered in the roadway behind plywood signs carrying messages like “free our neighbors.” After marching down the street, they were met with a line of state troopers. The confrontation culminated in police firing pepper bullets at protesters at the front of the crowd and ramming into the protesters holding wooden signs. At least one officer began firing pepper balls at the feet and legs of protesters at the front of the line. During this exchange, a reporter with Block Club Chicago, identified with a helmet reading “PRESS,” was hit in the thigh with a pepper ball. Police took the signs away from those holding them and the standoff continued for over two hours. By about 6 p.m., police ordered protesters to leave or risk being arrested, subjected to chemical agents or “other reasonable force.” After a few clashes with police, protesters left the facility. “You don’t protect us by taking away our civil liberties – that’s not protecting anybody,” the unnamed protester said after a clash with police and state troopers. Protesters clash with Illinois State Police, Broadview Police and Cook County Sheriffs’ Deputies during a “costume party” at the Broadview Immigration and Customs Enforcment processing facility in Broadview on November 1, 2025. Credit: Arthur Maiorella for Block Club Protesters clash with Illinois State Police, Broadview Police and Cook County Sheriffs’ Deputies during a “costume party” at the Broadview Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in Broadview on November 1, 2025. 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