Chicago-area mayor insists 'we don't need' Guard troops despite repeated anti-ICE clashes
- Keith Caldwell
- Nov 17
- 2 min read
Broadview mayor defends protesters while ICE demands she 'be part of the solution'
The mayor of a small town outside of Chicago on Tuesday insisted her community doesn’t want National Guard troops deployed to the area after weeks of protesters clashing with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials.
Katrina Thompson, the mayor of Broadview, a village with a population of under 8,000 just west of downtown Chicago, held a press conference Tuesday about the federal presence in the town, emphatically saying, "We don't want them here."
"We don't need them," Thompson later told WLS-TV in an interview. "We can govern ourselves, and we have been doing that until this point."
Thompson’s remarks come after multiple suggestions from President Donald Trump that the Chicago area could benefit from having National Guard troops. Trump even told senior U.S. military officers at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia on Tuesday that the National Guard would be "going into Chicago very soon."
Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson responded to the presence of ICE agents in her Chicago-area town during a press conference on Tuesday. (FOX32 Chicago WFLD)
The Trump administration has already deployed the National Guard to cities such as Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., to address crime and assist with deportations.
Thompson claimed protesters had been "peaceful" and mostly lobbed verbal insults at agents in Broadview despite clashes with ICE agents that resulted in multiple people being arrested and charged with assaulting federal officers.
Federal agents fired pepper balls and tear gas at protesters after some people tried to block a car from reaching a federal immigration enforcement building in Broadview, Ill., on Friday, Sept. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Laura Bargfeld)
"That happens to me all the time, and I don't go out and throw tear gas on people," Thompson told the outlet.
Enforcement and Removal Operations agents walk outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025, in Broadview, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
ICE responded to Thompson in a statement on Tuesday, saying the mayor "can either continue to be part of the problem or choose to be part of the solution by directing your police to enforce local ordinances and working with us to remove violent offenders."
"Mayor Thompson is distorting reality, pointing her finger in the wrong direction, while our officers are protecting her community — and others — from real threats, while also facing skyrocketing violence against them, including at the Broadview facility," ICE said.
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